This upcoming year, the Susquehanna Valley Ministry Center (SVMC) is celebrating 20 years of service to the local community. SVMC was established in 1993 and has since been housed in the basement of Alpha Hall.
The organization holds a partnership with the Atlantic Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Middle Pennsylvania, Southern Pennsylvania and Western Pennsylvania Districts of the Church of the Brethren as well as the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership and the Bethany Theological Seminary. Leading SVMC were two district executives, Allen Hansel of the Atlantic Northeast District and Warren Eshbach of Southern Pennsylvania. The two saw a need for local ministering training to both men and women for those who could not afford to travel to a seminary for classes.
Donna Rhodes, executive director of SVMC, is thankful to the College for the space in Alpha Hall. “We are grateful to Elizabethtown College for allowing us to rent this space as a home base for our ministry which extends well beyond the boundaries of Elizabethtown.” Rhodes graduated from Juniata College, completed the ministry center’s TRIM program, studied at Bethany Theological Seminary and graduated the Spiritual Direction program through Oasis Ministries. She previously held the position of Pastor of Nurture at the Stone Church of the Brethren, located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
SVMC serves about 75 students each year and offers a range of programs suited to each student’s needs and interests. They offer three main types of courses for each student: graduate, TRIM and ACTS. Graduate courses are offered through Bethany Theological Seminary and provide a Brethren context for theological education, both online and at other accredited seminaries. The Training in Ministry (TRIM) program is sponsored by the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership and also ties in education from Bethany Theological Seminary. The Academy Certified Training System (ACTS), the largest program offered through SVMC, is a four year program offered to licensed ministers seeking to complete requirements for ordination, lay persons seeking leadership training and ordained minsters seeking to broaden their continuing education.
“Students work alongside experienced ministers in a supervised setting to experience ministry firsthand,” said Rhodes. “Many of our students have received a call to ministry later in life and are trying to balance work, family and church responsibilities. Our local training allows the students to receive good ministerial preparation while continuing daily responsibilities.”
SVMC provides classes for students as well as annual continuing education events. Students receive a certificate and credit for each event program completed. These events and classes take place in several districts to ensure the students have accessibility to these courses.
What makes SVMC unique is their emphasis on Brethren values. Rhodes states unique Brethren values as “simplicity, peacemaking and social justice. Training within the Church of the Brethren provides the context of conveying the values which are core to the beliefs, heritage and practices of our denomination.”
Rhodes adds, “To borrow the tag line of the Church of the Brethren – willingness to continue the work of Jesus. Peacefully, simply, together.”
