Re-imagining Tomorrow Initiative

The James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology of Mercer University (McAfee) is “dreaming again” with its three-year Phase 2 Pathways for Tomorrow grant, “Re-imagining Tomorrow Initiative.” This initiative aims to expand the school’s footprint across geographic, racial, vocational, and relational lines to address the church’s leadership needs. To achieve this, McAfee senses that the pathway toward the continued realization and sustainability of its mission plans to recalibrate the seminary student formational experience, refocus the church’s role in the theological education, and re-envision its learning community consisting of residential students, distant learning students, lay ministers, pastors, and churches.

Leah D. Jackson, the grant project director for the Pathways initiative, summarized the project’s scope and progress.

Briefly describe the project.

Our project, Reimagining Tomorrow, emerged our strategic planning efforts in 2019. We are “dreaming again” to re-ignite our vision, reflecting on our past identity, and intentionally considering who we aspire to be now and in the future. This involves recalibrating the student formation experience, recentering the Church in the theological education experience, and reimagining our learning community in response to its evolution.

When a person discerns a calling, they typically consult a spiritual leader who directs them to seminary. At seminary, our role is to open up both their head and heart before sending them back. Our recentering is on recognizing the importance of their originating community, which has known and shaped them. This community should be central to their education, and we aim to walk alongside them.

Reimaging our learning community acknowledges that the world has changed and continues to change. Initially, our institution was predominately composed of white males. Today, we are mostly female, with a significant portion of our students being African American women. We have become less focused on denominations. Our student body is older, and many participate online. What does this mean for us? We also now recognize more gender fluidity than when we founded in early ’90s. As our community changes, so must our approach to student formation, prompting us to rethink our methods.

What have you learned so far?

Stay flexible. Stay flexible. Stay flexible.

What I thought I knew has been upended due to significant personnel changes. Our approach, grounded in an understanding of our identity as an institution and guided by the strategic imperatives of our plan, goes beyond program focus. It is about the larger conceptual work of our identity and faithfulness to it.

I attended the ATS Sustainability training in April, and two months later, I lost two programmatic staff members. The work I did there proved meaningful, as it allowed me to reflect on the heart of our objectives and recognize the flexibility we have.

We have bigger challenges, so the impact of losing key personnel isn’t as significant. This led us to amplify diverse voices within our community. We have a program called the McAfee Circle, in partnership with an external organization, which conducts monthly learning situation with African American female students, partnering them with alumni. Although, the staff member who led the program has moved on, the program continues.

Our focus on asking ‘What is our core why?’ has sustained the ebbs and flows we have encountered. As a small but dynamic college, outsourcing our needs for tailored development has had a tremendous impact. The McAfee Circle exemplifies this, as does the Ministry Collaborative, Lilly-funded we are collaborating with to create something for our online students to enhance their sense of community. Outsourcing prevents overwhelming our already busy staff.

What has surprised you along the way?

Everything!  I’m not the original grant writer, so I had to build the plane while I flew it. I wasn’t prepared to lose my pilot and flight attendant mid-air. However, what has also surprised me is how the faculty and staff have embraced our efforts, which has energized their work. We’re trying to align with our existing projects, and this has provided resources for some people to deepen their work and for departments to undertake initiatives they otherwise couldn’t.  Recruiters, for example, have been able to recruit in places they wouldn’t have otherwise, which allows them to achieve some of their goals sooner, because they have funds to do so.

What have been a few key successes?

I met with a faculty member to discuss grant funds for her to receive training to develop some new courses she’s been considering, which aligns with the grant. She’s passionate about helping women, and this opportunity will energize the end of her career while enabling us to deepen our efforts to recalibrate the student experience.

The McAfee Circle is a definite success. It has enabled us to develop womanist preaching and create a supportive community for Black women in ministry, which has been wildly successful.

When I examine the metrics, from where our students started in their calling to how confident they feel participating in the classroom discussions with their peers, along with the significant mentorship they’ve received, the results have been outstanding in all metrics.

We developed this program to address a specific need, and we’re very proud of our efforts. It had been a priority for the dean, as we’d been struggling to place these students in meaningful contextual placements, that reflected where they would go after graduation. These placements need to be contextually aligned for the students. The McAfee Circle has ensured each student has a mentor in a situation to where they want to serve. When pairing students, we consider not only demographics but also their career aspirations, whether they aim to be a hospital chaplain, work in academia, or become a senior pastor. That’s a success.

The grant has allowed us to expand our learning community and engage more diverse spaces, bringing diverse voices to McAfee, including new people, and different beliefs, age groups, genders. Last summer, I attended a conference of a very conservative denomination because we have more conservative students coming to McAfee. This diversity has been causing some challenges in the classroom, so I went to foster greater understanding and build relationships that would help us have a better understanding of our students with access to relationships in that world. As we build relationships, positive developments and new connections are being made.

What aspects of the project are you hopeful about?

I’m hopeful that our work goes beyond being just an enjoyable group project. I want it to become embedded into the university’s life, so that people will notice if we stop doing the things we’re doing or cease asking the creative questions.

What are you learning that could help schools?

Engage in the difficult conversations. Be honest about who we are and who we are not. Since our project is so introspective, that kind of honesty has been vital to our success. If the dean hadn’t pulled me aside and said, “I don’t want to send my students to white churches,” we wouldn’t have developed the McAfee Circle. It began with us – naming the problem and having an unapologetic discussion about what our reality was essential. If we had tiptoed around it, we wouldn’t have identified the need to create something energizing for our whole community.

The energy surrounding our grant is about dreaming and playing. Sometimes, I throw crayons on the table and invite people to play and create. We’ve fostered an environment where people are less afraid to brainstorm. We are constantly pivoting within a pivot, which is challenging. I handed the staff a measuring tape and instructed them to measure twice, cut once. People are much more open to the idea of measuring, and by giving them permission to measure twice, they feel less pressure for the first attempt to be right or wrong.

Because we’re small and mighty and adept at outsourcing our limitations, we’re more open to forming new relationships. When I first started, people were hesitate to talk because they feared being assigned additional work. I assured them, “If you say it, you don’t have to do it.’

Another key factor has been my relationship with the dean. We can talk and dream together, functioning more as partners in the work. This collaboration has made it easier to encourage people to try new things. Building trust with your leadership is vital to the success of trying new things.