MTS Experiences Influence Life Choices

Grebel first offered the Master of Theological Studies (MTS) degree in 1987, describing it as “evangelical, ecumenical, and Anabaptist-Mennonite in focus.” The program was developed in response to a need for Ontario-based leadership training for pastors. Today, the program has widened in purpose and is designed for those exploring vocations of ministry and service, those preparing for pastoral ministry, chaplaincy, or further graduate studies, and those seeking personal enrichment. A decade ago, Grebel began offering the MTS in a conjoint-degree partnership with the University of Waterloo.

TS graduates go on to do surprising and interesting things with their lives. Below are stories from just a few of our diverse graduates. Ask around, you may have an MTS grad in your neighbourhood!

MARTA SIMPSON-TIRONE

On a six-month volunteer term, during a visit to a Mother Teresa House, Marta Simpson-Tirone (MTS ’10) felt called to her current career. She had just finished an undergraduate degree at McMaster University and was volunteering in orphanages and schools in remote villages in Nepal. “Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity had created a safe space to die, in an area that is deemed sacred to the Hindus and Buddhists who live there,” said Marta. “After visiting this home, I decided that I wanted to care for the spirituality of people at end of life. Regardless of what that spirituality was, I wanted to advocate to make sure that what was important to them spiritually at the most vulnerable time in their life, was granted.”

After she returned home, Marta applied to Grebel’s MTS program in preparation to becoming a Chaplain. She then completed a residency through the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care at St. Joseph’s hospital in Hamilton, and is now an associate member of CASC and a Registered Psychotherapist. She is currently the Spiritual Care Provider/Chaplain for the McMaster Children’s Hospital.

“My MTS degree prepared me for my chosen career—it centred me. It gave me concrete tools to use within my practice,” Marta reflected. “I chose Grebel because I wanted a broader understanding of the Mennonite Community. I am Catholic and have studied Buddhism and Hinduism but felt that I was lacking in understanding of the Reformed and Protestant traditions. I felt studying at Grebel would help to expand my understanding.”

While she enjoyed many courses in her program, such as Ministry to Dying and Grieving Persons, and Ritual, Marta’s favorite course was the Integration Seminar. “It helped me to challenge and eventually solidify my own view of my faith,” she said. “I wrote a thesis on spiritual care from the Catholic perspective, and realized through my research that to be a Catholic providing spiritual care means caring for the soul of the other and providing spiritual support in whichever way the other needed it. I interpreted this to mean, for example, that if the Muslim patient needs to know the direction to Mecca or to have their bed face a specific direction, as they are nearing death, then it is my job as a Catholic and as a Spiritual Care Provider to help them to fulfill this.”

In her work, Marta especially enjoys hearing stories shared by patients and their families. “I always feel so honored to be welcomed into such a private and vulnerable time and gifted with the stories they share.”

JONATHAN BRUBACHER

“My journey to ministry began with a seed of an idea planted in my mind when I finished high school, but left dormant at that point,” explained Jonathan Brubacher (MTS ’16). Describing it as a winding path towards his role as Associate Pastor of Youth Ministries at Elmira Mennonite Church, Jonathan first studied wildlife biology, worked in environmental consulting and on a chicken farm, and spent some time traveling before starting his MTS degree at Grebel. “God began presenting open doors for ministry in the church through involvement in my home congregation of Zion Mennonite and then increasing roles at Elmira Mennonite. My choice to walk through those doors came in part because of people watering the seed that had been planted years earlier, through encouragement and then affirmation at each step along the way. God has been faithful through the journey!”

Jonathan had not planned on a degree beyond his undergrad, but as he began exploring a ministry career, he realized that having some theological training would be an asset. “It felt like a gift to study part-time while working in ministry part-time. As new insights came up in class and discussion, I could pair them with my experience in the church,” said Jonathan. He also found that the Biblical courses and pastoral care courses helped build confidence in his own pastoral identity and confidence.

Thinking back to his first term in the MTS program, Jonathan felt that he had entered a world that was quite out of his comfort zone. Soon he realized that “I was part of a beautiful mosaic of folks who came to the MTS with different goals and very different back stories. I wasn’t the only one feeling like I had stepped into a new realm of learning.”
Inspired by the youth he works with, Jonathan loves seeing them make discoveries about themselves and God. “I love when they try something that pushes them a bit beyond their comfort zone and then find joy in the experience.” He appreciates their desire to connect with each other, explore, and ask questions. “I hope that in some way God will work through me to reveal to youth how loved they are as children of God, and the beauty of living life in relationship with God.”

RANDEL HAMEL

Randel Hamel (BA ’73, MTS ’95) observed that on the surface there was little direct correlation between the MTS program and his profession in law as Senior Counsel to Family and Children’s Services of Waterloo Region. But he remarked, “I smiled to myself in acknowledging that the exegetical work with Professor John Miller was not completely unlike the statutory interpretation I would do before a court.”

Now retired, Randel found his job rewarding as he focused on child protection, custody, access, and adoption. “The relational parts of the job were the most fulfilling. I tried to put a human face on the court system for parties and witnesses so that acting ‘in the best interests of children’ would be more than a cliché.”

Randel was a part-time MTS student, taking one course per term for as many years as necessary to complete the degree. “It supplemented my professional life by allowing me to ask the ‘big’ questions in a caring and supportive environment. The nature of the MTS program with its various academic requirements also forced me into areas that I would not have discovered on my own. In making me a better person I became a better lawyer.”

Looking back at his experience in the MTS program, Randel notes that “I both enjoyed and respected the faculty and the students in the program. The alternative modelling for conflict resolution was a good counterpoint to someone trained in a traditional adversarial process. I was able to apply some of these skills in settlement negotiations and avoid the painful ordeals of a formal trial. My time at Grebel enhanced this direction of practice.”

BETHANY TULLOCH

While moving to Northern Ontario and opening a stone hearth bakery may not seem like the most natural next step after completing an MTS degree, Bethany Tulloch’s (MTS ’12) reasons are compelling. Opening the bakery with her husband Nicholas Higgins was their way of attempting to make a living from the place they live and becoming highly interdependent with their community.

Soon after beginning her MTS degree, Bethany realized that her dream of becoming a prison chaplain was unrealistic, due to government budget cuts. But she stuck with the program for personal exploration in “how now to live and what an ethical and holy life looked like for me in this time and place,” recalled Bethany. “Doing my MTS was like having a very wise companion join me on that journey: pushing me to ask deeper questions, have more grace, keep working out my salvation. What I learned from the things I read, the conversations I had, the thinking I did, and the people I met is so thickly braided within my spirit, my MTS degree has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on my life choices.”