40th Anniversary (1974 - 2014) of the Union of ETS and GTS

Although our full name is often cumbersome to write out (just ask anyone who has ever tried to use our full name in a tweet), there is a long rich story behind the name, "Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary." It represents a 160+ year history and the interweaving of three institutions. This month, we are honoring the 40th anniversary of the merger of two of those institutions - Garrett Biblical Institute (at the time, Garrett Theological Seminary) and Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Evangelical Theological Seminary
Administration Building

The 1968 merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church left the denomination with two theological seminaries in close proximity in the Chicago area: Garrett Biblical Institute, located in Evanston, Illinois, and Evangelical Theological Seminary, located in Naperville, Illinois. By that time, Garrett Biblical Institute had taken the name, “Garrett Theological Seminary.” The 1972 General Conference of The United Methodist Church mandated the merger of the two Chicago-area seminaries, and negotiations began between Evangelical Theological Seminary and Garrett Theological Seminary by way of a Consultation Task Force that included seminary trustees, faculty members, administrators, and students. The task force agreed on a plan to form a merged seminary using the Evanston campus. In order to embrace the traditions of both institutions, in the fall of 1974 the newly merged seminary was named Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Banner at the first worship service at the newly
formed Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

The merger meant a great deal of change for both institutions, but out of that change has been a tremendous amount of growth and vitality. In the past 40 years, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary has been able to utilize the best of Garrett Theological Seminary and Evangelical Theological Seminary to emerge as a leading institution of theological education committed to rigorous academics and profound spiritual formation. We continue to train bold leaders for the church and world and are proud to continue to carry on the legacy of the two outstanding institutions who helped form our foundation.

The Class of 1964: Celebrating 50 Years of Ministry

The Class of 1964 Anointing
the Class of 2014 at Senior
Chapel Held on May 17, 2014

Let’s take a minute and set the time machine for 1964. Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa. President Johnson declares “war on poverty” and introduces federal welfare programs including Medicare. Three civil rights workers are murdered in Mississippi during “freedom summer.” Race riots break out in Harlem and other U.S. cities. The Warren Commission determines that Oswald acted alone. The cost of a first class stamp is a nickel. Color television makes its way into U.S. living rooms. Pop Tarts came out and Nehru jackets are “in” and the Ford Mustang is introduced to the public at the New York World’s Fair.

That same year, Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) and Garrett Biblical Institute (GBI) sent graduates out in the spring to a world eager for good news. These graduates began repairing churches, strengthening churches, and healing church communities. Their ministry took them into prisons, college campuses, and onto battle fields. They served in funeral homes and homes for unwed mothers. They became fundraisers, probation officers, financial counselors, and marriage counselors. They administrated in college admission offices, directed youth camps, marched into Montgomery with Martin Luther King, Jr., slogged through Nicaraguan jungles, taught high school dance, and wrote comic strips. Some went on to pursue additional degrees. Women pastors opened doors for more women pastors. There were radio shows to host and newspaper columns, books, prayers, and poetry to write. As one member of the class wrote, "The theme of what I have been doing can be expressed this way: with many fits and failures, as well as many rewarding moments, I have been attempting to show the Grace of Christ with them, always.”

Today we see they are retired and rewired. We find them pastoring to shut-ins, planting gardens, still repairing churches, taking piano lessons, ushering for art performances, and coaching pastors. While some are hunting for deer and elk others are collecting tools, writing short stories, playing bridge, and still drawing cartoons.

They want to read more books, visit more shut-ins, and continue to have a life of meaning. They want to travel, they want to stay home, they want to enjoy family. They will fiddle with electric railroad trains, study the stars, play golf, sell used books, climb Mt. Everest, visit China, lead spiritual growth workshops, visit cousins in Alaska and nephews in London, cruise the Danube, and plan to live to see their grandchildren graduate.

You can read even more about the members of the Class of 1964 in the Golden Anniversary Memory Book, found below. And may the very best keep coming for the Garrett Theological Seminary and Evangelical Theological Seminary Class of 1964.

A Vision Full of Surprises

ETS and GTS Class of 1964

We were in Evanston, Illinois for the 50th Reunion for my graduation from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. We came a couple of days early for some sight seeing. In the Loop we encountered a crowd outside The Oriental Theater. "Motown - The Musical" was playing. I said to Cathy, "Interested?" "Yes!" "I'll see if there are any tickets." So, on a whim, we scored tickets in the eighth row, center stage, and were treated to a high energy
production featuring the music that shaped a generation. I expected a great show, but what I wasn't expecting was an insight into something that had shaped my calling and my ministry.

Part way through the second act we were treated to one of Diana Ross' signature songs. Soon the whole theater was singing and swaying hand in hand: "Reach out and touch somebody's hand make this world a better place if you can." It was like having church in the theater. As we sang I found myself reflecting on what had brought me to Garrett-Evangelical over fifty years ago: a sense of calling, a passion to learn, and growth in the faith, a desire to share the faith - in a word - reach out and touch somebody's hand make this world a better place if you can.

Garrett-Evangelical was an idyllic place for me: filled with faith and challenge and opportunity. In the classroom, the chapel, and the library I devoured (often struggled) the sources of my faith, and pondered where in ministry I might be led. In the dining room lounge, we talked late into the night about life and faith, shared our stories, our hopes, and our dreams. Along the shores of Lake Michigan, I walked and prayed and wrote.

Returning fifty years later has been a privilege and a gift. Once again I saw my sacred spaces and how they had shaped me. A flood of memories blessed me. What I saw of the seminary today inspired me and gave me hope. The Senior Chapel Service, led entirely by the graduates, was a rich blend of liturgy and music, old and new. I was invited with others to participate in the presentation of crosses to graduates. To each I said: "Wear this cross and remember that evil and death have no power over life and love!" Again I watched the shining eyes of faith that had nurtured me and continues to nurture the faithful in that sacred space.

Commencement on Friday was at First United Methodist Church in Evanston where I had often worshipped and, on one occasion, was privileged to hear and meet The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Our speaker was Dr. Justo L. Gonzalez, a distinguished Methodist historian and theologian. He used as his text Acts 16:6-15 which recounts Paul's vision to "Come over to Macedonia." Expecting to find a synagogue he finds Lydia, and with her begins to build a community. Gonzalez pointed out that when God gives a vision, we don't have to know everything, and, if we just begin with what we know, the future will surprise us. As I watched the graduates receive their degrees, and remembered my own graduation fifty years ago, I thought of Jane Marshall's words:

"Give thanks for the past, for those who had vision, who planted and watered so dreams could come true. Give thanks for the now, for study, for worship, for mission that bids us to turn prayer into deed. Give thanks for tomorrow, full of surprises, for knowing whatever tomorrow may bring, the Word is our promise always, forever; we rest in God’s keeping and live in God’s love."

I had received a vision that would be full of surprises. It was rooted in the call of Christ: "Follow me." It was nurtured by the church where I grew up, and in the seedbed of seminary education where I was challenged and equipped. I was blessed by well prepared teachers and preachers. I was inspired by musicians who took pride in their craft and taught us that good music is a servant of the whole gospel. I was taught to be attentive to scripture and open to the Spirit. I was invited to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God - to reach out and take somebody's hand, to make the world a better place. Fifty years later, with those who had shared my journey, and those who were beginning theirs, I have discovered that the vision is as fresh and alive today as it was then. Thanks be to God.

F. Richard Garland
Garrett Biblical Institute Class of '64
May 2014

Class of 1963 Memory Book

On the eve of Garrett-Evangelical’s 156^th Commencement, the classes of 1963 from Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) and Garrett Theological Seminary (GTS) returned to their alma mater.  As they do, memories from a previous era are sure to follow. Such was an era of typewriters, not computers; community phones, not iPhones; and chalkboards, not projection screens. In those days, the Garrett Tower housed a basketball court, ETS was a seminary of the Evangelical United Brethren Church located in Naperville, and Lake Michigan was a stone’s throw from the Garrett dorms. The changes at Garrett-Evangelical are certainly numerable and if you see a 1963 graduate, you’ll be sure to hear about it!

The Class of 1963 connects us to the past, but they also connect us to the future. When they graduated, they entered a world where African Americans and Caucasian Americans were far from equal, where an ordained woman was a rarity, and where the United States was still reeling from the assassination of its president. Although their present seemed bleak, they went into the world as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors. They ministered to multicultural congregations on the South Side of Chicago, soldiers in the war, hospital patients, and the oppressed citizens of South Korea.  In essence, they did what they could do to change the world around them.

The world in which the class of 2013 has entered is better because of the ministries of those from the class of 1963. When the graduates of 1963 anointed the class of 2013 in Senior Chapel, they passed on on the torch. There is a lot of uncertainty for the Class of 2013, but they too will go out as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors.  They too will minister to diverse congregations, to the sick and dying, and to the oppressed and hopeless and in their own way, they will change the world around them.

Class of 1962 Celebrates 50 Years of Ministry

Students waiting on the stairwell
to register for classes.

On the eve of Garrett-Evangelical’s 155^th Commencement, the classes of 1962 from Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) and Garrett Theological Seminary (GTS) will return to their alma mater.  As they do, memories from a previous era are sure to follow.  Such was an era of typewriters, not computers; community phones, not iPhones; and chalkboards, not projection screens.  In those days, the Garrett Tower housed a basketball court, ETS was a seminary of the Evangelical United Brethren Church located in Naperville, and Lake Michigan was a stone’s throw from the Garrett dorms. The changes at Garrett-Evangelical are certainly numerable and if you see a 1962 graduate, you’ll be sure to hear about it!

The Class of 1962 connects us to the past, but they also connect us to the future.  When they graduated, they entered a world where African Americans and Caucasian Americans were far from equal, where an ordained woman was a rarity, and where the United States was hopelessly involved in an unwinnable and costly war.  Although their present seemed bleak, they went into the world as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors.  They ministered to multicultural congregations on the South Side of Chicago, soldiers in the war, hospital patients, and the oppressed citizens of South Korea.  In essence, they did what they could do to change the world around them.

The world in which the class of 2012 will enter is better because of the ministries of those from the class of 1962.  When the graduates of 1962 anoint the class of 2012 in Senior Chapel on Friday, they will be passing on the torch.  There is a lot of uncertainty for the Class of 2012, but they too will go out as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors.  They too will minister to diverse congregations, to the sick and dying, and to the oppressed and hopeless and in their own way, they will change the world around them.

Class of 1962 Golden Anniversary Memory Book