In Trust Center

Send us a textNAIITS, an Indigenous Learning Community, is using Pathways for Tomorrow grants to explore ways to decolonize theology and provide trauma-informed education for the Indigenous community. Shari Russell, the director of NAIITS, and Mike Hogeterp, lead facilitator, discuss the project and the ways they're approaching the work ahead. 

Send us a textMcCormick Theological Seminary is using a Lilly Endowment Inc. Pathways for Tomorrow grant to explore how to help people heal from trauma. The Heart-Work Rising Trauma Healing Initiative is exploring theological education that will help students to be trauma-informed. The Rev. Dr. Stephanie Crumpton and Dr. Jina Kang discuss the impact of trauma-informed education, the integration of restorative justice and biblical interpretation, and the transformative potential for theological institutions. 

Send us a textAt China Evangelical Seminary  North America (CESNA), leaders are looking at ways to engage leaders and congregants of immigrant churches. They've done so with new programming aimed at helping congregations, including a Center for Public Theology. Drs. Frank and Anita Liu, leaders at CESNA, explain how they're doing that with a Pathways for Tomorrow grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. 

Send us a textDr. Rebekah Burch Basinger considers the "invisible balance sheet" - things that institutions are responsible for that may not be on the actual balance sheet. With candor and years of experience, Basinger offers insight on how a board might consider the welfare of an entire institution. She refers to an article by Roland Kushner in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that can be found here. 

Send us a textKairos University has worked to develop contextual, competency-based theological education, and now educates students across the world using their approach.  Greg Henson, the president of Kairos University, and Nate Helling, the CFO and vice president of operations, talk about their work and how a Pathways for Tomorrow grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. is helping. 

Send us a textThe Academy for Jewish Religion received a grant in Lilly Endowment Inc.'s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative and used the money to make a series of explanatory videos about Judaism. Ora Horn Prouser, Ph.D., the CEO and academic dean of the Academy for Jewish Religion, discusses how the project, "Mosaic Religion and the Religious Mosaic," contributes to theological education. The project can be found here. 

Send us a textDr. Philip Dearborn, president of the Association for Biblical Higher Education in the United States and Canada, discusses the need for specialty accreditation and how it provides an assurance of an institution's commitment to its mission. Dearborn also examines the pressures on schools but also expresses a hope for the future of theological education. 

Send us a textDr. Kent Anderson, president of Providence University College and Theological Seminary in Canada, considers competency-based theological education and suggests that it's really not new but a return to ancient practices of education. The co-author with Greg Henson of the book Theological Education: Principles and Practices of a Competency-Based Approach, Anderson says mentoring and learning by doing can provide benefits in the field. He says institutional humility and a willingness to adapt will help theological schools. The book can be found on the publisher's page here. You can find an interview with Greg Henson here. 

Send us a textHood Theological Seminary is using a Lilly Endowment Pathways for Tomorrow grant to  educate students and alumni about financial planning, expand curriculum, and create anti-racism education.  Hood's Dr. Karen Owens and John Everett discuss how they're working in the seminary, with alumni, and the community to accomplish the seminary's goals. You can find more about the program on Hood Theological Seminary's website here. 

Send us a textGreg Henson, president of Kairos University, has worked with competency-based theological education to remake Sioux Falls Seminary into Kairos. In a new book, Henson and Kent Anderson, president of Providence University College and Theological Seminary, discuss the principles and practices of competency-based education approaches and how they can help other schools. The book is Theological Education: Principles and Practices of a Competency-Based Approach. You can find more about the book here.