Jason E. Mills, PhD
Clearer thinking for Christian institutions preparing for what comes next
Christian universities, theological schools, denominations, and related organizations are navigating significant changes in ministry, leadership, formation, and institutional life.
I help senior leaders and leadership teams interpret these changes, make important decisions, and develop a constructive path forward through facilitation, strategic engagement, research, speaking, and workshops.
Christian Leadership Formation Must Widen
The nature of pastoral ministry and participation in the church is changing.
Paid professional ministry will remain important, but it cannot carry the full work of Christian leadership. Churches need people who understand vocation, pastoral responsibility, and Christian leadership across workplaces, communities, and congregational life.
Christian universities, theological schools, and denominations have a vital role in preparing these leaders. This requires reconsidering who is formed, how formation happens, and what it means to be prepared for Christian leadership.
My work explores how institutions can respond faithfully and strategically to these changes.
Leadership Team Facilitation
Move an important decision, transition, or organizational challenge forward through a focused half-day or full-day facilitated session.
Each engagement is designed around the organization’s needs and includes preparation, a structured process, written findings, recommended priorities, and a leadership debrief.
Strategic Challenge Engagements
Some institutional challenges require deeper listening and analysis.
Through surveys, interviews, facilitated conversations, and organizational analysis, I help leaders identify recurring tensions, overlooked perspectives, and practical opportunities for change.
Speaking and Workshops
Invite a thoughtful and practical conversation about Christian leadership, institutional change, theological education, pastoral formation, or the future of ministry.
Keynotes, seminars, and workshops can be adapted for leadership teams, boards, faculty groups, denominational gatherings, and institutional events.
Experience Across Ministry, Education, and Organizational Leadership
My work brings theological depth into conversation with practical experience leading institutions, teams, congregations, and complex organizational processes.
I currently serve as Dean of Briercrest Seminary, convene the Deans and Provosts Group for Christian Higher Education Canada, and oversee Co-Vocational Canada.
My experience also includes:
- More than twenty years in pastoral ministry
- Strategic planning and organizational change
- Academic program review and educational administration
- Team restructuring, hiring, and leadership development
- Denominational and congregational facilitation
- Conflict management and transitional leadership
- Canadian Armed Forces chaplaincy
- Research, teaching, writing, and public speaking
I am the author of Glassroom Learning and the forthcoming Wages in the Kingdom, which examines bivocational ministry models in the early church.
The Thinking Teams Podcast
Conversations about leadership, formation, and the future of Christian institutions
The Thinking Teams Podcast brings together presidents, deans, educators, denominational leaders, and other institutional thinkers to explore the questions shaping Christian higher education, theological education, ministry, and organizational life.
The current season examines the future of Christian higher education in Canada, including institutional mission, leadership formation, enrolment pressures, changing ministry models, and the decisions leaders face in the years ahead.
Research, Writing, and Emerging Ideas
My research and writing focus on the future of theological education, pastoral formation, co-vocational ministry, technology, chaplaincy, ecclesiology, and sustainable forms of Christian leadership.
These subjects are connected by a central question: How should Christian institutions form leaders for the church and world that are emerging?
Start With a Conversation
If your leadership team is facing an important decision, transition, or organizational challenge, tell me what you are working through.
We can discuss the situation, who should be involved, and whether facilitation, strategic support, speaking, or a workshop would be the most useful next step.