{"id":30540,"date":"2025-09-22T07:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=30540"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:58:04","slug":"teter-staff-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/teter-staff-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Forming Public Spiritual Leaders: The Rev. Ayana Teter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Being formed in a seminary is a journey unlike anything else. Students seek theological education for a variety of reasons: personal spiritual growth, preparing to serve their communities as public leaders, seeking ordination for ministry in a specific tradition, or in pursuit of a sense of call that is loud but not yet clear. Just as spirituality is integrated throughout all dimensions a person, so too theological education touches many aspects of a person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27070\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27070\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27070 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow-850x567.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/chapel-rainbow.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27070\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hicks Memorial Chapel stands on PTS&#8217;s campus, where students gather each Tuesday and Thursday for community worship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While coursework challenges students intellectually and equips them with many practical tools for context-specific ministry, alongside the classroom curricula, the umbrella of Academic Affairs also includes the office of the Rev. Ayana Teter, associate dean of students and formation. Ayana and her team at the Office of Student Affairs nurture the professional, spiritual, and ecclesial dimensions of student development at PTS through one-on-one support and programmatic offerings that complement classroom formation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy purpose here is to help form and equip leaders\u2014and future leaders\u2014for public and professional ministry,\u201d Ayana says. \u201cThat takes many forms\u2014leading a nonprofit, theological writing, pastoring a congregation, hospital chaplaincy, founding a new worshiping community. As time goes on, people are coming up with more and more creative ideas for how to engage society spiritually. I come alongside the faculty\u2019s work of theological and intellectual formation and speak to professional, spiritual, and ecclesial dimensions of being a public leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Formation for Different Forms of Ministry<\/h2>\n<p>To support the diversity of callings present in the PTS student body, Ayana\u2019s office provides a mix of group and individual programming that address both targeted skill-building for specific vocational pathways and cultivating broadly shared practices that support any form of ministry. For example, Ayana leads vocational discernment practices, such as group examens, and brings in experts to provide practical workshops, like a financial seminar led by a representative from the PC(USA) Board of Pensions. \u201cI find Christian leaders and bring them to PTS so that they can provide wisdom, facilitate gatherings, do spiritual direction, and lead workshops on important things students need to know,\u201d Ayana says, \u201cso that students can be exposed to saints of the Church who are actively doing the work of ministry and learn from them.\u201d She also names hospitality as a staple of her office\u2019s role: \u201csetting a table\u201d through community life events. \u201cPeople need places of rest and welcome so they themselves can know how to provide these,\u201d she says. \u201cHospitality fosters the capacity for deep listening and welcome\u2014baseline skills to communicate the gospel. Seminary can be a place where people learn that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Formation in Community<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30560\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30560\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30560 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-850x1133.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/March-2025-hybrid-gathering-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30560\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PTS students and staff gathered at Calvary Episcopal Church during the March 2025 Hybrid Gathering.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A significant responsibility fulfilled by Ayana\u2019s team is preparing programming for the seminary\u2019s four-times-yearly Hybrid Gatherings, during which distance learners and residential students join together for two-and-a-half days of in-person programming in Pittsburgh. \u201cWe work all year to make sure each gathering is a time that not only captures the essence of seminary formation but has really thoughtful and highly curated opportunities for students to encounter diversity of peoples and opinions in a space, to do exercises in discernment and reflection, to practice the art of praying together, and to worship with leaders from every branch of the Christian family tree. We find and partner with ministries throughout the city so we can bring students to see the ways Jesus is about the work of redemption in this city and enter into spaces of welcome and challenge, which is vital to future ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Forming Public Spiritual Leaders<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30559\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30559\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-300x450.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-850x1275.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-and-Winnie-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30559\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayana with recent alum Winnie Wang &#8217;25<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As meaningful as these formation initiatives are, individual pastoral counseling is the part of Ayana\u2019s job that is closest to her heart. Before joining PTS, Ayana served in a variety of ministry positions within the PC(USA), including pastoral associate, head of staff, church planting team member, and denominational official. Through her role as associate executive presbyter of Pittsburgh Presbytery especially, she discerned a call to nurture public spiritual leaders, and she says that this time \u201cpastoring pastors\u201d informs her work at PTS the most. In addition to managing institutionally critical communications, such as facilitating Title IX cases and working on academic degree accreditation forms, Ayana offers one-on-one pastoral coaching to students. She especially loves supporting the process of vocational discernment, finding placements that \u201cfit\u201d a student\u2019s specific array of gifts and passions, and mentoring seminarians through the spiritual transformation that is a part of the seminary journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy passion and heart is for public spiritual leaders,\u201d Ayana says. \u201cI love to see people grow in their capacity to trust God. I try to nurture growth in spirituality\u2014ability to listen and discern, importance of sabbath rest, ability and desire to pray\u2014both for godliness and for the community. I love to see someone move from \u2018yeah, yeah, I know I\u2019m supposed to pray\u2019 to \u2018I\u2019ve really been praying about this, and I know I need God\u2019s leading to do this work.\u2019 I believe the work of loving God\u2019s people, speaking the truth about who God is, and bearing witness to the risen Christ is difficult but rewarding and holy, and I want our students to have every good chance at going out into the world and leading faithfully and competently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-30558\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"173\" height=\"247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-717x1024.jpg 717w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-768x1097.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-300x429.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-850x1214.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot.jpg 1050w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 173px) 100vw, 173px\" \/>The Rev. Ayana Teter is associate dean of students and formation at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She has served in a number of pastoral and denominational leadership roles within the PC(USA), including a five-year tenure as associate executive presbyter of Pittsburgh Presbytery, during which she developed deep connections with the denomination\u2019s 1001 New Worshiping Communities initiative. Rev. Teter holds an M.Div. from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is pursuing a D.Min. at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA).<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Read Next<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20589\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20589\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/hallie-isadore\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20589\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hallie-Isadore-1-850x567.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20589\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hospitality Hallie is a Friend to All<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29954\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29954\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wendy-farone-story\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-29954\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-300x450.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-850x1275.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Students-on-Steps-5-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29954\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Opening a New Chapter: A Second-Career Student&#8217;s Story<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being formed in a seminary is a journey unlike anything else. Students seek theological education for a variety of reasons: personal spiritual growth, preparing to serve their communities as public leaders, seeking ordination for ministry in a specific tradition, or in pursuit of a sense of call that is loud but not yet clear. Just&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[358,398,393],"tags":[861,577,904,902,899,900,901,461,908,907,905,903,396,149,906,45,841],"series":[],"class_list":["post-30540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-the-pts-curriculum","category-people-of-pts","category-seminary-and-programs","tag-christian-leadership","tag-christian-unity","tag-ecumenism","tag-equipping-for-ministry","tag-faith-and-public-life","tag-formation","tag-formation-for-ministry","tag-leadership","tag-ministry-mentorship","tag-public-spiritual-leader","tag-public-spirituality","tag-public-theologians","tag-public-theology","tag-spiritual-formation","tag-spiritual-leadership","tag-theological-education","tag-vocational-discernment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Forming Public Spiritual Leaders: The Rev. Ayana Teter - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Rev. Ayana Teter mentors and forms students holistically for ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/teter-staff-profile\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forming Public Spiritual Leaders: The Rev. Ayana Teter - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rev. Ayana Teter mentors and forms students holistically for ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/teter-staff-profile\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T12:30:20+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-23T14:58:04+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ayana-Teter-headshot-717x1024.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"717\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/teter-staff-profile\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/teter-staff-profile\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Forming Public Spiritual Leaders: The Rev. 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