Miller, Marlin E. (1939-1994)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 10 Nov 1994 p. 1

Birth date: 1938 Nov 29

text of obituary:

Elkhart Seminary Mourns President’s Sudden Death Miller Served in Key Inter-Mennonite Roles

By Mary E. Klassenand Rich Preheim

ELKHART, Ind. — Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary president Marlin E. Miller, hailed for fostering MC/GC unity, died of a heart attack at his home Nov. 3. He was 55.

Among the significant accomplishments of Miller’s 20 years at AMBS was his role in the joining of Goshen Biblical Seminary and Mennonite Biblical Seminary into Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary last year.

GBS, the Mennonite Church seminary; and MBS, the General Conference Mennonite Church seminary; previously shared facilities and faculty as Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries.

“He played an important role in the theological direction of the Mennonite church, specifically in integration," said George R. Brunk III, dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va., and a member of the MC/GC Integration Exploration Committee. “I think that he was one of the most creative theological minds in this generation of North American Mennonites."

Miller became GBS president in 1975 and continued in that role when was named MBS president in 1990. He then assumed the presidency of AMBS when the seminaries merged in 1993.

The funeral was held Nov. 7 at College Mennonite Church in Goshen with Duane Beck, pastor of Belmont Mennonite Church, officiating. Miller was a member of Belmont. Almost 1,000 people attended the funeral.

“Now is not the time to die, Marlin," Beck said in his meditation. “We cannot take Marlin’s place. No one can do that. The way we live now is that we each take our place in the kingdom with our gifts, our passion, our call from God, and we share that with each other.”

AMBS dean Gayle Gerber Koontz, who has been named acting president, said: “We give

AMBS Mourns President’s Death

thanks for the gift that Marlin has been and has given to the seminary and the church. We mourn what is lost and remains unfinished.”

Among the work left unfinished is the seminary's three-and-a-half-year, $11.9 million Partners for Ministry campaign, for which Miller announced a successful start in September; and the Inter-Mennonite Confession of Faith Committee, of which Miller was co-chairman.

“He brought a particular perspective,” said committee member Lois Barrett, executive secretary of the Commission on Home Ministries (GC). "He was a very clear thinker who could see the big picture. He loved the church, and his work on the confession of faith reflects his love for the church."

Of Miller's role at AMBS, seminary board member Verney Unruh of Newton, Kan., said: “Even though he was of MC background, we of GC background had full confidence in him. You just feel he had his marbles together, to use a common expression."

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He loved the church,
and his work on the confession
of faith reflects
[that]. — Lois Barrett

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Miller was born Nov. 29, 1938, in Iowa City, Iowa. He received his bachelor’s degree from Goshen College in 1960 and studied at Goshen Biblical Seminary the next year. He then pursued graduate studies in Europe, receiving his doctorate in theology from the University of Heidelberg in 1968.

From 1968 to 1974, Miller was a Mennonite Board of Missions worker in Paris. He described himself as a “missionary on extended sabbatical," said Wilbert Shenk, AMBS associate professor of missions, because he came to the seminary in 1974 as a visiting professor and stayed for 20 years.

In 1971 Miller was ordained to pastoral ministry at the Chatenay-Malabry Mennonite congregation near Paris.

He also served on several committees and projects of Mennonite Central Committee.

Miller wrote extensively for church publications and made many contributions to books. A book he edited, The Church’s Peace Witness, is scheduled to be released by Eerdmans this month.

He married Ruthann Gardner on June 12, 1960. She survives. Other survivors include two daughters, Rachel Jacobs of Goshen and Lynelle Clark of Granger; a son, Eric Miller Sommers of Lamoine, Maine; and seven grandchildren.

Memorial gifts may be sent to AMBS for the Leadership Award, a scholarship for students who have gifts for church leadership.

Koontz’s appointment as acting AMBS president was made according to the seminary's bylaws. A committee will be formed to search for an interim president.

Mary E. Klassen is communications, 
specialist for AMBS. Rich Preheim is MWR assistant
editor. The South Bend Tribune contributed 
to this report.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 17 Nov 1994 p. 12

Birth date: 1939

text of obituary

NEWTON & VICINITY

■ A memorial service for Marlin Miller, president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., who died Nov. 3, will be held Sunday, Nov. 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton. Organizers are inviting all AMBS supporters and friends of Miller’s family.

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The Mennonite obituary: 22 Nov 1994 p. 15

News

Seminary president dies of heart attack

Goshen, Ind. (AMBS) — "Grant us wisdom, grant us courage," a congregation of almost 1,000 sang at a memorial service for Marlin E. Miller, president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.

Miller, 55, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in his home on Thursday, Nov. 5. The memorial service was held Monday, Nov. 7, at College Mennonite Church in Goshen.

Miller was serving as the first joint president of AMBS, beginning in that role July 1, 1990. Prior to that he had served as president of Goshen Biblical Seminary from 1975 to 1990. Gayle Gerber Koontz, AMBS dean, will serve as acting president while arrangements are made to search for an interim president.

"We give thanks for the gift that Marlin has been and has given to the seminary and the church. We mourn what is lost and remains unfinished," Koontz said at the memorial service. She echoed the comments of many when she described how Miller "reached out across dividing walls," walls between different theological views in the church, between the Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church, between Mennonites in Canada and in the United States, between students and faculty, between the Mennonite business community and the seminary, and between the community of theological education and the church.

Among the many accomplishments of Miller's 20-year tenure with AMBS was the culmination of the joining of Goshen Biblical Seminary (CBS) and Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Although the two seminaries began their association in 1958 and had shared the campus at 3003 Bonham Avenue since 1969, the incorporation of AMBS as one seminary was completed in 1993.

In addition to his leadership roles at AMBS, Miller served in other leadership positions in the Mennonite church and other religious organizations. He served on several committees and projects with Mennonite Central Committee, and from 1986 until the present was co-chair of the Inter-Mennonite Confession of Faith Committee. Miller also served on the executive committee of the Association for Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. A book he edited, The Church's Peace Witness, was released by Eerdmans this month.

Miller was married to Ruthann Gardner on June 12, 1960. He is survived by Ruthann; two daughters and their spouses; Randy and Rachel Miller Jacobs of Goshen; Tim and Lynelle Miller Clark of Granger, Ind.; one son and his wife, Erie and Lisa Miller Sommers of Laimoine, Maine, and seven grandchildren. He was a member of Belmont Mennonite Church in Elkhart.

Miller was born Nov. 29, 1938, in Iowa City, Iowa. Later his family moved to Goshen, Ind., where he attended Bethany Christian High School. After graduating from Goshen College in 1960 and attending GBS one year, Miller and Ruthann moved to Europe, where he pursued graduate studies. He received a doctoral degree in theology from the University of Heidelberg (Germany), graduating summa cum laude.

Prom 1968 to 1974 he served with Mennonite Board of Missions in Paris. He was ordained to pastoral ministry in 1971 in the Chatenay-Malabry congregation near Paris.

People wishing to give memorial gifts may send contributions to AMBS for the Leadership Award, a scholarship program for students exhibiting gifts for church leadership. Mary E. Klassen

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The Mennonite obituary: 13 Dec 1994 p. 13

AMBS WINDOW - Tribute

Marlin E. Miller, AMBS president

It is not unusual for Marlin Miller's photo to appear here on the first page 
of AMBS Window. But instead of Marlin's words to the church, we have the church's
words of tribute to Marlin. 

His death oh Nov. 3 took everyone by surprise. Out of the shock and the grief have come 
many testimonies of Marlin's contributions to the church. We include me here. The remainder
of this issue was prepared before his death.

Mennonites lost one of their most competent leaders when Marlin E. Miller, president of AMBS, died of a massive heart attack on November 3. Marlin was 55 — an age few of us plan for our death. It's too young. There's too much left to do. Duane Berk, Marlin's pastor, said it this way at the memorial service: "Now is not the time to die. Marlin "

With pain his family must agree. Marlin had many more family memories to be made with his wife, children, and grandchildren. Marlin's congregation, community, and the seminary are also at a loss.

Marlin's work appeared to be unfinished. Yet finished or not, Marlin left us a rich legacy for our future.

He had already shown us, for example, what it takes to integrate two denominations. Marlin had pioneered in merging the GC Mennonite Biblical Seminary and the MC Goshen Biblical Seminary.

At the memorial service, dean Gayle Gerber Koontz, now acting president, described Marlin an one who reached out "across dividing walls" — building bridges between MCs and GCs, between Mennonites in Canada and the United States, between students and faculty, between the business community and the seminary, and between the “community of theological education and the church."

Marlin did it by listening, by stating his opinions and convictions, and then by listening again. Most often his goal seemed to be unity its much as anything else.

Marlin also set a course for our future with his contribution to the new joint Confession of Faith. He was cochair of the committee drafting that confession and was one of three writers. If adopted at Wichita '95, we will have a strong statement of Mennonite faith and belief.

But Marlin would not be content with words on paper The best celebration and commemoration we can make his life is to put into practice what it means to follow Jesus Christ as called for in that confession.

Marlin has also shown us how to do that. One of his friends said that Marlin modeled an approach to discipleship best described as "surprised by joy."

In an article titled "Facing the Future with Joy" he said "The future need not be only the land of uncharted uncertainties. The New Testament tells us that it is rather the playground for the kingdom of God."

That appeared to be the way Marlin lived his life with quiet joy, surprise, even play.

The kingdom as playground. Joy. Surprise. These are hard to appreciate now in these days of pain and grief. Words like "hole" and "chasm" are more appropriate to describe how we feel.

Someday we may come to understand the surprise, perhaps even the joy, of Marlin's early death. He already has.

The writer is J. Lorne Peachey, 
editor of Gospel Herald. This 
tribute is adapted from his editorial 
in the November 15, 1994 issue.''