While financial control often seems like the key to influence, it’s storytelling that holds power. Boards of theological schools must pay close attention to the narratives shaping their institutions—especially in the boardroom.

In response to the global need for cost reduction and improved efficiency in education, institutional leadership teams are exploring innovative approaches beyond traditional revenue solutions and cost-cutting measures. A promising alternative lies in adopting new business models with a strategic finance approach.

PACE Academy offers accelerated tracks for pastors and congregational lay leaders, combining the depth and richness of traditional theological training with rigorous competency-based learning experiences and practical application training.

Vancouver School of Theology is using its Pathways grant to enhance its competency-based curriculum.

The In Trust Center offers a variety of initiatives to its members including the Governance Initiative, Pathways for Tomorrow, Resource Grants, and the Wise Stewards Initiative.

Former Fuller Theological Seminary president's rules for fundraising offer prudent and timeless advice.

What's an endowment and how do you use it? A financial expert who serves on the board of a theological school offers wisdom and insight on endowments.

How should a board and senior leaders consider the prospect of embedding? Rev. Dr. Byron Klaus, who has been through the experience and coached others, offers practical advice.

For many ministers, multivocational ministry is normal. Dr. Darryl Stephens, an expert on the subject, says it has been for the history of the North American church, and Lancaster Theological Seminary is forging new paths to train people for multivocational ministry.

After seeing an increase during fall 2020, enrollment at ATS-accredited schools has returned to pre-pandemic trends.

Brenda Bailey-Hainer led ATLA's staff from a big office in Chicago to a distributed workforce with people in several different states. She offers great insights and wisdom that can help any organization.

Click here for a few resources to help your institution work through the grant writing and sustainability process

As most institutional leaders have been dealing with immediate challenges — moving classes online and the complexities of transitioning staff, faculty, and students into new spaces — the focus has been on leading during a crisis. But how do you lead during a crisis and simultaneously lead out of one?A new post from the Harvard Business Review offers some guidelines and cautions.

Understanding enrollment and student retention is essential for any institution to thrive, but not knowing the basics of enrollment management is a common problem.

Seminaries are People Too: Mindsets that make or break institutional change

Presenter Donna Alexander, President & CEO of Advoxum Global Strategies, offers best practices for navigating conflict and crisis. She examines the crucial elements of defining conflict and crisis, identifying, and prioritizing affected stakeholders, utilizing effective communication strategies, and ultimately, executing a plan of action.

Presenter Donna Alexander, President & CEO of Advoxum Global Strategies, offers best practices for navigating conflict and crisis. She examines the crucial elements of defining conflict and crisis, identifying, and prioritizing affected stakeholders, utilizing effective communication strategies, and ultimately, executing a plan of action.

Dr. Rebekah Basinger addresses the opportunities and challenges that come with chairing the board of a theological school, which include how to design effective board meetings, enhance board member engagement, and develop the board for long-term effectiveness while giving attention to the board chair and president partnership and the critical importance of call in both roles.

The In Trust Center is pleased to announce a new webinar series focused on change management models. These webinars are presented by rpk GROUP, a national leader in helping institutions create sustainable business models that reflect both mission and market. This series includes two webinars. Webinar 1 provides a change management framework to include best practice for leading change initiatives and common pitfalls to avoid. This session will include a consideration of institutional readiness for change, especially around the use of a strategic finance lens.

This webinar series addresses the basics of change management and adaptive leadership needed to navigate change.

Join Josh Peskin from Millwork Strategies as he talks about strategic communications plans.

Dr. David Rowe, creator of TransformingCollege.com and former interim president of Lancaster Theological Seminary, will lead this series, helping participants turn mental models that explain how theological education is being disrupted into frameworks for overcoming that disruption.

Join faith-based fundraising expert, Dr. Lori Guenther Reesor, as she shows how to create bold, clear communications of a school's values and ministry goals.

Dr. David Rowe of AGB Consulting will introduce a new area of sustainability each week, leading discussions on strategic transformation and financial sustainability in theological schools.

In this dynamic webinar, Kristal Frazier will review the fundamentals of grant proposal writing.

Join keynote speaker, consultant, and founder of FundJoy, LLC, Kristal Frazier, as she provides proven strategies to help you connect with key prospects.

The Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, is using Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grants to create new ways for people from underserved communities to get a theological education. In this episode, the Rev. Drs. Sergio Navarrete and Darin Poe discuss how the school is using innovative, bilingual, and online programs to try to equip a new generation of ministry leaders. They talk about how they're addressing leadership shortages in churches with programs that blend mentorship, affordability, and relationships to educate and empower students to fulfill their callings.

Eden Theological Seminary President the Rev. Dr. Deborah Krause and Vice President for Institutional Advancement the Rev. Dr. Mary Schaller Blaufuss discuss how the 175-year-old seminary is moving into a new model of education. Using a Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant, the seminary has formed a network of other likeminded seminaries to offer classes to students, as well as provide a range of non-degree classes for ministers. They discuss how they do the work and how it's reaching new audiences.

A congregational leader and strategist, the Rev. Tod Bolsinger, Ph.D., discusses the need for adaptive leadership in theological education. Bolsinger shares insights from his latest book series, including tackling the challenges of leading through change, handling internal resistance, and realigning missions in a post-pandemic world. Bolsinger discusses rethinking old models and learning from experimentation. He emphasizes that effective transformation isn’t about working harder but adapting wisely.

The Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy, president of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, discusses how the school is using its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant to create a new ecosystem that includes not just technology but also efforts to reconsider educational modes and methods. The school's programming includes a stackable curriculum and challenges traditional standards.

The Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative was designed by Lilly Endowment Inc. to create ways for theological schools in North America to train and support ministers for Christian churches. The Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Deasy, director of institutional initiatives of the Association of Theological Schools, and Amy Kardash, president of the In Trust Center for Theological Schools, discuss key findings and themes. ATS and the In Trust Center are co-coordinating the initiative.

At 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.

Kairos 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.

Dr. Kent Anderson, president of Providence University College and Theological Seminary in Canada, considers competency-based theological education as a return to ancient practices rather than a novel approach. He believes mentoring and hands-on learning can provide benefits in the field and emphasizes that institutional humility and a willingness to adapt are essential for the success of theological schools.

Hood 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.

The Rev. Dr. David McAllister-Wilson, president of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., has been at the school for more than 40 years. Reflecting on his time, he considers the future to be among the constituencies that he serves, and in this episode, he considers what the way forward looks like for theological education.

In Trust Center President Amy Kardash and the Rev. Dr. Frank Yamada, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, open a new series, "Inside Theological Education," discussing current trends and what schools can understand about the field from them.

Lexington Theological Seminary is using a Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant to help create ways students can gain access to a theological education. The Rev. Dr. Loida Martell, vice president for academic affairs and dean, discusses how LTS incorporates prior learning assessments and other means to help students.