After serving in pastoral ministry in the Evangelical Covenant Church for years prior to coming to North Park Theological Seminary, Bret has a desire to help students navigate the liminal space between their classroom content and their ministry context through Field Education. As the Director of CALL, he is responsible for student internship credit hours and two modules. He does teach some ministry courses and leadership courses. Bret says, 鈥淚 love the intersection between knowledge (orthodoxy) and practice (orthopraxy) so this position seems to fit that vision.鈥�
Bret Widman
Assoc Prof of Ministry and Dir of Contextual and Lifelong Le
Bret Widman is director of the CRUX program, North Park鈥檚 Christian discipleship living-learning program. 鈥淲e will not only inform our heads with knowledge, but we will engage our hearts with relationships. We will evaluate our faith through the lens of loving God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength and then loving our neighbors as ourselves,鈥� he says.
His classes guide students through discussion to discover the richness of biblical text. CRUX is also about engaging with surrounding communities. Throughout the year Widman and his students engage with ministries and churches in Chicago.
Widman鈥檚 inspiration for leading and sharing with students in CRUX stems from his own academic experiences. He shares what he learned about grace from one of his professors, Dallas Willard. To Willard, grace is “actually God acting in your life to accomplish what you cannot accomplish on your own” (The Great Omission). 鈥淭aking Spirituality and Ministry from Dallas Willard gave me the vision, intention, and means for a discipleship paradigm.鈥� Now it is Widman’s desire that his students would understand the width, depth, height, and length of God’s love for them.