It is oft-repeated that the issues facing higher education will impact deeply theological schools first. Ironic in that so many theological school leaders lack awareness of the climate, changes, and issues in the broader field of higher education.

It is very likely that VERY soon theological schools will need to face the full force brunt of the issue that it’s knowledge that matters, not a theological degree (or, academic and personal preparation, not “scholarship”). The unsustainable economic disconnect between the cost of a traditional MDiv and its weak or risky return on investment hints that the talk about finding a new economic model for theological education is now job 1 for seminaries, at least, for those that want to continue. The problem currently in a significant number of theological schools (at least one third of them in ATS), is that they are trying to sustain the OLD business model, and sinking their resources and energies in that enterprise that may be at best a lost cause.

Below, from “40 Years Coming, the Revolution is Here,” by Tom Vander Ark:

Dreambox taught 65 million lessons last year;
Edmodo serves 18.7 million users;
2U delivered 1,146 courses every week last year;
Knewton had 5,000 users last year, 5 million this year; and
Kno serves 6,000 universities.
In the old days, edtech vendors sold to districts who provided tools to teachers. Since the introduction of iPads in 2010, 90,000 education apps have been developed. Now, according to Moe, “The market has flipped.” Parents, teachers, and students are finding and adopting learning apps at an astounding rate.

“Today, knowledge is currency,” said Moe. “It’s knowledge not college that matters.” Moe sees learners creating a “personalized knowledge portfolio,” an unbundled sequence of learning experiences from multiple providers.”

Additionally, Shelton said three things need to happen to create a conducive context for innovation and improvement:

Infrastructure: ubiquitous and affordable broadband connections and devices; and widely adopted data and interoperability standards.
Performance-based market: rigorous models of defining and validating competencies; common measures of performance, productivity and return; smart aggregated demand/accessible and markets.
Significant and disciplined R&D: about an order of magnitude increase with much clearer focus on current pain points and future opportunities.
“We need to get the context right so that edtech can flourish like like biotech and health tech,” said Shelton. In that regard he encouraged edtech entrepreneurs to become (and employ) real experts in education and to demand excellence in student outcomes. Shelton said that, in addition to boosting domestic achievement, we should be “building for the global opportunity–some country is going to lead on this and it should be the U.S.” (Education Week, April 17, 2013).

So, what constitutes value for theological school students, and prospective students, within the next five years? For second career students is it another degree that costs $30k to $40k for a 20 to 25 year (or less) second career? For twenty-something college graduates whose center of value has shifted from entering a professional vocational class to “doing ministry” in a myriad of settings, will it be being credentialed by another four year degree that does not provide a return on investment in this particular vocation, or will it be the attainment of ministry and personal skills and aptitudes for an era where entrepreneurial imagination and courage is the greatest need?

Copyright (c) 2013, Israel Galindo

Below are introductory comments for my D.Min. sudents entering our new program on contextual leadership:

Last week the director of a consortium of theological schools visited me for a consultation. In the course of our conversation I shared with him my “rant” on formation related to the under appreciated significance of context. My rant typically goes something like this:

“Formation is one of those concepts people in seminaries fall in love with, but rarely understand or know how to apply. My challenge to seminaries that fret overmuch over the matter of “formation of clergy” is to stop worrying and cease trying to do what they cannot accomplish. Seminaries are good about the formation of seminarians, churches form clergy.”

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I received an emal from a pastor asking about children’s sermons. He just accepted a call to a church at which he’ll need to deliver a children’s sermon as part of the worship service pastoral duties. I think that’s a great thing. And I appreciate his seeking counsel on how to do it well.

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In a recent conversation with a group of folks in theological education who were pondering the relationship between the academy and the Church I was asked what I thought the future of congregations would look like. My response was that I have no crystal ball and would be suspect of anyone who offered a definitive answer to that question. But apparently there is a robust cottage industry in prophetic proclamations, futurists, tarot card readers, fortune tellers and latter day channelers of Nostrodamus. So, I ventured that if I had a guess about the future of the church I could risk a prediction.

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Marty Canaday and Israel Galindo have a support blog for readers of Planning for Christian Education Formation (Chalice Press, 2010). You can visit the site here, read their author interview, and ask questions about applying the book in you context. You can visit the site here.

Congratulations to Dr. Bob Dibble, founding member of GRACE on the occasion of his twentieth year of ministry at River Road Church, Baptist.

It saddens me that with the passage of time the name Findley Edge is less known, much less his contribution to the crucial challenge of mobilizing “the laity” for active ministry. Edge was a theologian (and long time professor of practical theology) yet he could communicate so clearly and passionately to the person in the pew that he inspired thousands to find and pursue their personal ministries in the Kingdom.

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I’m just beginning to gear up to teach the educational philosophy course during J-term. It’s a course I enjoy teaching and one I think of critical importance in the training of “real educators” for the church. There is some frustration in holding the conviction that philosophy is critical to one’s effectiveness as an educator, and living into the pragmatic limitation of being able to teach only one educational philosophy course during a three week J-term. But sometimes one does the best one can with what one has (how’s that for a philosophy?).

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