By Claire Taylor, Staff Writer
Wheaton College professor of theology Jennifer Powell McNutt and her husband, Wheaton senior lecturer in core studies David McNutt, are the founders of McNuttshell Ministries. The couple travels to churches around the country, teaching theology courses to congregations. Church leaders invite the McNutts to speak by filling out a form on their website and coordinating a date for them to come speak.
Working and teaching together has always felt natural to the couple. “We have been helping each other since graduate school, studying together, reading each other’s papers,” McNutt said. “I think for us, the ministry’s been a way to kind of consolidate the things that we were doing almost naturally together as we were living out our calling.”
Together, the pair lead instruction on various elements of Christian faith, history, theology and art.
“Our sense is that whatever we do it will be enriching to that community,” said Powell McNutt.
They are often asked to speak on a certain subject or theologian, and sometimes one of them is invited specifically to teach on an area of their expertise. Once, they taught a class on Martin Luther to a Presbyterian church and, immediately afterward, taught a class on John Calvin to a Lutheran church.
By sharing with one church about the traditions of the other, both congregations were enriched in knowledge and unified by their common faith.
The ministry began in 2016 to make Reformed theological education more accessible to the modern church, and to do so as a couple.
Reformed theology, which developed during the Protestant Reformation and is based on the writings of John Calvin, emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture and salvation through God’s grace alone.
“Clarifying our mission and our vision, but also creating a space for us to work together, was really important,” said Powell McNutt. “There aren’t always spaces where a husband and wife can minister together.”
The McNutts met at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2000, during Powell McNutt’s first year and McNutt’s third year. They married in 2003.
In 2008, Powell McNutt interviewed at Wheaton College and began teaching later that year. McNutt joined the following year. Both were ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) after finishing their Ph.D.s.
The McNutts also live out this joint calling in their local congregation, Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Warrenville, Ill. Their pastor, George Garrison, shared about the blessings of having them in the congregation.
“David and Jennifer are very gifted, not only in their preaching and teaching abilities, but they are also gifted and insightful in ascertaining our congregation’s capacity to grasp the above aspects, which holds their attention in a compelling way,” he said.
Garrison said he is encouraged by how the McNutts are “bridging the gap between Church and academy.” He argues that a growing and flourishing church is dependent on the “support beams of sound theology and scholarship.”
Because of their deep involvement in Christian academia, the McNutts believe there is great value in integrating theological education with biblical study in a church context.
“This is a way for us to address this kind of fracturing in a way that will hopefully remind the Christian academy that it can serve and should serve the church,” McNutt said. “And that the church can benefit from deeper study of scripture and an understanding of the faith.”
The McNutts emphasize key themes in their teaching, including the authority of God’s Word, the aspects of Reformed tradition and Presbyterian theology.
Over the last 10 years, the couple has focused on serving the church and academy through their academic writings. McNutt is currently working on his book, “Karl Barth and the Arts: The Doctrine of Creation and a Reformed Theology of Creativity.” Powell McNutt published her second book, “The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today,” in 2024. The two released a book together in 2024, “Know the Theologians.”
As they continue to minister through McNuttshell Ministries and teach at Wheaton, the couple remain motivated to help Christians see themselves in the global church.
“Through teaching, you learn to teach outside of your tradition and understand that bigger global story of the church and its theology and scripture,” Powell McNutt said. One of my goals is helping Christians in the local context to see where they connect with the bigger story.”
