Driven by a desire to get as far away from Oklahoma as possible while also moving as close to the ocean as possible, Anne Walker followed in her father’s footsteps to attend Claremont School of Theology CST. She came for her M.Div. degree, and instead left with two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. Today, Anne directs the field education program at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she supports students’ discernment process during a dedicated year in supervised ministry.
Claremont School of Theology is one of the 13 United Methodist seminaries supported by the Ministerial Education Fund apportionment of the United Methodist Church.
Decades earlier, Anne’s father, the Rev. Dr. Jerald Walker, made his journey from Oklahoma to Claremont. This son of a dairy farmer and a Cherokee native grew up in rural Oklahoma and earned his Doctor of Religion degree from the school in 1966. Anne and her father were deeply influenced by her paternal grandmother, Trula Tosh Jackson Walker — an avid reader and lover of both history and politics. She instilled a passion in them for learning and for advocating for indigenous and other marginalized peoples.
Anne’s call to seminary came after attending an Easter worship service with her parents at Bixby First United Methodist Church in Bixby, Oklahoma where she witnessed a female pastor in leadership. “I remember just sitting there thinking ‘Oh, I could do that.’” Her parents eagerly affirmed, and she soon headed to CST.
While her plan was to get a Master of Divinity degree, a preaching assessment quickly changed that. “It just scared the living daylights out of me,” she explained. So, she changed directions and discovered feminist and womanist theological ethics and “a love for thinking about theology and culture.”
Jerald had grown up attending Bixby UMC where his pastor continuously encouraged him to go into ministry. So, upon graduation from high school, he attended Oklahoma City University (with a full scholarship), then went on to the University of Chicago Divinity School, and finally to Claremont for his doctoral degree.
One day while walking across campus, Anne had the revelation that CST’s “particular kind of theology and ethics” was, in fact, “the faith orientation” that her parents had nurtured in her.
She says her time at CST helped to prepare her for her current work. “I learned how to interweave vocational discernment in a student’s theological education in an ongoing way, so a student is always thinking about how the elements of what they’re doing relate to their sense of call.”
“I think it just meant everything to him to be able to come back to Claremont and be recognized as a graduate who had done significant work. It was also really meaningful to him that I went there also,” Anne shared.
excerpt from a story on the Claremont School of Theology website, Claremont, CA
One of seven apportioned giving opportunities of The United Methodist Church, the Ministerial Education Fund is at the heart of preparing people for making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The 13 United Methodist seminaries help students to discover their calling through the challenging curriculum. The fund enables the church to increase financial support for recruiting and educating ordained and diaconal ministers and to equip annual conferences to meet increased demands. Please encourage your leaders and congregations to support the Ministerial Education Fund apportionment at 100 percent.
