Recent MTS graduate, Danielle Raimbault, is associate pastor at Listowel Mennonite Church in Ontario, as well as chaplain at a long-term care residence. Raimbault found her education to be instrumental in preparing for ministry in the church. “The Applied stream courses offered practical advice for the everyday of pastoral ministry,” noted Raimbault. “The Bible courses taught me in-depth ways to research and prepare for sermons. I learned how to read the Bible in ways that are more helpful and I gained a deeper understanding of the Bible and what it means to me. By understanding the context of the Bible—both at the time when it was written and as it is read today—the Bible becomes more personal to me.”
Pastoral Care, taught by Professor Carol Penner, was Raimbault’s favourite course. “Carol’s class put us in situations that I first assumed would not come up at all in pastoral care. But this class prepared me for situations that congregation members find themselves in every day. It taught me to be a better listener and to better understand myself as a pastoral caregiver.”
“With intense and good discussion around gender in the church, Allan’s preaching class was an amazing experience,” reflected Raimbault, after taking a course taught by Visiting Professor Allan Rudy-Froese from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. In response to this course, Raimbault and three other women are coordinating a women’s preaching conference called Empowered Women Preach. The mission of the conference is to raise a generation of Spirit-filled women who are encouraged and equipped to proclaim Christ for the renewal of their local church communities. For more information on this May 2018 conference, visit www.empoweredwomenpreach.com