A Partnership Called Immerse
This is an exciting year for Immerse! Fifteen new students, representing thirteen of our churches, are currently embarking on their Immerse journey. The partnership of our churches and seminary in this initiative continues to be the main catalyst for leader development in our Fellowship. Over the past year, the Joint Immerse Management Team (JIM Team), consisting of members of Northwest Seminary & College and Fellowship Pacific Ministry Centre staff, have been collaborating to develop a new avenue for Immerse students. As of this fall, together, we have launched a 2-year Master of Arts in Biblical Leadership track within Immerse.
This program has opened the door for training men and women called to ministry, who are looking for the leadership development component along with a firm grounding in theology. Although not as robust in content as the 4-year Master of Divinity, the MABL program contains some of the foundational components of the leadership and theology competencies that Immerse champions. The element of self-awareness and personal growth remains a strong aspect of both tracks and the JIM Team anticipates that the options that now exist for our churches will increase the number of students desiring to enter the program.
I am in awe of what I see God doing through the ongoing partnership between our seminary and our churches. As we continue to focus on equipping our next generation of church leaders, I want to challenge our Fellowship family to be praying for our current students and encouraging aspiring leaders to consider Immerse.
Together we continue to leverage our collective strength to make a God-honouring impact. Thank you, Fellowship family, for your commitment to partnership!
— Krista Penner
What our students are saying about Immerse:
“I have only been in Immerse for two months, however, the learning outcomes, resources, and mentors have already proven to be such a source of support and knowledge. It is very unique and remarkable that Immerse allows me to use my current ministry projects and leadership areas as part of the learning outcomes. This means that I am not only learning in hypotheticals and “what if’s,” but I am learning in real-time with a FANTASTIC team of mentors. Immerse has been challenging, exciting, and life-giving to me and I am so thankful to be a part of it. ”
“In my short time in the Immerse program so far, the thing that has impacted me the most has been the incredible model of servant leadership that I have experienced. I am blessed to have a team of mentors who sincerely care about my development and are eager to pour their knowledge into me. This has made me better equipped to pour into others and to do my part in furthering the development of church leaders in my congregation.”
“Immerse has offered me opportunities in this last year to connect with people, engage with great seminars, read incredible books and think deeply through Scripture. It’s helped me form rhythms of learning in tandem with ministry. I think we can so quickly get into the tasks of ministry (there’s always so much to be done!), that we forget to push into deeper learning and reflecting on God and His incredible ways. The program has humbled me greatly this year, showing me that I definitely don’t know what I thought I did; the more I learned, the more I realized I don’t know! This has given me a hunger to push into a life of learning and pursuing God.”