10/15/2014

Trinity's Mid-week Blast for October 15, 2014

Making All Things New in Theological Education (Part 2)

Joy, life, and hope to you in the name of the living Christ!

First, I wish to congratulate the Rev. Dr. Robin Steinke as Luther Seminary's new president. It was good for Dean Brad Binau and me to be there on Sunday for Dr. Steinke's inauguration. Good things are in store for Luther under her leadership. Aside from being a Trinity alum (Class of '94), Dr. Steinke also co-chairs the Theological Education Advisory Council. In last week's blast I gave an overview of the work of the council, as well as some brief reflections about the deep need and resurrection-grounded hope that the outcomes TEAC seeks become reality. As the TEAC preliminary report stated, the ELCA needs a theological education network that is:

* More far-reaching;
* More connected and flexible; and,
* More sustainable.

Today, I want to share my own "Big Ideas" and "Big Concerns." As a well-known pastor told me last week, the work for which TEAC was formed probably should have started 10 years ago. Instead, TEAC's formation was primarily in response to the financial stress of the seminaries. There is no need to rehearse stories and events here of which you are aware. As was reported in Chicago, over the last 10 years the eight seminaries of the ELCA have collectively lost $80 million in value. Some have referred to this financial reality as "total system failure." However, if you were to meet Trinity's 34 recent graduates, or the graduates of our partner seminary Bexley Seabury, I doubt the term "total system failure" would come to mind.

The seminaries are "under stress" because the church we love is "under stress." Seismic shifts have happened in the culture and the church. The ELCA that was launched in 1988 with 5.3 million members now has around 3.8 million members. At the same time the ELCA experienced a loss of about 30%, the general population of the U.S. rose by about 30%. Our church has become older, whiter, and less ethnically diverse than it was at its founding, despite lofty ideas at its birth. As "identified patients" of larger systemic challenges, enrollments at our seminaries have dropped dramatically. Trinity is about at 50% of what it was 10 years ago.

Funding for communities of formation - seminaries, colleges and universities, camps, and campus ministries - responsible for shaping and equipping our young people, has dramatically dropped over the years. When I was a student at Trinity under the presidency of Dr. Fred Meuser, Trinity received 65% of its funding from the greater church - Churchwide and synods. Now it receives 7%. That is typical of all of our seminaries. During the last 10 years, the loss of traction within our culture of anything perceived as institutional religion has been compounded by the Great Recession that began in 2008-2009. Then along came the ELCA's 2009 decision, which precipitated the departure of many from the ELCA. At the same time, colleges and universities have felt the tension of attracting students when the age demographics in the country have shifted. Add to that the ethnic transformation of the U.S., where Caucasians will be the minority by the year 2038. These are just some of the challenges facing the church.

Here is "big idea" number one. Many times we have heard the call that "everything needs to be on the table," primarily understood as the number and location of all of our seminaries and how each lives out its mission. Let me restate here what I have said publicly: If someone can come to me with a sound business proposal that would close Trinity, move Trinity, or merge Trinity in a way that better serves God's mission for the world, and which is more economically robust and viable, count me in. Included in such a proposal would need to be a clear and compelling vision for how such a disruptive move would enhance the church's and seminary's relationships with the people of Ohio, Region 6, and our alumni. More importantly, if everything is going to be on the table then EVERYTHING needs to be on the table - the entire regional and synodical structure of the church (Is this the best way to "do church" in a connected world?), the mission and performance of candidacy, how we form and launch new worshiping communities, and how funding works.

Here is "big idea" number two. The primary conversations about TEAC and everything related to the future formation of leaders needs to get out of the ivory towers and operate at a grassroots level. Instead of conversations that almost exclusively involve Churchwide staff, synodical staffs, and academic types, the main participants in the conversation need to be the pastors and other rostered leaders who serve on the front line. Whenever I have attended a gathering called to address the future of theological education - whether in Chicago, Nebraska, or Ohio - I have asked the same question: Where are our pastors, campus ministers, camp directors, emergent church leaders, those in our inner cities, and mission developers? Where are they?

Here is "big idea" number three. Because I used to be the lead pastor of a large congregation (as well as smaller congregations), I know that our largest congregations are greatly underutilized in terms of the things they can bring to the table besides funding. Their campuses can offer extension sites for theological education. They can provide great assistance in launching new starts. Talk to many lead pastors of our largest congregations and they will tell you that they do not feel fully "invited into" the greater work of our church.

I have more "big ideas," but here is my "big concern": that all of the conversation - which is primarily technical - around what needs to happen with the business models of the seminaries not overshadow the gospel. In other words, all of us need to have at the forefront of these conversations the gospel of our crucified and risen Lord. This should cast out all fear and embolden us to move with courage beyond technical solutions.

Three years from now on October 31, 2017, we will mark the 500th anniversary of the launch of the Reformation. Is it not time now for a new reformation to take place for the sake of the church and the world? Because "God so loved the world," are we willing to put everything on the table?

In the abiding hope of the empty tomb,


Rick Barger, '89
President
Trinity Lutheran Seminary