How has a theological education helped you respond: alums reflect on passion
02-01-2023
McCormick alums reflect on passion: what is burning within you? How has a theological education helped you respond?
Committed leadership is at the heart of philanthropy, which yields and fastens to a strict mandate to serve others. This passion has driven Dr. Sanja Rickette Stinson to become the founding CEO of Matthew House, where she has done for over thirty years. The nonprofit is a daytime supportive service center located in the heart of the Bronzeville on the south side of Chicago providing food, daytime shelter, supportive services, and permanent supportive housing for needy men, women, and families experiencing homelessness.
Sanja accredited her entrepreneurial parents, who laid the foundation and taught her the value of service to the church and community. For example, Dr. Sanja would often witness her parents provide meals to individuals who were homeless and feed anyone needing food in their neighborhood.
Dr. Stinson contributes her theological training from McCormick Theological Seminary, earning her Master of Divinity. My theological journey taught me to be unafraid to step outside the various theological boxes and move beyond the church walls leads to service to the community. The education assisted and strengthen her beliefs on how the church and marketplace must come together to benefit God's people.
It's given her the strength to think beyond the walls of the church, assisting her in building solid advocacy where she has been able to merge serving others, whether in the church or marketplace. Her theological education led her to establish a local church and become a bestselling author, providing training for men and women who serve as Senior Pastors and Chaplains within the community.
Rev. Dr. Sanja Rickette Stinson, MDiv 2009
As we are in 2023, the old things were gone, and the new things are ahead. In ahead, many things will be challenging. Nowadays what is burning within me is about mission. Many people try to identify the right word for mission or missions. Some people prefer on the word “mission” which means more about what the church does for God in the world. On the other hand, some people more prefer on “missions” which means Evangelism, Discipleship, and church planting. Or in the theological term of Missiology that would include the social, historical, and religious setting of people in the world. Some people focus so much to identify the true meaning of mission or missions, I do not mean that is wrong at all and I do not try to identity missions or missions. But as I am working as mission minister and working at an immigration church, I firstly try to let the people understand that mission is God’s project, and we all are graciously invited to take part in it because I do not want people to think they cannot participate or be involved in it. I encourage them to understand and think simply that we are called to be the light of the world and to other people. We all matter in the eyes of God.
Pastor Dennis Dawt Lian Sang, MDiv Class of 2022
Rev. Dr. Sanja Rickette Stinson MDiv 2009
Pastor Dennis Dawt Lian Sang
MDiv Class of 2022