Learning to Heal 

“Prevention education is nonviolence work.” As the Reverend Maddie Johnson (G-ETS ’19) reflects on writing her upcoming thesis for Garrett Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry in Leadership for Social Transformation, she names a crucial tension between calling the church to task for its insufficient commitment to sexual boundaries trainings and laboring within the denomination to mend this breach. “Working in the Great Plains Conference, I’ve seen how inadequate our resources are,” she says plainly. “I hope to use my role on the Great Plains Justice and Mercy team to really focus on clergy sexual ethics.” Her DMin courses have helped her clarify this calling, and she’s now excited to design a curriculum that will create healthier United Methodist congregations and workplaces.

For Rev. Johnson, the DMin program is a homecoming to where she earned her Master of Divinity. “Once I stepped foot into Garrett, I feel like I never left in sentiment or relationship. I’m just so grateful for my experiences here,” she shares. “I’ve always appreciated the seminary’s focus on community praxis, and when I saw Dr. Kate Ott join the faculty, I knew that the academic resources would be there to investigate how I can create a sexual ethics training that is both LGBTQ+-inclusive and survivor-centric.” Providing information about sexual boundaries shouldn’t be treated as just a box to check, Rev. Johnson notes. It’s an opportunity to intervene before harm occurs. “I genuinely believe that prevention education can ultimately curb violence,” she confesses. “Not that it will eradicate this problem, so we also must create space for people to talk about the harm that has and will continue to occur.”

For Rev. Johnson, this issue isn’t only academic—it’s deeply personal. “I care about clergy sexual ethics, in part, because I experienced the harm from how my conference responded to the complaint I filed,” she says softly. “I still have to see and share space with my abuser at Conference events. So, I told them I would continue to work for the conference remotely, but I’m going to return to the place where I have community, where I can be whole and integrated. For me, staying required leaving.” And still, while other people might have made the understandable decision to leave her conference or even ordained ministry, Rev. Johnson is committed to working so others don’thave to live through the same inadequate systems. “I believe in the institutional space, and I’m so grateful to find many avenues to care for the denomination at large,” she says. “I believe that to be part of the body of Christ, to be ordained into this order, is to live accountable to one another. I’m exploring what that looks like.”

One of the aspects that Rev. Johnson has appreciated most about the DMin program is the opportunity to learn beside other people who are committed to social transformation. “I love my cohort. You have people across denominations; in the church and out of the church; some in traditional ministry, others not,” she begins. “It’s amazing to see the lenses they bring! And since there are only seven of us, it’s an intimate group where you really get to know one another’s projects.” An added benefit to small class sizes is the individualized attention it enables. “In Dr. Angela Cowser’s course on nonviolence, she did one-on-one meetings with each of us before the class, so she could cater the curriculum to our projects,” Rev. Johnson explains. “Then, we were all assigned individual reading throughout the semester connected to our work.”

Sometimes, that individualized approach meant exchanging an entire class for something more germane to her studies. “Preaching wasn’t pertinent to what I’m trying to do, so I actually swapped Liberative Proclamation for an independent study with Dr. Ott,” she says. “I was able to read foundational theological texts focused on sexual ethics and was so glad I had that possibility. You’re a person first at Garrett, and I appreciate that very much.”

Throughout her experience in both degree programs, Rev. Johnson says she loves the way that Garrett creates space for its community: Room to heal, and room to expand her academic horizons to fuel the work to which she’scalled. “When you have close relationships to everyone in the administration and the faculty, it creates a robust academic experience but also a holistic environment that invests in you,” she concludes. “Especially when you’re tackling difficult topics like trauma-informed leadership or decolonial pedagogy, you need that integrated approach.”

Interested to learn more about how a DMin in Leadership for Social Transformation can help you pursue your vocational goals? Click here to learn more about the program and apply today!