In this article, Melinda R. Heppe tells about three schools and their different experiences to give a picture of what the accreditation process can mean to an institution. Logos Evangelical Seminary, a ten-year-old school in California, made good use of its self-study exercise to set necessary procedures in place. Hood Theological Seminary in North Carolina, in operation for 116 years, had postponed the process but then found many benefits in it. Phillips Theological Seminary in Oklahoma undertook reaccreditation after it separated from Phillips University and struck out on its own. A reflection by Dale Launderville, O.S.B., dean of St. John’s School of Theology in Minnesota, gives another insight on the effect that the process might have on a school. How can your school use the self-study process as a tool for shared understanding rather than as a hoop to jump through?

During his time in office Vincent Cushing saw his school pass from being a hastily organized merger of separate traditions into becoming an institution. Where is your school on that continuum? And if it is an institution, does it retain the flexibility to reinvent itself if need be?

A long-time board consultant and board member raises the issue of when and why to ask hard questions in the boardroom. Some questions are essential, some are problematic, and some can best be handled in a different context. Have you ever wondered why certain things are done the way they are at your school, or thought maybe you were missing something? How open are your president and board to meaningful discussion? What issues in your school might need some light shed on them? What issues are best avoided or handled privately?