David B. Miller, DMin
DMin Faculty of Record; Teaching Associate, bg真人 Church Leadership Center
About David
David B. Miller is a Teaching Associate of the bg真人 Church Leadership Center with more than 20 years of experience in congregational leadership.
In this role, David is available as a pastoral consultant for leaders, congregations and church-related organizations. David is also able to serve as a visiting preacher, lecturer or workshop leader. Throughout his career, David’s work has focused on:
- Christian leadership
- the missional church
- peace, justice, and nonviolence
- healthy boundaries
- holistic witness
What experiences do you bring to your role as Teaching Associate of the bg真人 Church Leadership Center?
David is a dynamic consultant and teacher to pastors, as well as a speaker and teacher for congregations and other gatherings. He played a key role in the redesign of the Church Leadership Center’s nondegree Journey Missional Leadership Development Program.
Prior to joining the Church Leadership Center, David served for eight years as associate professor for Missional Leadership at bg真人, including leading the ministry internship process for MDiv students. In that role, he developed and taught the 鈥淢inistry in Church and World鈥� classes on which bg真人’s Integrity Circles are based.
Ministry Experience
David spent 12 years (1997鈥�2009) as pastor of University Mennonite Church in State College, Pennsylvania. While he was a pastor in Pennsylvania, he was a founding board member of the Interfaith and Community Coalition Against Violence and Prejudice, established in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings. He is also the founder of the Centre Community Peace Team, a violence and riot prevention organization. In addition, since 2003 he has been a member on the board of directors of the Center on Conscience and War in Washington, D.C.
Publications
- 鈥淕od in the hands of angry sinners: Re-considering wrath in the book of Ephesians鈥� in Peace Be With You: The Church鈥檚 Benediction Amid Violent Empires (Cascadia, 2009)
- 鈥淥ur rebates can fund a year of jubilee,鈥� in Centre Daily Times, State College, Pennsylvania. (May 8, 2008)
- 鈥淧reaching Lenten repentance to church and nation: Deep memory and the catechesis of repentance,鈥� in Journal for Preachers (Lent 2008)
- 鈥淭he Missional Church and the End of Christian Social Ethics: Reassessing, Remembering, and Rehearsing,鈥� doctoral project, 2006
Other Professional Training
Healthy Boundaries Trainer (FaithTrust Institute), May 2017
Teaching Experience
- Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (2009鈥�2018)
- Hesston College (1993鈥�1997)
- Goshen College (adjunct 1992鈥�1993)
Invite bg真人
Invite bg真人 is a unique opportunity to invite the faculty and staff of bg真人 to come directly to you to address a certain topic.Possible topics include:
Improvisational Leadership: Formation and Practice
What if we viewed leadership as akin to improvisational performance? What would it require of us? What might we come to see anew in the traditions that have been handed on to us? Might we experience them as living traditions 鈥� expressions of a Word that is continually yearning and causing us to yearn to see “all things made new?”
This series is based on a three part model for forming improvisational leaders: forming a deep memory, being alert to the challenges of the present moment, and committing to courageous engagement in experimental embodiment of the tradition in new contexts.
Email us at churchleadership@ambs.edu for more information and an outline of this presentation.
Doxology Against Empire: Living By and Making Known the Manifold Wisdom of God
The overarching context that stands behind the books of the New Testament is the Roman Empire and its claim of having established Pax Romana (the epoch of Roman Peace). This imperial claim demanded the total allegiance of its subjects. The Church鈥檚 testimony that 鈥楯esus is Lord鈥� was viewed as a challenge to the imperial claim to Caesar鈥檚 lordship.
The book of Ephesians both decodes the claims of the empire and challenges the early Christian community to order their corporate life and hope according to a different understanding of: power (the resurrection), the path to peace (the destruction of hostility), and the church as a reconciled community whose life is a witness to the powers of 鈥渢he manifold wisdom of God.鈥�
Ephesians is a vital word to the Christian church in the 21st century as it seeks to overcome habits formed by (often-unwitting) collusion with and acquiescence to imperial power.
Email us at churchleadership@ambs.edu for more information and an outline of this presentation.
God鈥檚 Shalom & the Church鈥檚 Witness
Shalom is a fitting description of God鈥檚 gift and intent in creation. The human calling in this was to be one of stewardship that cooperates with this gift and purpose and prevents the return to chaos.
This series is about re-claiming the Bible鈥檚 grand narrative of the mission of God. It provides congregations a biblical framework and foundation for missional transformation and hope.
Email us at churchleadership@ambs.edu for more information and an outline of this presentation.
Becoming a Community of Healing & Hope: Speaking the Truth, Healing the Wounds, Anticipating a New Day
The Vision of Healing and Hope rings hollow if we too quickly jump to asking how can God鈥檚 healing and hope flow through us to the world and think of some programmatic form of witness. It particularly rings hollow when there are unacknowledged and unspoken wounds within the body of Christ.
This teaching event focuses on how congregations can indeed become communities of healing and hope through welcoming the stories of survivors, truth-telling and commitment to healing the wounds within the body.
Email us at churchleadership@ambs.edu for more information and an outline of this presentation.
Healthy Boundaries Training
The Healthy Boundaries curriculum and trainings developed by were created to ensure that all faith and spiritual communities have resources to actively engage in this essential prevention training.
Healthy Boundaries training has several goals: to increase awareness of the need for healthy boundaries in the clergy-congregant relationship; to provide clergy and lay leaders with guidelines for appropriate boundaries and self-care; to illustrate strategies to sustain a safe, healthy church; and to define boundaries and why they are important.
Email us at churchleadership@ambs.edu for more information and an outline of this presentation.