God’s Kingdom is a diverse collection of people, ministries, ideas and churches (in no particular order). As Adam shared in his post last week about networking, “When we are connecting with organizations, churches, leaders, even our Alumni, we are working together to build the Kingdom.” The potential for great unity exists in the intersection of these diverse groups. Winebrenner is deeply committed to partnering with those who may use different words but share a desire to equip leaders for service in God’s kingdom.
Prior to the emergence of an idea to implement (“innovation”) we need to invest in creative thought (previously, InDepth explored the intersection of creativity and innovation; you can read that post by clicking here). Last month, Winebrenner was a recipient of a $50,000 Individual School Assessment and Planning Grant by the Lilly Foundation as part of the 2025 Pathways for Tomorrow grant initiative. The grant proposal and subsequent work related to the funding is helping to identify some opportunities and constraints related to partnership and collaboration.
Since 2018 Winebrenner has experienced enrollment growth that has created many opportunities and, ultimately, is an enormous blessing; also, it has also helped clarify some challenges and needs as we advance into the future.
One of the challenges of increased enrollment is navigating the increasing number of collaborative relationships with various church, regional, and denominational partners. The more specific challenge is finding the best balance between the need for standardization and customization for various partners. The goal is to cast a broad net for the widest number of collaborators but not create a situation in which each new partner is building something unique from the ground up.
A second challenge is finding and developing shared understanding related to collaboration during a season of a high level of personnel transitions relative to our size. One of the major challenges we are working to address through this grant request is to develop a shared understanding and approach to collaboration.
A third challenge is to identify the best sources of training so that we can build upon our learnings. For example, church-based courses and instruction are a fantastic way to serve our mission. However, it is a challenge to find those who uniquely gifted in this form of teaching and understand the unique context of a local church.
Finally, we are working to develop scalable models for collaboration that emphasize the strengths of Winebrenner. This requires development of shared understanding, the organizational architecture to engage collaborators, as well as an engaging digital interrace for partnerships. We believe this grant, along with future opportunities, is providing some “next steps” on the road to continued innovation
- Brent C. Sleasman, President