If your board is not holding an executive session during every board meeting, maybe it should.

Top 3 on-demand webinars, shared governance, and much more.

AI and Theological Education

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.

Discover how a Lilly Endowment Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant helped Kairos University cement a legacy of competency-based education and much more.

The Centre aims to deliver competency-based, contextual, and mentored pastoral education to strengthen church leaders through a close partnership with the church and the seminary.

Specialized Formation for a Universal Church

The World Next Door: Increasing Capacity to Prepare Pastors for Immigrant and Ethnic Churches

Thanks to a Pathways grant, ICSST has created a series of initiatives focused on a renewed formation for pastoral leadership.

Through the support of a Pathways grant, Wake Forest University School of Divinity has energized relationships with the University’s online learning office as its faculty are working with online curriculum designers to create asynchronous courses.

The Jesuit School of Theology's Pathways project aims to unite various educational groups in the Western region by providing accessible, high-quality education and training for Latina/o pastoral ministers and those serving Latina/o congregations.

Columbia Theological Seminary’s Pathways grant focuses on a three-pronged strategy.

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.

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.

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.

If you are considering an accelerated pastoral degree program (APDP) at your institution and would like to learn more – or you are simply curious about what other schools are doing – this webinar is for you!

Continuing education can provide skills to help your graduates continue to grow in ministry, help innovate with new educational content and delivery, and broaden the base of people who support your institutional mission.

Learn how to expand current offerings in order to increase enrollment and generate more revenue.

Online courses require more thorough planning than traditional face-to-face courses and demand a more systematic approach to evaluation.

Are you interested in learning about how a five-year Bachelor of Arts/Master of Divinity program can benefit your school?

Learn design strategies for launching online programs at your school.

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.

The Rev. Tay Moss, an Episcopalian priest, media producer, and educator, has produced an AI-drive webpage to help people explore the Anglican church – AskCathy.ai – and in this episode explores the potential of AI for theological schools and how they can use it to enhance student engagement and streamline access to information. As well, he discusses the potential for new pedagogy as well as the challenges that AI offers schools and provides some thoughts about how schools and leaders can start to think about engaging with AI.

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.

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.

Dr. Philip Dearborn, president of the Association for Biblical Higher Education in the United States and Canada, discusses the need for specialty accreditation and how it provides an assurance of an institution's commitment to its mission. Dearborn also examines the pressures on schools but also expresses a hope for the future of theological education.

Greg Henson, president of Kairos University, has worked with competency-based educational approaches for years and used competency-based education to remake what was Sioux Falls Seminary. In this discussion, he covers a variety of aspects of the work and discusses the book he co-wrote with Kent Anderson, president of Providence University College and Theological Seminary.

Notre Dame's Department of Theology is using a Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative grant to create cross-cultural competency in students studying for vocational and lay ministry. Professor Stacey Noem, one of the grant project directors, discusses ways the school is creating space for cross-cultural ministry and how it prepares students.

Acadia Divinity College is experimenting and discerning future paths for the Church and theological education in its Pathways for Tomorrow grant, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Acadia President Dr. Anna Robbins and Dr. Jodi Porter, the project director, talk about creating a "sandbox," what it means to experiment, and how they're looking forward to the future.

In 2018, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University opened to explore and support the role of chaplaincy. With a changing religious landscape, the role of chaplains can be a benefit. Theological schools, in their work to train chaplains, can benefit as well. Dr. Wendy Cadge, founder and director, of the lab, and Dr. Michael Skaggs, co-founder and director of programs, discuss the role of chaplaincy in shaping the Church.

The rise of conspiracy theories and a diminishing trust in societal institutions have given some church leaders pause to consider the impact. In this episode, Rob Saler, Ph.D., Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, suggests that theological institutions can contribute to addressing these challenges.

Dr. MaryKate Morse, former executive dean of Portland Seminary, discusses the key relationships she forged in an embedded seminary, and how she demonstrated the value to the school.

There has been considerable concern about AI and its use in theological higher education, particularly as it relates to cheating. But Greg Henson, president of Kairos University, and Ruth McGillivray, executive vice president of Northwest Seminary and College, believe there's more to it than that. In this episode, they discuss the opportunities for theological schools to explore with AI.