Blazing Trails: Empowering Collaborative Systems of Theological Education
With the support of a Pathways grant, Kairos University will partner with a diverse range of collaborators to build a strong system of affordable, accessible, relevant, and faithful theological education. The grant, “Blazing Trails: Empowering Collaborative Systems of Theological Education,” will enable the development of partner toolkits, distributed assessment systems, and educational pathways designed to help pastors and lay leaders thrive in their vocations.
President and CEO Greg Henson outlines the project and how the university seeks to strengthen the way the school educates pastors and other congregational leaders.
Briefly describe the project.
The “Empowering Collaborative Systems of Theological Education” project at Kairos University aims to strengthen the institution’s ability to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian communities. We are accomplishing this by developing systems, processes, and tools that empower a network of pastors, schools, educators, ministries, and leaders to engage in this work in a way that is both contextual and aligned with a competency-based educational philosophy.
The project focuses on four key areas: 1) creating toolkits, 2) enhancing a distributed assessment system, 3) developing organizational partnerships, and 4) equipping the team. Each focus area has specific objectives designed to support, train, and foster the growth of mentors and partners.
What have you learned so far?
The project’s success is fueled by a strong, shared sense of mission and purpose, and this unity is perhaps more important than we initially realized. While we anticipated its significance, we have come to deeply understand just how crucial it is. Throughout the project – working with partners, students, mentors, and others – we have dedicated considerable time to cultivating practices that promote and nurture a collective understanding of our mission and purpose.
What has surprised you along the way?
The speed of the project’s growth has been surprising. Not only has the school’s enrollment increased, but the number of partners has also grown significantly. While we hoped for this outcome through prayer, the pace of growth has far exceeded our expectations.
What have been a few of your successes?
What we are most pleased with is the collaborative nature of the project. While the enrollment growth is certainly encouraging, it isn't the primary goal. The true goal is to enhance the school's ability to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian churches— and to do so in partnership with others. The response from our collaborators has been overwhelmingly positive, and it's truly exciting to witness the Spirit at work through the Body of Christ!
What aspects of the project are you hopeful about?
We look forward to continuing positive responses to collaboration. In our view, the work of theological education demands deep levels of cooperation between schools, local churches, and the broader Body of Christ. We are already seeing this take shape, and we are hopeful that it will only grow in the future!
What are you learning that could help other schools?
Collaboration and innovation appear to require a willingness to move beyond traditional power structures that have historically supported theological education. We have witnessed God do incredible things when we release some of the power that has typically been held by the academy. It has been inspiring to see what becomes possible when we embrace this shift.
Kairos University is a global system of theological education that provides opportunities for students to build entirely customized educational journeys that are affordable, accessible, relevant, and faithful. The University has locations throughout the United States and Canada, partnerships with organizations around the world, and students from nearly every continent.