Divinity School names director of supervised ministries

Crainshaw’s responsibilities will include designing and administering the divinity school’s program in supervised ministry. All students are required to participate in a second-year supervised ministry program, where they are guided by area ministers in field placements. In addition, Crainshaw will be responsible for coordinating the divinity school’s continuing education programs for clergy and laity.

Before joining the divinity school, Crainshaw was a visiting assistant professor of preaching and worship at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond. She served six years as pastor of Neriah Baptist Church in Buena Vista, Va.

Her professional experience also includes being a pastoral care consultant at Buena Vista Presbyterian Church in Buena Vista and assistant chaplain at Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, Va.

A 1984 Wake Forest graduate, Crainshaw earned a doctorate from Union Theological Seminary and the master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Wake Forest Divinity School will open this fall with about 25 students from a variety of denominational traditions and is expected to grow to 135-150 students within five years.

The school’s curriculum is centered in the classical theological disciplines of biblical studies, church history, theology and ministry studies, which includes areas such as pastoral care and preaching.

Wake Forest’s divinity school, whose mission is Christian by tradition, ecumenical in outlook and Baptist in heritage, prepares individuals for ministry in the Christian church.