11/19/2014

Trinity's Midweek Blast for November 19, 2014

Excellence in Formation

This message provides continued focus on the vision for Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Last week, I provided commentary on the statement that introduces the vision and our commitment to being a premier seminary in the formation of authentic servant-leaders who are healthy, vibrant, maturing, transformative, resilient, and evangelical. The vision stands on five pillars of excellence.

Today's focus is Excellence in Formation. This pillar includes three foci: Academic Excellence, Contextual Excellence, and the Whole Person.

Academic Excellence

To achieve academic excellence we must insist on a level of academic rigor and innovation that forms and shapes adaptive leaders for the world and church today and tomorrow. As we tell prospective students, "Do not come to Trinity if you do not want to be challenged." The world in which we live and the challenges leaders face, offer no other option. With 89 semester hours required for an M.Div. degree, Trinity expects more than the vast majority of schools. The same can be said for our other six degree programs.

We also expect our faculty to be recognized as leaders in their fields. That is the way it has generally been at Trinity, and we move forward with this expectation. This means that we expect our faculty to invest themselves in ongoing professional and scholarly research and development. Our faculty can also expect to be appropriately compensated for being great in their fields and for the high expectations we have of them.

We also seek to have the gender and ethnic diversity among our faculty and staff that mirrors the world. We admit we have some work to do in this area.

We have made Spanish for Ministry a core requirement. This means that we must become a standard bearer in the commitment to Spanish, both the language itself and the native Spanish-speaking population.

Finally, it goes without saying that we insist on achieving high quality with all degree programs. If we offer a degree, it needs to be great.

Contextual Excellence

As we move forward, our contextual partners will need to meet or exceed our developing standards for formation in context. This applies to both the Leadership in Context component and internship sites. We are in the process of developing a set of metrics to evaluate sites and supervisors, so we can truly achieve the kind of contextual experience and formation that prepares our students for leadership in the church of the future, rather than the church of the past. We want only those sites and supervisors who enter into partnership with us for the high value of forming leaders. Persons and sites looking for "cheap help" through having a student need not apply.

The vision also includes the multiplication of the contextual component through the two-year requirement for Leadership in Context, now part of the innovative 2+2 model of delivery for the M.Div. degree. This fall's entering class of M.Div. students will be the first class to be sent out under the +2 arrangement of internship in the fall of 2016. The new model not only provides for an additional year spent in contextual formation, it also provides for coursework that integrates the academic learning with contextual awareness. Our graduates will be much more prepared for their first calls to the extent that the ELCA will need to rethink First Call Theological Education when it comes to Trinity grads.

Another aspect of the contextual experience is that we will be offering our students the option of perhaps spending a semester or a year in global mission through Trinity's partners in developing countries. For example, a student may choose to spend a year in Haiti after her middler year and before starting internship.

The Whole Person

The two greatest assets students consistently highlight about Trinity are its faculty and community. The community leadership component is intentionally robust and works to foster leadership formation through worship, public service, and community relationship management. Life Together, the student community group, continually evolves into a powerfully integrative experience that prepares the students for leadership that is collaborative.

Essential to theological formation is the continuing education of leaders in the church and the world. We will step up and offer intentional focus in this area, primarily through our staff and in collaboration with congregations, synods, and other seminaries.

Finally, the pursuit of Excellence in Formation demands that we attend to the formation of the whole person - mind, body, heart, and spirit. Health, vibrancy, and resiliency are all critical to being a transformative and evangelical servant-leader.

In the abiding hope of the empty tomb,


Rick Barger, '89
President
Trinity Lutheran Seminary