At the heart ... the Bible
This article first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 edition of In Touch Magazine. For reprint permission contact the Director of Public Relations at 1-800-251-6227.
by Jim Holm
When the founders of the MB Seminary met together to craft plans for the institution that would train pastors for their churches, they thought carefully about the name for this new enterprise. Clearly it was going to be a seminary, so that word was easy. And it was Mennonite Brethren, so that wasn’t a problem either. But the name “Mennonite Brethren Seminary” didn’t capture the full spirit of what these founders wanted to say. What kind of Mennonite Brethren Seminary would it be? After some discussion they settled on the word which has been part of our name for these fifty two years: biblical. This would be the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary.
Their choice of that word, biblical, reflected not only their own commitment to the scriptures, but the entire history of the Anabaptist and Mennonite movement. Anabaptists have always seen the Bible as it is described in the MB Confession of Faith, as “…the infallible Word of God and the authoritative guide for faith and practice.”
Like many believers, I began reading the Bible as a child. I vividly remember my practice of reading one chapter of the Bible every night before I went to bed, beginning in Genesis 1 and finishing a few years later at the end of the book of Revelation. I didn’t understand all that I read, but I began to bring the Bible into my own life and thinking.
For a number of years, I had the good fortune of having a Sunday School teacher who expected us to actually complete our lessons, and I had parents who insisted that I sit down on Saturday night and do it. Because our lessons were based on scripture, and because we had to look up lots of Bible verses to answer the questions in the lesson, I learned to know my way around the scriptures. I certainly didn’t appreciate all that Bible study at the time, but I realized years later that those Saturday nights helped me to know where things were located in the scriptures.
One of the greatest adventures in Bible study for me came during high school. One of the things that we did, every Sunday night, was to have a Bible quiz. We did this because each summer, at the summer Bible camp, teams from each of the churches would compete in a Bible quiz for a trophy. Each year a book of the Bible would be chosen and churches would practice learning that book all year. Then at camp, the competition would be held for the champion. During the three years that I participated with our church, I studied more deeply those three books of the Bible than I had ever done in Bible study before. Those three books—I Corinthians, Romans, and Matthew—became my friends, and have remained so to this day.
After college, I enrolled in seminary, primarily to study the Bible, and discovered in seminary a world of exegesis that opened up vistas on the scripture that I never even imagined existed. I was astounded at how much my Greek teacher could get out of a single verse, sometimes even a single phrase. Then, in more than twenty years of pastoral ministry, I expounded the scriptures Sunday after Sunday, treasuring those opportunities to take the Word of God and tell its story afresh to God’s people.
I’ve told you a long story to say this: when we refer to the MB Seminary, the word “biblical” is at the heart of our conviction, our passion and our instruction. In this edition of In Touch, you will be directed again to the Bible. That’s what you should expect from us. We are privileged to lift high the Word of God as the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary.
Do you have thoughts in response? Share them with Jim at jimholm@mbseminary.edu.