Although European Nazarene College will have commencement ceremonies at its learning centers throughout Europe in the future, this was its 41st and final ceremony on the Büsingen residential campus.

In January, the EuNC Board of Trustees and Leadership Team made the decision to discontinue the residential campus program after the spring semester. The decision was precipitated by rapid growth in the 15 learning centers on the Eurasia Region, while enrollment on Büsingen campus steadily declined. 

EuNC had its Farewell and Campus Commencement 2011 June 20-24, and expanded this year's celebration with several distinctive ceremonies and highlights, including a farewell dinner for campus staff and faculty.

Members of the faculty and staff include Jenny Selvidge, Andrew Pottenger, Dean Flemming, Michelle Satterlee, Ingrid Boudewijn, Angelika Zedenow, Hilde Weidlich, Judy Radcliff, Stephan Burmeister, Ruth Hellmuth, and Christa and Uwe Burmeister.

A commencement dinner took place June 23 on the campus, with a closing celebration service at the historic Bergkirche (church on the hill), where Christians have gathered for more than 1,000 years.

Following the service, students, graduates, staff, faculty, and guests returned to the campus, where they built a monument of praise out of individual stones stacked on top of each other.

Academic Dean Antonie Holleman reminded everyone in attendance of the Old Testament story of the people of Israel, who, when they crossed the Jordan into the land of promise, built a monument to remember the liberating work of God.

Joshua said to the people: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?', then you shall inform your children, saying, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed" (Joshua 4:21-23).

"As EuNC is closing the Büsingen campus, we want to leave a similar monument that will be a reminder of the blessings of the international EuNC community of believers from 1966 to 2011," Holleman said.

On June 24, the last campus graduation ceremony took plance in the Lutheran Village Church in Büsingen, where the college had many of its commencements in the past. Nine campus students graduated with either certificates or degrees. 

Those graduates include Maartje Jannie de Heer, Linda Ines Sabine Lederer, Keila Radziszewski, Daniel Gottlob Rentschler, Cezarina Cufaj, Wolfgang Ludwig Jürgen Köhler, Samuel Dankward Pienkny, Johanna Radziszweski, and Rebekka Regehr.

Rector Klaus Arnold challenged the students to give their lives sharing Jesus with the world by who they are, by what they do, and by letting everything go for Jesus.

At the end of the service, Arnold presented a special EuNC Photo Book, which was printed for the commencement, as a thank you to three persons. 

One copy was given to the mayor of Büsingen, Gunnar Lang, for the superb relationship the Büsingen campus has had with the town of Büsingen for more than 45 years. 

A second book was presented to the Eurasia Regional Director, Gustavo Crocker, for the generous and faithful support of the international Church of the Nazarene for all these years, without which the college could not have fulfilled its mission. 

The third book was given to Anneli Janshon from Thayngen, Switzerland. Anneli was the only one present that evening who also participated in the first graduation service more than 40 years ago.

"An era comes to an end. The Büsingen campus has been a place of blessing to many who have lived, worked, studied, and visited here. We are thankful to God for that - and will never forget it. At the same time, we will - as we have done in the past - follow God's guidance to fulfill the mission of the school," Arnold said during the graduation reception. "EuNC is not coming to an end. We will concentrate all of our efforts to the well over 350 active students in over 36 teaching locations in the 17 countries EuNC is serving. Please continue to pray for European Nazarene College because the best is still to come."