Summary Report

Western Mission Cluster Consultation on Theological Education

Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center, Carefree, AZ

December 10-12, 1999

 

            Forty participants gathered at Carefree, Arizona, December 10-12, 1999 for a Western Mission Cluster Consultation on Theological Education. The consultation followed up on discussions that began with a December 1998 event, also in Carefree. Participants engaged in dialogue about collaborative efforts in theological education for rostered ministers, laity and congregations among ELCA seminaries, colleges, universities, continuing education centers, churchwide units, synods, and congregations in Regions 1, 2 & 3.

 

            At the end of the 1998 consultation, participants asked that the 1999 gathering focus on the missional direction for theological education in the western U.S. They also requested that a strategic plan be drafted to guide the collaborative efforts of the theological education partners in the three ELCA regions. To accomplish those requests a planning group, with supportive funding from the Division for Ministry of the ELCA, engaged Dr. Craig Van Gelder of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, to prepare a paper for the 1999 conference. A panel chaired by Dr. John Schiller of LENS (the Lutheran Educational Network and Support) in Tacoma, Washington, drafted a strategic plan.

 

            The forty representatives attending the 1999 consultation represented two ELCA seminaries, six colleges and universities (including one independent Lutheran college), five continuing education centers, five synods, and a teaching congregation all located within the Western Mission Cluster's three regions. In addition, there were representatives of the ELCA's Dept. for Communication, Div. for Higher Education and Schools, Div. for Outreach, Div. for Ministry, and Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Five individuals came from the ELCA's other two clusters, the Eastern Cluster and the Covenant Cluster. Dr. Phyllis Anderson, Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Theological Education, Seattle University, represented the ecumenical theological community.

 

            Dr. Van Gelder's paper, "A Theology of Mission and the Missional Church in the United States", set the foundation from which a stimulating and clarifying discussion emerged. Van Gelder focused his attention on sketching out a missional ecclesiology. Participants pondered ways in which the church as organization is to participate in and live out God's mission in creation. Participants agreed that the aim of life-long learning in the church should help believers understand their context better and equip them to participate in God's mission to all creation.

 

            Following discussion of the Van Gelder paper, consultation participants reviewed a draft proposal of "A Strategic Plan for the Western Mission Cluster in Providing Theological Education for Regions 1, 2, and 3" prepared by Drs. John Schiller and Phyllis Anderson.

 

            The strategic plan was developed, using the assumptions and categories of the 1995 ELCA Study of Theological Education. That study proposed the creation of an inter-dependent network of theological education providers across the ELCA. Specifically, three clusters were established to link the eight ELCA seminaries and other partners for more effective collaboration in the development and delivery of theological education. The Western Mission Cluster, under the leadership of Luther Seminary and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, has adopted an approach to clustering that seeks to discern and respond to the mission opportunities within Regions 1, 2, and 3. A governance structure that seeks to address these missional opportunities is now emerging.

 

The proposal presented at the consultation included

·        a list of the participating partners,

·        a mission and a vision statement,

·        a rationale for the collaborative efforts of the cluster,

·        a listing of goals, and

·        a possible structure through which the collaborative efforts could function.

 

            Ample time was spent in small discussion groups, exploring and responding to both Dr. Van Gelder's paper and the draft of the strategic plan. Response to the Van Gelder paper was strong and positive. Participants started shifting their viewpoints and vocabulary in response to Van Gelder's provocative views on missional ecclesiology. Questions like "What in the world is God doing?" engaged participants in intense conversations during the consultation.

 

            Initial reaction to the draft strategic plan was less enthusiastic. Participants were concerned about the plan being too "top-down" in orientation. Some feared that it was too early to move rapidly into a more precise structure. Others were uncertain about possible duplication of efforts or duplication of bureaucracies within the Western Mission Cluster.

 

            However, a breakthrough occurred as participants met in various "constituency groups" (as college representatives, seminary representatives, etc.) These small group discussions examined in detail the three pages of the draft strategic plan with the result that clarity was achieved and consensus began to emerge. Two proposed mission statements and a proposed vision statement, though not formally adopted by the group, revealed an emerging consensus around a common sense of our partnership in mission.

 

One proposed mission statement (drafted by seminary representatives) showed the strong influence of Van Gelder's paper:

            The WMC builds collaboration among Christian institutions that provide theological resources in a diverse, flexible, and accessible delivery system to congregations and professional leaders for their contextual ministries, for the baptized in their vocations in the world, and for all people for their deeper encounter with the living God.

 

A second proposed mission statement (drafted by continuing education center representatives), although somewhat shorter and less nuanced, was viewed as being understandable by a wide audience within the ELCA.

            The purpose of the Western mission cluster is to provide a network for collaboration though which partners in theological education can expand their resources to more fully serve the ministry of the baptized in the church and in the world.

 

A proposed vision statement that emerged from these discussions was:

            The Western Mission Cluster serves the mission of God in the world by nurturing the spiritual life of God's people and supporting their exercise of their vocations in the world.

 

These three statements will be key resources for a task force that will plan a third consultation in December of 2000. This task force will also carry forward the collaborative efforts of the Western Mission Cluster. The task force consists of:

            Richard Bruesehoff (Div. for Ministry, churchwide)

            Reg Schultz-Akerson (Californian Lutheran Univ., college church relations)

            Ernest Simmons (Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, colleges)

            Peter Sethre (Luther Seminary, continuing education)

            Paul Sorensen (Community Church of Joy, teaching congregations)

            Larry Wohlrabe (SW Minn Synod, synods)

Dr. James Boyce of Luther Seminary has been appointed Coordinator for the Western Mission Cluster. He will convene members of the task force and continue to work on development of the Western Mission Cluster website on the Internet http://campus.fishersnet.net/wmcluster.

 

            During their closing reflections, two staff members from the ELCA Division for Ministry made a generous offer of initial funding for projects that the Western Mission Cluster might start to undertake. Dr. Jonathan Strandjord, Director for Theological Education, and Pastor Richard Bruesehoff, Director for Leadership Support, indicated that up to $20,000 might be available for ministries of the cluster. It was agreed that a portion of these funds might be used by the task force to help move the effort forward in creating an "interdependent and collaborative network of providers" of continuing theological education. It was also decided that funds should be used for one or more projects in the coming year that could test the collaborative nature of the network. Several projects were suggested such as a needs assessment for life-long learning; developing a Western Mission Cluster faculty; gathering of resources; or development of collaborative models for course development. Specific interest was also expressed in a regional Conference on Baptism, Vocation and Call that is currently being discussed as a distance learning event (for fall of 2000) using both web-based technology and interactive video by several key players in the Western Mission Cluster (including Luther Seminary, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, California Lutheran University and Pacific Lutheran University.) It may be possible to make this sort of event available to all three regions in the Western Mission Cluster and involve some other learning partners.

 

            The Western Mission Cluster is moving to establish a clear mission and vision statement to guide it. It has provided a beginning structure to continue its efforts. It has begun developing some collaborative efforts in theological education. Its first efforts in that collaborative process involve appropriately enough a vision of lifelong learning for Christian vocation and for the ministry of the baptized.

 

Summary drafted by John Schiller (LENS) and Rick Rouse (Pacific Lutheran University) 12-30-99. Additional editing by Larry Wohlrabe (SW MN Synod) and James Boyce (Luther Seminary, Westerm Mission Cluster Coordinator).

 

Epilogue:

The following piece, excerpted from the devotional reading appointed for the day after our consultation at Carefree, seems to fit the process of becoming we find the Western Mission Cluster in at the present time.

 

            "Sometimes, the picture isn't finished yet. Ideas, possibilities, hopes, dreams float around, circling us like asteroids around a planet. We may think events in our lives are happening aimlessly, without purpose. All we see are disconnected, floating blobs. We reach for them, try to grab them in our hands so we can connect them, force them into a whole, force them into a picture we can see, something that makes sense.

 

            "Let the pieces be. Let yourself be. Let life be. Sometimes, chaos needs to precede order. The pieces will come together in a picture that makes sense, in a beautiful work of art that pleases.

 

            "You don't have to force the pieces to fit together it it's not time. You don't have to know. There is power sometimes in not knowing. There is power in letting go. Power in waiting. Power in stillness. Power in trust. There is power in letting the disconnected pieces be until they settle into a whole. The action you are to take will appear. Timely. Clearly. What you're to do will become clear.

 

            "Let the pieces be, and they'll take shape. Soon you'll see the picture."

 

["Learn to Live with Ambiguity" by Melody Beattie from Journey to the Heart, 4]