By Madison Franks, Student Writer
OTTERBURNE, MB – Providence Seminary is home to some of the most talented professors I have encountered throughout my education. Whether a student comes to study counselling or theology, biblical studies or chaplaincy, the person from whom they learn will be exceedingly passionate, extraordinarily knowledgeable, and overwhelmingly personable. A quick stroll down the fourth floor of the Hanna Centre (the location of the seminary) will bring you into contact with these professors, any of whom one could spend an entire afternoon chatting with. A quick stop into Karen Jolly’s office will have you laughing before you know it; popping by Gavin Hall’s office will leave you feeling encouraged and excited about the church; and even a short conversation with Angelle Arinobu will make you feel like you are at home at Providence. These are only three of the numerous professors mentioned earlier, and it does not even include the people on floor four who do not teach classes.
All of these individuals cause the seminary at Providence to be known for both its solid teaching and its welcoming community. One way this community is enacted is through weekly soup lunches that occur right in the seminary lounge. Soup and buns are served following Tuesday chapels, and staff, faculty, and students get a chance to share this meal together around the table and enjoy conversation with one another. This focus on the table and building relationships around it is one of the primary reasons why the seminary boasts such a welcoming and close-knit community, for anyone who passes through is offered a chance to partake in the meal. With every bowl of soup eaten and every conversation had, the gift of hospitality is displayed and the presence of Christ is felt.
These Christ-filled conversations bleed into other aspects of seminary life as well, namely Coffee Hour. Coffee Hour is a time where anyone at Providence is welcomed into a seminary classroom to discuss a topic that is relevant to our current society in a way that exalts Jesus. As different faculty members take turns leading and hosting these discussions, students and other faculty members are enabled to hear different voices on various topics. As everyone in the room has the opportunity to participate in the discussion, each person is invited to understand other points of view and share their own. Whether the discussion revolves around a Christian cliché phrase, a common vice, or the stages of life that every person has to walk through, this one-hour time of discussion helps tune the seminary community into the reality that Christ is the centre of our world and any discussion about culture must involve Him.
Another way Christ is exalted on the fourth floor is through weekly chapel services. Tuesday mornings, when chapels occur, are a sweet time of worship for the seminary community, with its doors open to any other Providence members who wish to join. Different speakers each week from the different departments in the seminary preach the goodness of God to a group of people who are studying to enter careers that centre on showing this goodness to others. In a room full of future pastors, chaplains, and counsellors, as well as those simply in the seminary to gain more knowledge, Tuesday chapel offers an uplifting time of worshipping God in the presence of community.
Providence Seminary takes the exhortation from the book of Hebrews 10:25 seriously when the author tells the readers not to give up meeting together. The seminary follows this through the weekly sharing of a meal together, through the weekly Christ-centered conversations that happen as current culture is discussed, and through engaging in weekly worship services as a community who seeks to grow more into the image of Christ together. Whether a person comes to seminary at Providence to go into a ministry-specific career or not, each student leaves with a greater knowledge of the God who created them. Similarly, it is even in the non-biblical studies or theology classes where Jesus is encountered deeply as a result of passionate professors who desire their students to know the character of God more. One of the professors in the Providence seminary, Dr. Robert Dean, consistently reminds his students that the classes they are taking are for the purpose of turning them into a certain type of person. Seminary can be a transformational experience for both student and professor as Christ is preached while knowledge is disseminated, and it is exactly this type of transformation that occurs at Providence.
