It’s a challenge

Today someone asked how the job is going, two years into the deanship. If it’s between “10. The best job ever;” or, “6. I’d rather shoot my eye out with a nail gun;” and “3. I’m recommending my worst enemy for this job;” I’d say most of the time it’s a “7. It’s a challenge.”

To say it’s a challenge is not a bad thing in that I’m the kind of person attracted to challenges.

Lately I’ve witnessed an interesting phenomenon. We have attracted two entering students who chose BTSR over other schools because they have seen in us (in the midst of challenges and despite the negative buzz that inevitably follows institutions dealing with transition) that we haven’t quit, that we are committed to moving forward. The faculty’s decision to start a new degree, the Trustee’s support for that, characteristically has attracted the kind of student I want at BTSR: those who are willing to step out in faith, take a risk, embrace a challenge, and be a part of something grand in the making.

For me, above all, that gives me tremendous hope for the Church. Make no mistake, God is the one calling these students, not us’ our mission is to equip them for that call. They are bringing with them something we can’t teach in seminary: courage to risk the journey. That will serve them well in ministry during this age of cataclysmic change. If “cataclysmic” sounds too dramatic it’s because “paradigm shift” seems too mild to accurately describe the changes and challenges faced by institutions and society in the next twenty years.

Seminaries are institutions caught in the perfect storm of change: an economic model that is no longer viable; the fast-paced fundamental changes in the field of education; the upheaval in the landscape of institutional religion (congregations, denominations, cultural and societal changes). I’m of the opinion that the ones that will survive will be those fleet enough to change and morph their models and forms while maintaining their identity and mission. That’s no small feat, one that will require imagination and courage. Some days, I think seminaries can learn a lot more from our courageous faith-driven students than they can from us. Thanks be to God.

Creepy art for today