Peace, Justice & Service Program

Peace, Justice & Conflict StudiesGlobal Studies (Minor)Theological Studies & Christian MinistriesAnabaptist-Mennonite Studies
a student studying a paper, part of a ring of students, some wearing jail clothes

Peace, justice and the courage to serve

  • Engage the world to understand it: Goshen’s peace, justice and service programs start from one conviction: that you can’t truly understand the world without engaging it directly. At GC, the learning is built around doing rather than studying from a distance.
  • Rooted in a peacemaking tradition: The work grows out of a long Mennonite tradition of peacemaking and servant leadership, a moral center that shapes how you study conflict, reconciliation, theology and ministry.
  • Put the learning to work: You don’t stop at theory. You take what you study into the field through internships and the Ministry Inquiry Program, and many students go further with Goshen’s signature Study-Service Term.
  • The courage to serve, not just study: The goal is to send you out ready to act on what you believe, with the tools to work for peace and justice in real communities communities, not just  in the classroom.
  • 8000+
    students have studied and served abroad through Study-Service Term since 1968, across 25 countries
  • 400
    hours of supervised field placement that every social work major completes before graduating
  • #4
    in the US, and #1 in Indiana, among bachelor's colleges in Washington Monthly's ranking of how much a college gives back to the public good

    Explore each program

      SST India

      Study-Service Term

      • The study half: You spend the first part of the term studying language and culture with a small group of classmates and faculty leaders, usually based in a country’s capital like Quito, Ecuador and more.
      • The service half: For the rest of the term you move to a smaller community for a service assignment, usually with one other student, working somewhere like a clinic, a school, a farm or a local organization.
      • More than one format: Goshen College offers domestic and shorter options, so you can take part in studying globally even if a full semester abroad can’t work for you.

      • Goshen College is one of the very few academic institutions anywhere in the world to place such an extraordinary emphasis on service towards universal rights, equity and justice… it is what set me on the path to try and become a true global citizen.

        Shashi Buluswar '90

        FACULTY AT UC BERKELEY, AND THE CEO OF GLOBAL HEALTH LABS

      Ministry Inquiry Program

      • A summer inside real congregational life: MIP places you in a church for the summer, serving full time alongside an on-site pastor who mentors you and helps you learn the actual work of ministry.
      • Work shaped by your gifts and the church’s needs: What you do depends on your own strengths and what the congregation needs, whether that’s leading worship, teaching, making pastoral visits or preaching, so no two students have the same summer.
      • A low-stakes way to test a calling: For many students, the summer becomes a way to see what role ministry might play in their life and whether they sense a call, well before they have to make a decision about seminary.
      Ministry Inquiry Program

      Put your convictions to work.

      One application opens the door to every peace, justice and service program at Goshen.

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