We have spent the past nine weeks looking at the topic of operational models and student educational debt at seminaries within the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). We’ve spent some time looking at why we care and what we know. Today, we begin providing several practical ideas that may help us move forward. Student debt…
In a recent research project, Dr. Harriet Rojas and I looked at various operational models across higher education. After looking over our research, talking with more individuals, and reviewing the efforts that some schools have made to address the issue of the rising cost of theological education, we have come to the conclusion that schools…
So what would happen if we progressed from thinking about a seminary as “place” or “institution” to considering its role as a platform for … (Read more…)
As we move into a new paradigm of theological education, it may be time for us to reconsider a number of things. Today we focus on the traditional definition of a full-time student. Over the next few weeks we will look at cost structures, systems, and faculty. While the definition of a full-time student can…
There are two words for time in Greek. The first, chronos, refers to chronological time – seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, etc. The second, kairos, refers to a specific moment in time or a specific time in which an activity or incident occurs. For many years, the primary method of theological education has been…
A quick review of taglines for seminaries across North America will reveal a smattering of phrases that use terms like equipping, training, teaching, educating, or transforming. For instance, we see taglines that look something like this, “ABC Seminary: Equipping leaders for service in the Church.” Sioux Falls Seminary is no different. Our current “mission statement”…
For (what seems to be) the first time in a long time, there is a lot of change occurring within schools across ATS. In a recent conversation with an individual from ATS I learned that number of applications for changes that have been submitted to the Board of Commissioners has increased quite significantly. More schools…
I believe many, if not all, of the surface-level issues we see in theological education stem from one deep-rooted cause. We (myself included) often single out challenges like the fact that theological education is prohibitively expensive or that the curriculum is not connected to local contexts as much as it could be. Recently, many have…
If your school retains 80% of its Master of Divinity students from one academic year to the next, that means your graduation rate may somewhere around 41% – which isn’t a great graduation rate. At the ATS CFOS Conference this week, we learned that according to ATS estimations the average MDiv student in an ATS…
On February 3, 2014, I will begin serving as the 12th President of Sioux Falls Seminary, an evangelical seminary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota which was founded by the North American Baptist denomination in 1858. Sioux Falls Seminary made an announcement about my appointment this morning, and Northern’s announcement followed soon after. I look forward…