Celebrating community partnerships: student leadership honored by local congregation

by Luke Klingstedt (MDiv ’20) and C. Mark Batten
Media Contact: C. Mark Batten | battencm@wfu.edu | 336.758.3959

Earlier this year Peace Haven Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. celebrated its 60th anniversary. In addition, the church highlighted its ministry with pastoral assistants who serve at Peace Haven through the School of Divinity’s Art of Ministry program.

The homecoming weekend events and worship service were attended by many School of Divinity professors, alumni, and current students.

During the homecoming celebration, Peace Haven launched a special emphasis on CARE: Celebrate, Appreciate, Relate, and Elevate, describing it as “a celebration of what God has been, is, and will do through Peace Haven Baptist Church.”

Second-year Master of Divinity student Raven Hill currently interns at Peace Haven. “The CARE Campaign attempts to bring the church community together by allowing us to share our stories,” she said. “Celebrating, appreciating, relating, and elevating may be parts of this coordinated campaign, however, these are all qualities that were already present at Peace Haven.”

2013 School of Divinity alumnus and former Peace Haven pastoral assistant Reverend John Carroll led the anniversary worship celebration around ”rekindling the gift,” urging everyone attending to “not settle for the cooled over ashes of cultural acceptance or the safe life of smothered flames.” Rather, he said, “stir up the gift, rekindle the faith, open yourselves to the fresh winds of the Spirit for the world is in need of continually stirred up love that will provide warmth and light.”

For Carroll, his internship at Peace Haven Baptist Church provided a place to stir up the gift. While a pastoral assistant he taught Bible studies, participated in worship, led a committee, cared for those around him, and took part in facilitating group conversations.

For Hill, who will complete her internship as a pastoral assistant next year, Peace Haven has provided an inclusive and reconciliatory experience. “Sunday morning is notoriously the most segregated time of the week,” she noted. “Growing up in a traditional Black church and denomination, I did not have many worship experiences with people of a different race. Peace Haven has allowed me a space to worship, to grow, and to experience the unconditional love of God, but most importantly, a chance to interact with white believers. What has resulted are beautiful moments of sharing my experiences while creating new ones.”

Reverend Nathan Parrish (‘85, MA ‘90) has served as the Pastor at Peace Haven since 2002. The School of Divinity began partnering with the church in 2009 and since then eleven divinity students have completed their Art of Ministry internship requirement with the congregation.

“We seek students in their first year who desire a ministry placement in a congregational setting and who want to commit for the totality of their time in the divinity school,” Parrish said. “We have had students for as long as four years serving in our church and  have ordained seven students to gospel ministry. All of them continued to serve in vocational ministry.”

John Senior, Director of the Art of Ministry program at the School of Divinity, says the partnership with Peace Haven Baptist Church is a special one.

“One of our most important ministry partners, students bring the powerful experiences they have had working in the church with them back into the classroom,” Senior said. “This informs the way that they learn and understand what theological learning really means on the ground.”

This relationship between divinity students and Peace Haven Baptist Church is one example of the many partnerships the School of Divinity has formed with local churches, organizations, and non-profits.