Enrolment Is Not Your Vision
Enrolment matters. But when increasing enrolment becomes the primary goal, we risk losing sight of the larger questions that should guide our work. Why do we want more students in the first place?
This insight surfaced in my conversation with Anna Robbins on The Thinking Teams Podcast. Here’s what she said (53:50):
I think if you’re saying what we need to do is increase enrolment without having that framed more widely in why do we want more students? What are we doing with these students? What do we expect them to do if it’s just to keep the school alive, then I would say just shut ‘er down now.
You have to have that vision of what we’re actually trying to do here. And then you share the vision. If people don’t buy that vision, then you either change the vision, I’d say, or give it up.
I think she is pointing out something that is both elusive and essential: vision and the pursuit of that vision take priority, even when increased enrolment is the immediate need.
The Why, the What, and the Who of Vision
During our conversation Anna first asks: Why? Why do we want more students? The larger question is why do we exist? These are vision questions. They get to the heart of the unique calling of the theological school. What would the church and the world lose if we were no longer here? Each school has its own history, calling, and strengths. We begin to recognize those realities and discern how God might use them in the future when we start asking why questions.
Second, Anna asks: What are we doing with these students and what do we expect them to do? These questions move us from a general sense of calling to the particular future we are trying to imagine. What will we need to do differently? What will we need to stop doing? What will our students need to be prepared for? What are we afraid of losing? The what questions help to put legs and feet to the vision, grounding it in a particular context the school has been called to inhabit.
Third, Anna points to the importance of sharing the vision with others. This brings us to the who of vision. Who needs to hear it? Who needs to be part of shaping it? Who might join us in bringing it to life? I think the “who” of vision is the most interesting part because it involves the greatest risk. When we begin dreaming wildly and envisioning a different future, one test of whether we believe in that vision is whether we are willing to share it with others. It is one thing to describe what already exists. It is something else to articulate a future that has not yet come to fruition and invite others to help bring it into being. Sharing a vision is risky. It opens the vision, and the one sharing it, up to criticism, misunderstanding, and revision. Sharing is not simply about communicating a finished product. It is part of discerning and developing the vision. That is exactly what happened as Anna talked about her team’s log and toadstool idea (1:01:00) that morphed and grew into reality as the vision was shared.
An Invitation
If your leadership team tends to spend more time on enrolment numbers than clarifying the vision, here is what I would invite you to do.
1. Ask the why questions
Why do we want more students? Why do we exist? Why us? Why now? What would the church and the world lose if we were no longer here?
2. Imagine the what
What would it look like to live more fully into our calling? What needs to change? What should remain? What do our students need to be prepared for? What are we afraid of losing?
3. Share the vision with others before it is finished
Invite others into the imagining. Listen to their questions. Let the vision be tested, refined, challenged, and expanded. Keep sharing it until it becomes part of the school’s common life. Imagining the future not only clarifies where the school could go; it also unifies and inspires people as they join in.
When the vision is clear, faculty, staff, and students know what the school is about. They choose to work and study there because they believe in what the community is trying to accomplish.
When I first arrived as the Dean of the Seminary at Briercrest, I began the process of developing what became A Vision for Seminary Education at Briercrest. Through months of meetings, consultations, and refinement of the vision, we gained clarity and developed a shared understanding of who we are and where we are headed.
Enrolment still matters. But it becomes part of a larger conversation about who we are, whom we serve, and what we are called to do. The question is no longer simply how to get more students. It is why those students should want to be part of what we are becoming.
If these questions resonate with you and your leadership team, I’d welcome a conversation. Helping theological schools clarify their vision and discern how to live into it is work I care deeply about. Sometimes a conversation with someone outside the institution can help surface the questions that need to be asked. Feel free to reach out.
