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For the past several months, a working group of the Board of Governors has been working on a new strategic plan for the college. An important of this work is articulating how we understand the identity and purpose of the college. The college has shifted in profound and exciting ways since we last undertook a similar process in 2018. We’ve incorporated the work of the United Theological College. We’ve launched more opportunities for online and distance learning. But it’s also a challenging task. It’s the challenge of articulating our identity and purpose in a few memorable words to identify what makes this college uniquely what it is.

The full unveiling of this statement and the broader strategic plan will come once it’s been finally approved by the Board of Governors but I want to highlight one piece of this group’s work because I think it illustrates how we understand the vocation of Christians and Christian ministers in the world today.

In the identity and purpose statement, we assert that the college educates and forms “compassionate, courageous, and creative leaders.” Each of those words is important. Compassion goes to the very core of what Jesus was about in the world. He showed this mercy to all he met and “suffered with” (the literal meaning of compassion) the wounded humanity he came to save. Today, compassion is in altogether too short supply. It seems sometimes that people are being rewarded for being mean and demonstratively unkind to one another, rather than being compassionate. The church needs compassionate leaders because the world needs more compassion.

To be a Christian today, and especially to be a Christian leader, is not easy. It takes courage to stand up and assert belief in a loving and merciful God who calls us into transformed relations with one another. It takes courage to stand up in a society that wants to keep pushing religion to the side and say that we have good news to offer through Jesus Christ.

Underlying all of this is the need for creativity. The church today cannot simply use models we inherit from the past. We need leaders who can draw on the wealth of our shared Christian tradition and use these resources to act experimentally, to try new ideas, and to take risks for the sake of the gospel and the church. All of this will take leadership—from all members of the church, lay and ordained—to be a church that offers fullness of life to people who are in such need of it.

Thank you for your support of our ministry. By God’s grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Dio will continue to be a place where compassionate, courageous, and creative leaders in gospel-shaped ministry are educated, formed, and then sent into a hurting world.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Jesse Zink
Principal