University presidents have an incredibly broad purview. During their tenure, nearly every dimension of a school’s life — from their financial solvency, enrollment and student morale — are (in some sense) judged as a referendum on the president’s leadership.
Outside the university ecosystems we have a vague sense that the presidency is an incredibly responsible job; but what we usually don’t know is how these presidents see their day-to-day activities stacking up toward priorities that shape Wesleyan higher education’s future.
Culture and curriculum
For President Dr. Jim Dunn of Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the means is the end. Every OKWU leadership level, from residence life, to coaching staff, to professors and administrators, knows the importance of living out a Wesleyan posture of holiness expressed through “heads, hearts, hands and habits.”
All universities have specific hoped-for outcomes folded into their curriculum, most of which revolve around preparing students for effective service in their chosen area of study. Wesleyan institutions share that aim, building innovation-driven, research-based curricula that prepare for lifelong growth in the student’s discipline. But Wesleyans also have a concomitant focus: helping students locate themselves within God’s restorative work in the world.
Among the Wesleyan presidents’ primary responsibilities then is to steward a culture in which students are sent from universities into missional engagement, working in their profession and alongside the local church in self-giving service.
“We emphasize that every person is called by God to fulfill God’s mission in our world. This means that we are preparing pastors and missionaries. It also means that we are all about preparing godly, servant leaders in every other wholesome vocation to take the gospel to the pulpit, pew, street, school, office, park, clinic, construction site, home and coffee shop. We expect that our leaders participate in the local church in order to model and invite our students to do the same,” said Dr. Dunn.
Kingswood’s mission is to “serve Jesus Christ by strengthening the local and global church,” said President Dr. Stephen Lennox of Kingswood University in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. “We do this by preparing people for ministry as their vocation, through our on-campus and on-line undergraduate ordination-track programs, our certificate-based ordination track programs and our pre-seminary Bachelor of Theology degree. More men and women are preparing for ordination in The Wesleyan Church through Kingswood than anywhere else.
“We also prepare people to strengthen the church by ministering through their vocation, whether in our Christian counseling undergraduate and graduate programs, our Christian School education programs, our intercultural studies major, our marketplace ministry major or our business management major,” stated Dr. Lennox. “In January (2024), we launched Kingswood Learn, a two-sided platform that provides high quality, well-vetted, practical and free micro-courses for the purposes of discipleship and leadership development in our churches.”
Mentoring and encouragement
Every church generation evaluates whether the next generation shares their values, commitments and concerns. Part of the college president’s role in this kind of “auspicious moment” is helping the church continue to believe in young people.
“We know that the church often wonders if this generation of young adults will ever be as godly as they have become,” reflected Dr. Dunn. “The same things were said about me and my peers 40 years ago when I was a college freshman. Someone believed in me. Someone trusted me. Someone encouraged me. Someone donated their money so the school I now am president of could help my education be affordable and my experience pleasant. My wife and I intend to do the same things someone did for us for the young adults we interact with today and tomorrow. We need them to get right with Jesus. We need them to take the compassion they have for their peers and have that developed at a biblically-centered university.”
Mission, metrics and sustainability
Part of any college president’s purview is keeping track of how universities will sustainably fulfill their mission into the future — ensuring not only that the mission is stated, but that it’s practiced, that stewardship systems are in place and that those inside the institution take advantage of chances to partner with and serve the church.
“The most important component of my role as president is to further Kingswood’s mission,” said Dr. Lennox. For him, a vital component of preserving the mission is seeing it enacted in decisions, metrics and personalities in every dimension of Kingswood’s culture.
“When we say our mission is to strengthen the church, we mean that anyone, anywhere, at any time, can find at Kingswood what they need to grow in their faith and in their capacity to serve the Lord in the calling they’ve received,” stated Dr. Lennox.
From that mission come the metrics by which institutions can measure their effectiveness. For Kingswood, that metric is involvement: the quantity and quality of men and women who are walking with Kingswood in pursuit of service to and through the local church. “The number of men and women preparing for ordination in The Wesleyan Church through Kingswood is a tremendous gauge of how Kingswood is doing in their efforts to deliver accessible education to those pursuing Christian service,” reflected Dr. Lennox.
Dr. Lennox meets weekly with each administrative team member, examining how well the mission is being enacted in each area of the university. They also examine future trends in higher education, in The Wesleyan Church and in culture with special focus on potential growth areas Kingswood may be able to engage.
“Not all of these opportunities are sent from God, but the team and I need to be sensitive to his leading so we can respond in faith and obedience, bathing this in prayer throughout the week,” he reflects.
That type of sensitivity, obedience and prayerful attention characterize the best in our Wesleyan tradition. The ways their leaders prioritize those rhythms — both as custodians of culture and as disciples trying to be personally faithful to God — is an important part Wesleyan higher education’s mission to train well-equipped servants in every vocation.
To learn more about the role of WE schools’ presidents and other leaders in our denomination, stay tuned to wesleyan.org/news.
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
