Update about Board Meeting & ATS Visit: Thinking Differently About Governance

Organizational alignment is vital in order to carry out a focused and consistent mission. It’s wise for the rhythm of meetings in an organization to include opportunities to work through various aspects of alignment. For example, internal alignment can reference consistency between structure, personnel, and processes. There is also the consideration of how the mission of a local organization aligns with the larger story, or narrative, of which it finds itself a part. We’ve had opportunities for both internal and external alignment over the past month.

From September 18-20 we held our Annual Meeting of the Winebrenner Seminary Board of Trustees. This meeting had some retreat-like elements, funded in part through the “Moving Forward in Mission Grant” by the Association for Theological Schools (ATS), and allowed for a combined meeting of our Board, administration, faculty, and staff. As my friend Greg Henson wrote a few years ago, an approach like this “is exciting because of the opportunity it creates to think differently about what it means to ‘govern’ an institution. In many ways, this group is supporting a movement, not governing a school. That reality requires a new approach to governance.”

We – Board, administration, faculty, staff – are all stewarding the mission of Winebrenner to equip leaders for service in God’s kingdom. A healthy understanding of what is known as “shared governance” reflects a deep commitment to collaboration. During our opening session I shared some reflections on the role that trust must serve in our organization. Too often we reduce trust to an emotion when, in fact, in needs to be evident in our consistent actions and practices. We’ve worked hard to remove unnecessary obstacles at Winebrenner – in some cases obstacles are financial, so we work to remove them so students can pursue their calling. For others, obstacles are hierarchical and we develop artificial systems and processes that make it difficult for employees to flourish in our work environments. Regardless of the situation or context, at Winebrenner Seminary we are working collaboratively to fulfill our mission in a way that maximizes human flourishing.

In addition to some business items such as approving a preliminary budget for 2025-2026 we also spent time developing shared definitions of our 2023-2028 strategic priorities of Stewardship, Discipleship, and Collaboration. We serve God’s Church together as we seek to fulfill his mission for Winebrenner Seminary. Our recent Board meeting served as a wonderful experiencing in focusing on internal alignment between our mission, Board, and staff. Here is a picture of our participants:

Just last week, from October 7-9, we hosted a team from the Association for Theological Schools who were evaluating our 10 year accreditation and whether to reaffirm through 2035. Routine accreditation visits provide insight into our own structures and processes and affirm the ways in which we carry out the mission. In addition to this focus on internal alignment, our accreditation with ATS also permits us to be able to carry out a similar story as the 270 other schools who are also accredited by ATS.

It’s worth noting that accreditation relationships – whether ATS, the Higher Learning Commission, or the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) – are all voluntary relationships. In order to further remove obstacles and serve our students well, we intentionally seek out partnerships with accrediting agencies that support and enhance our mission. Yes, there are evaluative elements to these visits. But, we invite them to hold us accountable to standards that we are aware of well in advance of any visit.

[We have other external points for alignment including remaining in good standing in our relationship with the Churches of God, General Conference.]

The feedback from the ATS visit was positive and we look forward to receiving a report to review in the coming weeks. The next step is to review the draft of the report for any errors of fact. The final decision will be made in February 2025 and official notice will follow a few weeks later.

You can read previous posts on InDepth about governance by clicking the links below:

Everything starts with…Governance

Everything starts with…Governance, Part Two

Everything starts with…Governance, Part Three

• Brent C. Sleasman, President