40th Annual Commencement

On May 29, 2021, Westminster Seminary California celebrated its 40th annual commencement exercises. Thirty-two master’s degrees were awarded, including 18 Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and 14 Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees. The Class of 2021 is comprised of men and women from 9 U.S. states and 8 countries. These graduates join the more than 1,200 WSC alumni who are serving as pastors, church planters, missionaries, teachers, scholars, counselors, and lay leaders in more than 30 countries around the world. In addition to the 2021 graduates, the seminary invited the entire Class of 2020 to participate in the commencement exercises since the 2020 commencement was virtual due to state regulations during the pandemic.

Dr. Dennis E. Johnson, WSC Professor emeritus of Practical Theology, delivered the charge to the graduates, titled, “Him We Proclaim.” Speaking on Colossians 1:24-2:3, Dr. Johnson encouraged the graduates to preach Christ crucified, which is the only panacea for the world’s pandemic of sin and death. Other guest participants included Rev. John Kong (Pastor of Christian Education at New Life Presbyterian Church, Escondido), Rev. Chad Vegas (Senior Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Bakersfield), and Rev. William Chang (Senior Pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church of Orange County, Fullerton).

The Class of 2021 experienced disruptions caused by the global pandemic for more than a year. We are thankful to our students who remained faithful and resilient despite many changes and challenges, for our faculty and administration who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support these students, and for our friends and partners of the seminary who remained generous and faithful in the midst of uncertainties. Most of all, we give thanks to the Lord for his abundant provision and protection. Please join us in praying that the Class of 2021 will be filled with the joy of Christ and his gospel wherever the Lord calls them to serve.

Video from the commencement service and personal reflections from six of the graduates are available online at wscal.edu/commencement-2021

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Dennis E. Johnson’s 2021 commencement address, “Him We Proclaim.”

In our own time of plague, how will you, graduates, minister to frightened people, suffering people, and still probably people who are in denial? What will you say? In fact, looking beyond just the coronavirus issue, in our own time of political polarization, what do you have to offer to a shattered world? In our own time of injustice and violence in American streets, schools, shopping malls, and the rest of the world, what do you have to say? What does this deeply wounded world populated by dying men and women – whether they realize it or not – what does this world need to hear from Westminster Seminary California graduates?

The apostle Paul writes to the Colossians and says simply this: “Him we proclaim” (Col. 1:28)…. He speaks to the whole people of God who have put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love. And then he says to all of us, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.” So it’s for all of us: talk about Christ. And, of course, this is not the only place where Paul sums up the whole message that he preaches: I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing but Jesus Christ crucified. So Jesus Christ was not only intrinsic to Paul’s message, Christ is exhaustive of Paul’s message. That’s all he wanted to talk about. Now put that theme alongside what Paul said to the elders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20: In effect, “I held nothing back. I taught you everything that would do you good.” So how do those two summaries of Christian preaching go together? Nothing but Christ crucified, and that means anything and everything that you need to fare well in this fallen, broken world. It sounds as if Paul is claiming that Christ is God’s panacea to the world’s pandemic of sin and death. A panacea promises to cure whatever ails you…. How could he say that? If we could ask Paul today, “How dare you make such a claim? For our time of plague, how dare you say that?” What would he say? We don’t have to speculate; we have his epistles. And that in a sense is what he is answering throughout his epistles. He talks about who Christ is, what Christ has done, and what Christ is doing to bring redemption to our guilt-stained world, to bring reconciliation to our conflict-shattered world, and to bring resurrection life to our deathcursed world….

I would daresay that in the superb education that you received at Westminster Seminary California, you are just beginning to discover the glory and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is our privilege – and yours as graduates – to keep spending the rest of your lives following in Paul’s footsteps learning Christ more and then sharing Christ, following Paul’s focus as he says to the Philippians his goal “that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Come to know Christ. In him you have the panacea for the world’s woes. As dying people interacting with dying people, proclaim him! What message, what mission, could compare with that?

GRADUATE QUOTES

ALAN GILES | M.Div. “It's our duty to walk out of this seminary and out of this wonderful village into a dying world proclaiming the everlasting life that is found in Jesus Christ alone.”

TIAGO FERREIRA DA CUNHA | M.Div. “I made friends here who I'm taking with me in my heart. Now I'm going back to my country and I'm taking with me great memories of this institution.”

KENDRA DAHL | MAHT “This mom went to seminary afraid she wouldn't fit, that she might fail, that she would quit. By God's grace and the generous love of his people, I was completely wrong.”

AUSTIN REIFEL | M.Div. “The struggles faced here are only but the beginning of what is ahead. But I can promise that in the midst of the grind, our god is faithful.”

T I ME E T LEA R N

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