Formation of Leaders in a Liminal Season

From The Forum Magazine, Winter 2025 - view the full issue here

Arnold van Gennep was born in Germany in the 1870s, and dabbled in numerous areas of study including Egyptology, primitive religions, Islamic studies, the Arabic language, and more. In the end, however, van Gennep narrowed his focus to the discipline of anthropology, focusing especially on tribal rites of passage. While engaged in this work van Gennep coined a term frequently used these days to describe the combination of learned certainty mingled with rapid and unpredictable change – be that in culture or specifically within ministry settings. The term? Liminality.

Rooted in the Latin word for “threshold,” liminality was used by van Gennep to describe the moment when a person simultaneously has one foot in the space they are leaving while the other foot lands in the space they are entering. Since van Gennep’s first use of the word, other writers use liminality to describe the potentially disorienting space in-between the known/familiar and the yet-to-be-discovered, uncertain future.

The parallels aren’t precise, but liminality provides a framework for understanding the changing face of the individuals who enroll at Calvin Seminary. In many ways our students are living with one foot in a known past, and another in a yet-to-be-discovered ministerial future.

That said, it is worth noting a few general qualities our students share in common:

• They still arrive eager and committed to serve Jesus, surrendered to his redemptive mission in his world.
• They still study systematic theology, original languages, preaching, and pastoral care - along with other vital areas of study in the hopes of finding their specific ministry calling.
• They still are wracked with nerves about first sermons, about providing effective pastoral care, and about the incredible variety of demanding ministry opportunities they encounter through in-context learning and everywhere the curriculum takes them to engage in the praxis of ministry leadership and service.
• Students still pursue pastoral roles in the Christian Reformed Church, and/or in the varied denominational backgrounds that have nurtured their faith in Jesus.

Attentiveness to our student body also means that important differences should be noted among those matriculating through their chosen degree. Some of these changes are best expressed through simple, data-based observation. For instance:

• CTS students come from over 20 countries around the world.
• Within the CTS student body there is a rich plurality of expression regarding the Christian faith if only because one in three students come from a context outside of North America.
• Nearly half of the students at CTS are pursuing theological education through our hybrid or fully online degree programs.
• A high percentage of our distance students are serving full time (or nearly full time) in ministry as solo pastors, church planters, worship leaders, youth leaders and more. The result of this vocational diversity is a potent mix of ministry leaders for whom theological education is informing their existing vocational call and ministry praxis, in comparison to earlier times in which ministry praxis via ordination was the product of a student having obtained a theological degree.

These changes in the make-up of the student body at CTS are not insignificant. And yet, in the vast majority of cases, students at CTS are vibrant, active ministry leaders from all over the globe who also happen to simultaneously be pursuing theological education. This is a sharp contrast to the reality of a few short years ago when most CTS students were North American by birth, were primarily engaged in residential theological education, and were one day hoping to enter formal ministry once credentialed.

While these trends are worth noting, the significance is really uncovered by examining the collective impact these changes have on our shared project of theological education.

One example of the impact these factors have is simply in the accumulated strength that is present simply because of the deeply varied spiritual, theological, and cultural backgrounds represented in the CTS student body. This enriches us because of the inherent goodness of the educational ecosystem which honors and values diverse cultures, languages, and theological traditions. Even more than that, the plurality of religious experience and formed faith within the student body at CTS extends and deepens our understanding of what it means to be a human being on planet earth. The kaleidoscope of experience, upbringing, and spiritual formation also deepen our theological imagination, prompting all who will be appreciative learners to further develop their comprehension of the character and nature of God.

It is a delightful and important challenge to equip our students with a Reformed theological education while also honoring and treasuring the breadth of cultural and spiritual traditions within the student body. This richness, rightly appreciated, only prompts us to more fully discover the beauty and depth of the Good News itself.

Another example of the impact of a changing student body has to do with the internal, formational elements of theological education. More particularly, the impact of this changing student body becomes clear when we consider expressions of one’s calling.

One observable trend among MDIV/ MACL students is that many arrive at the onset of theological education with what might honorably be thought of as a “fuzziness” regarding that calling. This is not to be confused with a student being unclear if they have a calling from God. Rather, there is often a restless, muted expression of one’s calling. Students will certainly give testimony to an incredibly rich, powerful, and formative series of significant spiritual experiences. And these spiritual experiences produce a generalized calling to serve God. However, the specific nature of that calling is often still emerging. The result? There is a need for students to wrestle, pray, wonder, and dream about their calling, testing it through learning, ministry praxis, and action/ reflection pedagogy. This means that there is by necessity a wonderful and mysterious nature to current theological education at CTS because classroom learning, contextual learning, peer-to-peer formation, mentors, assessments, spiritual disciplines and more all combine to bring into sharper focus what it means to be in step with the Spirit of God, and for students to humbly declare that which God is calling out of them.

When seminary degrees are completed and graduation from curricular education has taken place, the liminality of each student’s experience does not cease. Certainly, there are some students who graduate with a clear sense of calling to pastoral ministry. Even within this calling, there is a growing sense of particularity to this calling, often highlighting specific functions of ministry. In addition, there are a growing number of students who finish their MDIV or MACL and soon realize that their calling is to something entirely different than traditional pulpit/parish ministry. It is not at all surprising, given the pastoral leadership challenges and religious trauma of recent years, to see a growing number of students eager to pursue careers in some form of chaplaincy – be that in a hospital, university, or some other setting. The popularity of this vocational calling makes sense, given the Association of Theological School’s recent findings that spiritual disciplines and interpersonal competency rank among the top three most sought-after ministry areas.

In the past few years there has also been a small but important growing edge to the vocational trajectory of students at CTS. The ambiguity of it hinders clear articulation. Adjectives such as entrepreneurial and shifting are apt descriptors. “Entrepreneurial” describes our students who realize at some point in their theological education that their calling is to be protagonists for change and inventors of new ministry systems, structures, and mechanisms suited to the times. In fact, there is a stark recognition at some point that the ministry they feel called to does not yet  exist, and God’s calling on their lives is to dream, create, reform, and lead change for the sake of the Church. The term “shifting” is used simply to indicate that even for some who might have clarity about a specific calling, the burden of that calling is significant because of the realization that they will be used by God to bring new imagination to expressions of God’s Kingdom. These are precious and important gifts to the Church that have perhaps always been present, but seem, in this season, to be especially evident.

In van Gennep’s study of tribal rites of passage he noted that there was a singular, and vital outcome for those who encountered and endured liminality. In short, they returned to the community with a new identity. This, too, should be noted about all who follow Christ, and also those engaged in theological education. After all, we serve the One who is focused on a grace-fueled transformation of this world, to be sure, but also of our very persons. We are, according to I Peter 4, “being built into a spiritual house.” This is a divinely initiated, ongoing action without end – and we are the better for it. So it is that students, faculty, and staff at CTS all live in our liminal time. It calls us to repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and more. And, no matter how uncertain it might seem to us at the moment, the entire project of theological education is built upon the promise that we serve the One who is the same yesterday, today, and always.