Payne Receives Pathways for Tomorrow Initiate from Lilly
By Rev. Betty Whitted Holley, Ph.D.
The Lilly Endowment seeks to assist theological schools in the United States and Canada accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in efforts to do the following: explore emerging challenges and opportunities facing their institutions as well as the Christian congregations that they serve; gain clarity about their mission in light of these challenges and opportunities and relationship to the leadership needs of their constituent churches; assess the effectiveness of their educational strategies and financial operations for preparing and supporting pastors and congregational lay ministers; and design and implement plans to launch new or strengthen current projects to address their key challenges and opportunities and to make their institutions more educationally-effective and financially-viable for the continued preparation and support of pastors and congregational lay ministers into the future.
Payne Theological Seminary received a $50,000 seed-planning grant for the research, consultation, and pre-exploration of several prioritized challenges and opportunities. First, Zoom technology training for Payne’s leadership team is needed for the success of the research, consultation, and pre-exploration of the three listed challenges and opportunities: strategic planning process on important issues of stewardship around mission and money, cultural diversity training for pastors, alumni, faculty, staff, and students. This training will afford the connection needed to receive the ultimate benefits from consultants and workshop presenters to be the reach beyond the seminary walls in fellowship with various groups that are needed to acquire the information to respond to challenges and opportunities.
Second, a strategic planning process on important issues of stewardship around mission and money will be an opportunity for Payne to engage in its own strategic-visioning process. There is a need for Payne to visualize its place in the broader landscape of North American theological education to see the trends in a broad industry context, peer subsets, and institution-specific ways. The Board needs an understanding of the context of theological education, the distinctiveness of Payne as an institution, and the importance of stewardship of the mission and resources to fulfill our mission. Our Board, president, and administration could profit greatly from facilitated conversations around establishing benchmarks and key performance indicators that measure success toward institutional strategic goals.
Third, cultural diversity training for pastors, alumni, faculty, staff, and students is needed if the church is going to continue working and moving into interracial and intercultural engagements. Payne needs to explore opportunities to pursue untapped communities and find ways to serve them beyond classical education. We need to become more expansive in our reach. There needs to be an exploration of ways the church can confront racial oppression through prayer, discernment, and worship-based action and work together as allies with those who have different experiences than we do.
Fourth, the mental wellness of faculty and staff personnel through and beyond COVID-19 has presented a challenge and opportunity. The pandemic has had a major effect on our lives. Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19 but can make us feel isolated and lonely and increase stress and anxiety. Learning to cope with stress healthily will make us more resilient. The Payne community, including staff, administration, and students have experienced, first-hand, this horrible disease, which includes but is not limited to stress, anxiety, and burnout.
Payne will use these funds to envision its mission in a post-pandemic environment. All of us involved in theological education realize instinctively that the ground has indeed shifted. Our lack of clarity involves how our institutions can and should navigate unknown waters. This seed-planning grant will help Payne find its way.
