Johnson C. Smith Seminary professor emphasizes link between local, global missions for emerging church leaders
The Rev. Dr. Marsha Snulligan Haney
The Rev. Dr. Marsha Snulligan Haney realized her call to global mission work years ago, and now she works to ensure the development of leaders who understand the connection between the congregation and service involving local and global issues.
“I try to teach these students an understanding of God’s mission as it relates to the congregation in terms of both local and global mission,” said Snulligan Haney, professor of missiology and religions of the world at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. “Those two are connected. They don’t have to make a choice.”
A graduate of Atlanta-based Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary herself with master’s degrees in religious education and divinity, Snulligan Haney spent time in foreign mission work with the Sudan Council of Churches. “That really began my journey, my interest in mission.”
She also earned a master’s degree in theology and a doctorate in missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary. In 1994 Snulligan Haney accepted a call to teach at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary.
There Snulligan Haney, a Presbyterian, said she builds on the term glocal to help teach her students.
“The students can grasp that term very easily,” she said. “We begin by looking at local issues,” such as poverty and homelessness.
Most congregations, for example, have some type of food pantry, Snulligan Haney said. So her students look at how to address the needs of the hungry in the local community, then consider that those same issues that caused hunger locally also are ones affecting the global community, she said.
Ultimately, part of our call is to ask the larger question — why is there hunger in Atlanta and elsewhere, said Snulligan Haney, whose publications include Evangelism among African American Presbyterians: Making Plain the Sacred Story and Africentric Approaches to Christian Ministry: Strengthening Urban Congregations in African American Communities.
Trips abroad to countries such as Kenya and Tanzania also help in the development of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary leaders. Students see how the church is responding globally, which will help expand the vision of church leaders in the United States, Snulligan Haney said.
Issues such as HIV/AIDS are examined in context as students learn the importance of pastoral and congregational care and “how to be pastoral in our response,” she said.
Snulligan Haney said Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, which is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center, is uniquely positioned to train leaders particularly for African American communities and across the ecumenical spectrum.
Along with the Presbyterian faculty at the seminary, ITC provides leadership training in how to work with various faith traditions, including United Methodist, Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal, Christian Methodist Episcopal and Church of God in Christ.
Through this diverse environment, the seminary helps students grasp a variety of views, Snulligan Haney said.
“We are preparing pastors and religious leaders for both the congregation as well as diverse kinds of ministries,” she said.
