I’ve long held the belief that Winebrenner’s programmatic and curricular offerings should fit within the rhythm of the life and ministry of our students. You can read previous reflections on this idea by clicking here or here. One of the obstacles to achieving this vision is that we often have limited insights into the actual lives and ministries of our students! In order to serve students well we need deeper insights into their callings, daily routines, and overall approaches to life.
This week there will be a gathering of students, Board members, faculty, and staff in which students will be invited to shape the conversation around their lives and ministries. I outlined the process we will be using last week and want to take a few paragraphs to consider next steps in response to the insights we will gather.
This is where several threads of planning and conversation will come together. Over the past few months Winebrenner faculty and staff have been following the timeline in the 2023-2028 Strategic Priorities document and connecting various operational areas to the strategic priorities of Stewardship, Discipleship, and Collaboration. The following is a list generated at our offsite meeting January 2025:
Stewardship
- Development
- HR
- Alumni Relations
- Accreditation
- Finances
- Academics: accessibility
Collaboration
- Assessment
- Networking
- Recruitment and marketing
- Ministry / Outreach
- Admin: Integration and Governance
- Partnerships
- Academics: teaching excellence and ICS
Discipleship
- Finances / tuition
- Ministry / outreach
- Recruitment and Enrollment
- Partnerships
- Academics: teaching and advising
- Academics: supervised ministry and practica
As a final step to this portion of “Discovery” we will be taking the list of potential solutions developed at our upcoming gathering and expanding upon the list of operational areas above. This will help align our operational areas with the voice and needs of students. For example, we may discover that there are gaps or inaccurate assumptions that insights from students can help correct.
As a follow-up I’ll be sharing some of our discoveries in the coming weeks. In order to make sure we are truly listening to students we need to “close the loop” and make sure we are incorporating their feedback into our ongoing planning and conversations.
Stay tuned for some outcomes from this week’s gathering!
- Brent C. Sleasman, President