Seminary commencement to be held May 2
Published: April 8, 2026
ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) — Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) will hold its 2026 Commencement Service on Saturday, May 2, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. EDT in the Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount on the AMBS campus in Elkhart, Indiana. The public is invited to attend via livestream at ambs.edu/graduation.
The service, which will honor 28 candidates for graduation who are completing degrees and certificates, will mark several milestones. Two students will be the first to earn a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership through a program that launched in January 2023, and 10 students will be the first to complete the Mennonite Church USA Hispanic Ministries – AMBS Graduate Certificate in Theology, a fully online Spanish-language certificate program that began in August 2023. Seven candidates will earn a Master of Arts: Theology and Global Anabaptism; four will earn a Master of Divinity; one will earn a Master of Arts: Theology and Peace Studies; and four will receive a Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies.
In addition, eight students who are part of a Master of Arts: Theology and Global Anabaptism cohort through the Nehemiah Institute for Christian Studies in Seoul, South Korea, will attend the service together in person during a special visit to the AMBS campus. They will be recognized in advance of completing their degrees in 2027.
Rev. Leonard Dow of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will bring the commencement address. Since 2017, he has served Everence as Vice President of Community and Church Development and as leader of the Everence team in Philadelphia. In this role, he leads efforts to resource emerging diverse communities and congregations that historically have been underserved. Dow previously served as Pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia for nearly 20 years and also founded the Oxford Circle Christian Community Development Association. A graduate of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, he received EMU’s Distinguished Service Award in 2017. He is a board member for the Brooklyn (New York) Peace Center and The Common Place, a community center in Southwest Philadelphia.
Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs — all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world. ambs.edu
— AMBS release
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