Hesston College has officially launched its first fully online program, the Center for Anabaptist Leadership and Learning or CALL Program.

Currently six students meet with program director Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg in an online format. This cohort will stay together for two and a half years, working on leadership skills and spiritual formation as they discuss new ways to help congregations be missional in an Anabaptist context.

Students in the CALL program can work toward a Missional Leadership Certificate or an associate degree. The program is designed for those who may already be in full time ministry, bi-vocational/co-vocational ministry, or lay leadership.

“Launching a new ministry program that has a unique focus on Missional Leadership and disciple making in the middle of a pandemic is very fitting,” said Schrock-Ringenberg. “We developed this program with the future of the Church in mind. The landscape of the Church is constantly shifting. Suddenly COVID has made the changes in the Church even more drastic.”

CALL’s unique program equips church leaders with tools to make disciples and to respond with confidence in cultural engagement. It pushes church leadership education out of the classroom and back into the hands of the church community by focusing on practical and experiential education.

“Some of our students may already have degrees in ministry or other theological areas of study,” Schrock-Ringenberg said. “But the uniqueness of the CALL program’s approach to missional leadership and disciple-making will enhance their approach to ministry.”

“Seminary equipped me to read the Bible well, to understand complicated theologies, and to make both accessible within a congregation,” said Clayton Gladish, a pastor at Hesston Mennonite Church in Hesston, Kansas. “But pastors also need to prepare to lead and minister in uncharted territory of the 21st century Church. I sensed that the CALL Program would help me extend my capacity for the ways God is calling us to minister wherever we are.”

“There are other Missional Leadership education opportunities, but we at Hesston are excited to be able to offer a blend of the best principles of missional church with an Anabaptist distinctive,” Schrock-Ringenberg said.