"The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11 NRSV
Nancy Hall, Associate Professor of Ministry and Director of Contextual Education
Nancy Hall
Associate Professor of Ministry and Director of Contextual Education
nhall@absw.edu; (510) 841-1905 X232B.A., San Diego State University
M.Div., American Baptist Seminary of the West
D.Min., San Francisco Theological Seminary
As a graduate of ABSW and after almost twenty years as a faculty member, I continue to be excited and blessed by the educational mission of our school. My primary interest and passion in teaching and in ministry is the field of worship. In my role as director of contextual education I have the opportunity to help students find excellent church placements for their middler year internship, a central part of our curriculum. During that year worship leadership, preaching, pastoral care, Christian education, and other basic skills of ministry are part of the teaching and learning process.
Students coming to ABSW bring a wealth of background, experience, and sensitivity to a wide variety of issues concerning Christian ministry. Taking part in discussions and "thinking out loud" is how I like to both teach and learn, through the stretching of minds and spirits. I enjoy and treasure the diversity of our students and our faculty. Christ has called us to "new visions," to affirm each other as worthy and beloved in God's sight, to break down the walls that separate, and to welcome everyone at the table.
I celebrate the wealth of resources we have available through the Graduate Theological Union. In working with other directors of contextual education across the consortium, I am able to share in the work, the ideas, and the innovations that are part of multidenominational seminary education.
It is my pleasure and privilege to be a longtime member and church musician at First Baptist Church of Berkeley, the closest American Baptist congregation to ABSW. I am active with the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, and serve on the editorial advisory board for the society¹s quarterly journal. Also, I have recently joined a team of dedicated Baptists from across the country who are at work on a new hymnal, Celebrating Grace, to be published in 2010.
PUBLICATIONS
A Manual of Worship, New Edition, was published in 1993 by Judson Press, and written by co-authors John E. Skoglund and Nancy E. Hall while both were serving on the ABSW faculty. It is intended to help ministers, lay persons, and congregations enrich their worship life and worship planning. It is designed for use by free churches,;the term "free church" refers to those congregations that do not have prescribed and required forms of worship.
Yet, like all Christian churches, the free church worship experience is to be found in the celebration of Word and Table, and in the human response present when the Word is truly preached and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper are rightly administered. The book includes Sunday services and an abundance of materials for use in public worship, prayers for the Christian year and annual church occasions, and a chapter containing various "special services," such as baptism, marriage, funerals, ordination, etc. This book has been described as "An invaluable resource for pastors, worship leaders, and seminarians as they prepare for the challenges of worship ministry."
Dr. Nancy Hall serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the quarterly journal, THE HYMN, a publication of the The Hymn Society in the the United States and Canada. Founded in 1922, the Society is for those who:-- believe that congregational song is an integral component of worship-- believe that the writing and singing of new texts and tunes needs to be promoted-- value learning about the origins of the words and music they sing This publication includes research and opinion, contained in both practical and scholarly articles. THE HYMN provides exemplary hymn texts and tunes in various styles and reflects diverse cultural, ethnic, and theological identities. Interviews, reviews of publications and recordings, historical studies, suggestions for and reports of hymn festivals, and current news provide readers with helpful information. Find out more at www.thehymnsociety.org.