The pathways for tomorrow initiative has since its start in 2021 brought forth a broad stream of energy and innovation among schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. A meeting this summer of participants highlighted significant progress, as some schools were wrapping up years of work, and others were deeply immersed and far along. It also brought forward several key lessons that schools had learned as well as insights into the diverse challenges, contexts, opportunities, and innovations in the field. The initiative is being coordinated by ATS and co-coordinated by the In Trust
Center for Theological Schools. In Episode 94 of the In Trust Center’s Good Governance podcast, the Rev. Jo Ann Deasy, Ph.D., ATS’ director of Institutional Initiatives, and Amy Kardash, the president of the In Trust Center, discussed some of the key learnings from the Pathways initiative so far.
“You can see that most of the schools are hitting their stride,” said Deasy, “which means both that they’re finding the things that are going well and also hitting the tensions that emerge as they’re making shifts and changes.”
Kardash noted that many schools “are really recognizing this is a multi-year journey of, in some cases, shifting culture or challenging our traditional or historical thinking about things, like where is knowledge and expertise centered?”
Schools have been using grants to create new on-ramps for students into theological education and offer new educational programs. As well, schools are seeking ways to sustain and innovate their missions. The work has revealed much.
“We probably know more than we have in a very long time about what’s happening with our constituents and in the Church and with pastoral leaders,” Deasy said.
In the following pages, In Trust highlights some of the lessons the field is learning and ways the initiative is moving forward.
Innovations
Schools are creating new futures, not just programs
The pathways initiative has given new life to innovation and experimentation in theological education. For example, in Canada, Acadia Divinity College has the Futuring Lab that is producing creative work as it considers what lies ahead in the Church. At Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, a simulation lab helps train students in pastoral care. At the Pacific School of Religion, a new online platform is creating virtual communities and expanding learning opportunities. There are also several schools pioneering collaborations with new partners.
“I’ve seen a real shift from competition to collaboration happening throughout the field,” Deasy said. “And that’s exciting to me that we’re sort of thinking together about how to best accomplish this large vision that we have for graduate theological education, and then the theological schools in which these programs are embedded. It’s so hopeful for the future.”
The innovation hasn’t been limited to programs. Schools also have undertaken work to change the business model, including studying different revenue possibilities, ways courses are offered, and non-degree offerings.
“I think we all know that our current models are not sustainable, and I think that’s been highlighted in this grant,” Deasy said. “There are perhaps some early indicators of where some new models might bring some financial health, some new pushes toward different ways of scaling that have to do with collaboration, whether internal, with other schools, with larger universities, or with denominational ministry networks.”
Kardash said that there has been an “explosion in contextual learning and lifelong learning” that is helping innovation in the field. “It’s so energizing to see that schools are being so responsive,” she said.
Similarly, the use of technology has quickly expanded in the field, as schools are exploring new ways to deliver classes and seminars, Kardash said. Schools also have engaged new collaborators, including denominations and community organizations. “I think Pathways has been a springboard for that, but we’re seeing other schools do it as well,” she said.
Mission Success
Finding clarity in the mission is critical
Determining mission success is difficult amid shifting circumstances and evolving expectations from students and denominations. This can cause the mission itself to shift. The question for some schools is whether their projects are central to their missions.
Kardash noted that the governing boards focus on the “long-term interests of the institution and all about what’s mission-centric.” If projects are aligned with the school’s mission, boards should be engaged – but often they are not, even though such projects may be reshaping the mission. The projects may be seen as separate from the core mission of a school.
Although there’s grant funding through Pathways, all of the projects are part of a school. “There are all kinds of other institutional resources that are drawn for a project,” Kardash said.
Understanding whether institutional resources are advancing the mission is critical. Yet, Kardash said schools often struggle to identify the right indicators and research needed to determine success.
“I think those are things that grantees are grappling with right now,” Kardash said. “Those are the things that any school that’s pursuing an initiative or not needs to think about.”
She noted that some schools, in expanding their offerings, are already within their mission.
“Pathways gave them some additional capital and some additional opportunities to expand their collaborators or to think about their reach in different ways,” she said.
For other schools, pursuing new projects has meant considering what else they’re doing due to their capacity constraints. The result has been that schools have had to consider letting something else go in order to focus on a Pathways project and give it room to succeed.
Market Realities
There are multiple forces beside theology in play
New programs often start with great promise, but even with the best preparation, they run into the reality that things may not go as planned. One of those is that the market may not respond in the way that program leaders expect they will.
That can mean that schools fail to see enrollment or revenue growth in the way they had projected.
“Where people would hope for enrollment growth, it’s been a mixed bag for our schools,” Deasy said, pointing out that programs often bring enrollment bumps for a few years and then level out. The question for schools has been whether there is sustainability in those increases in enrollment. Much of that depends on the market – are there students who want a certain program, is the program the right price, and are students willing and able to enroll?
As for enrollment in schools with Pathways grants, Deasy said it’s too soon to determine the full effect because it’s unclear overall what the field is experiencing.
Kardash said that the projects were pushing schools to consider how the forces of supply and demand were working at each institution.
“Are people still demanding those things that we like to supply?” she asked. “We have traditionally supplied things that institutionally we’re either really good at or our people really love, and there may no longer be a market for that. Are we listening? Are we sure there’s a market for what we’re offering? Are we doing market research in the right way?”
She said that sometimes the default response to changing markets is “repackage that which we’re already good at or sell more, add a little extra.”
Kardash also noted that schools are confronting the “We’ll build it, and they will come” mentality.
The difficulty, Kardash said, is that schools may have to consider culling good programs or reconsidering the expansion mindset.
“It’s not easy,” she said.
Realignment
Schools are reconsidering where they and their projects fit
The pathways initiative has given schools a major opportunity to consider whether they are following their mission and, if not, the space to clarify their mission or tailor their projects to it.
Kardash noted that schools have to consider their missions, core values, and theological commitments.
“I think some of what we’ve seen is where there’s clear alignment and maybe where there isn’t alignment,” Kardash said, adding that there have been challenges for many schools in assessing that because of change.
“There is a large percentage of schools that have experienced executive leadership turnover or turnover within their project, whether it’s project culture or other critical partners,” Kardash said. “And sometimes that change has brought about challenges because perhaps the project was an individual’s passion project or something that a smaller group of people were really driving, and that has changed.”
She noted that some schools have projects on “the peripheral edges” of the institution and “maybe haven’t been centered in the institution.”
Deasy said that for some schools, the projects were meant to be outside the mission of a school because the project “was actually designed to shift the mission. That was the whole point,” Deasy said.
She said that for some schools, the understanding of mission has to “shift in some places.
“We have to realize: It’s not my mission, it’s not the president’s mission, it’s not the historic mission,” she said. “Look at the intersection of where God is working at your school and where God is working in the world and align those two instead of saying, ‘God has led me this way, and so God will provide that.’
It’s a matter of having to really shift that thinking to: God is working in a number of ways, and your job is to find that point of intersection.”
That intersection has come in a variety of ways for schools as they consider their underlying missions. Some schools have added or boosted certificate and life-long learning programs to equip the Church in ways outside of degree programs for ministers who may not otherwise be able to attend.
Tensions
Internal and external pressures confront schools
There are tensions through Pathways projects that reflect the issues in the broader field. As noted in other sections of this piece, that may be in how the school’s mission is lived out, competing visions, and enrollment issues. New government regulations have also put a stress on schools. Executive turnover, which has increased in recent years, also has added strain to institutions.
“The tension I note is between mission and executive transitions and how you keep mission moving forward,” Deasy said. “Who owns the mission? Who carries the vision?”
That can be a difficult question. It used to be that an executive would carry out, if not also develop, the mission. But as executive tenure has decreased, governing boards are carrying more of the weight of charting and sustaining a mission. But it’s not just mission: schools are also dealing with a tension between mission and money.
“Some schools have a lot of mission, but not a lot of money, a lot of students, but still not a lot of income given the structures that we have,” Deasy said.
Kardash added that there are also tensions about the future and sustainability.
“What are we preserving?” Kardash asked. “What are we sustaining? Are we sustaining our mission? Are we sustaining our institution, our place, our programs?”
Deasy also noted a tension that seems to have grown in the last several years, which she said is the tension between “higher education structures and pastoral preparation structures.”
Deasy said that schools are “reaching into communities and spaces and reaching out to pastoral leaders where the alignment between a master’s degree and pastoral preparation is not assumed and not structurally supported.”
Assessment
Assessment can be difficult, particularly in coming to a consensus about defining what a school or program is assessing.
“I think that this is applicable to all schools: that tension internally about what it is that we’re tracking or counting, or what are our metrics?” Kardash asked.
The metrics are important because they should undergird the mission and define how schools measure success. Kardash noted that there are other things to consider beyond enrollment statistics.
“We are not always tying enrollment and headcounts into the metrics that are probably most important, such as placement rates and retention rates, not just of our own students but of our graduates and where they’re serving. And, are we tracking that as a means to think about our future support of pastoral leaders?”
