This week Rebekah has participated in her first meetings with the “alumni council” at Columbia theological Seminary, and we have been privileged to be guests on the beautiful campus.

• Columbia is where Rebekah received her theological education;
• this was where we lived as a young married couple from 1980-1982;
• this was where I learned the fine subtleties and nuances of competitive Frisbee Golf;
• this was Andrew’s first home for a few weeks during the summer of 1982.

But we haven’t seen the place for more than a couple of flying visits since. Sure, we’re regular supporters of the seminary, we’ve encouraged a number of young people to come as students, and we try to keep up with what’s going on. But this is our first good look in 31 years.

CAMPUS: Typically, people look back and – wistfully – bemoan the fact that “Things aren’t what they used to be.” But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been looking around and I’m saying, “Wow! They’ve made this place as beautiful as we imagined it one day could be.”

Oh, it was beautiful back in the early 80’s. But all the development, all the new buildings, and all the landscaping has been completed in such a way that the historical and natural beauty of the campus has been enhanced. Brick sidewalks have replaced the old concrete walkways; “squares” and “plazas” connect the buildings; it’s like walking through a park.

MISSION: Columbia is also staking out – or at least clarifying – its identity in terms of the mission to train ministers who are equipped to lead the church in the emerging 21st-Century spiritual milieu.

This is a task fraught with complex challenges. So I asked some of the administration what they understood Columbia’s “brand” to be.

Part of me wanted to hear them say, “JESUS, JESUS, JESUS!” and leave it at that. But, while Jesus is most certainly the very ground they stand on here (as a Trinitarian, Reformed – and reforming – body), the word that best describes how Columbia Theological Seminary implements its foundational commitment to furthering the Gospel of light and love is, “connection.”

“What we say is that Columbia Connects.”

The way I followed my conversations with people here suggests that this is a theological training school where students are equipped not only as ministers of the Gospel, but also to make connections, so that they are then in a position to lead people and communities into a deeper knowledge of God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

CONNECT: We live in a world that is being pulled closer together via technologies, global economies, travel, and cultural interaction and overlap; but at the same time where people and cultures are – alarmingly – increasingly fragmented, and driven apart by conflict, fundamentalism, arrogance, exploitation, terrorism, and political confusion (to name just a few).

The mission of a place like CTS is exciting when I think about what can be achieved when we are prepared to listen to one-another, to understand one-another, and to share resources across cultural boundaries.

JESUS: One of Rebekah’s key scriptural reference points is this passage from 2 Corinthians 5:

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.…

This is what the power of the Gospel of Love does with such mercy and grace. God brings people together because we are all sinners, and all in need of the power of the cross of Jesus. That’s our mission as followers of the Living Way of Jesus. And that – I believe – is still the mission of Columbia Theological Seminary.

In love, and because of love – DEREK