Peace, Justice & Service Program

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, so 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 instead of only 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 U.S. among Top National Bachelor's Colleges, and #1 in Indiana, in Washington Monthly's ranking of how much a college gives back to the public good.

Theological Studies & Christian Ministries
Deepen your faith, serve your community, and lead with purpose.
Peace, Justice & Conflict Studies
Transform conflict, challenge injustice, and build lasting peace.
Global Studies (Minor)
Expand your worldview, cross cultural boundaries, and become a global citizen.
Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies (Minor)
Discover a rich heritage of peacemaking, faith, and radical hospitality.

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.
The service half: for the rest of the term you move to a smaller community for a service assignment, sometimes on your own or 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 even if a full semester abroad does not fit your schedule.

“A quiet place with some great opportunities, where you get out what you put in. I saw that firsthand interning at the Elkhart County Courthouse, and the people here are always ready to help you along the way. So make the most of it.”

William Jackson '26
Elkhart County Courthouse Intern

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 take on 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 any decision about seminary.

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