Strength to Strength
Innovative Excellence for Ministry, Service, and Healing
Southwest Board of Trustees Adopts Bold New Strategic Plan
In May, 2021, the Seminary of the Southwest Board of Trustees adopted a new strategic plan. This plan, developed over the previous year with input from board, faculty, and staff, aimed to reflect Southwest’s emerging identity as a seminary of innovation and excellence, while maintaining the tradition and core values that have served the institution for generations.
The plan, covering five years of operations but with visionary outcomes a decade into the future, revised the mission and vision statement, created four areas of focus, and provides a detailed playbook for Seminary of the Southwest to fullfil its ever-increasing potential amid this next season of growth.
A New Mission and Vision
In order to incorporate the many new programs and initiatives the seminary has developed, a new mission and vision statement were drafted as both the foundation and the guiding principles of the strategic plan:
Mission:
Rooted in the reconciling ministry of Christ, the mission of Seminary of the Southwest is to form people for vocations of ministry, service, and healing.
Vision:
The insight and creativity with which Seminary of the Southwest engages the Christian tradition with the reality of the contemporary world will make it a leader among institutions of higher learning, both within and beyond The Episcopal Church.
Sustained by innovative teaching and research, Southwest will form servant leaders who minister in a diverse culture with confidence and humility. The seminary will possess the financial and spiritual capacity to discern and develop new programs to advance God’s mission of healing and reconciliation.
Organized into Four Areas of Focus (Pillars)
The work of the strategic plan is divided into our distinct areas of focus, referred to in the plan as ‘pillars.’ They are:
Beloved Community
Creating a community that values and welcomes diversity and different perspectives.
Formation and Teaching
Developing and maintaining the highest curricular standards and pedagogy in our fields.
Resourced and Resilient
Nurturing the fiscal resources necessary to fulfill our mission and withstand challenges.
Community Treasure
Becoming a resource in our greater community to convene, gather, and host critical conversations.
Guided by Nine Visionary Outcomes
The goals and measurable results embedded into the Strategic Plan are guided by these nine visionary outcomes:
1. Embody the Beloved Community
Seminary of the Southwest will envision and embody the Beloved Community reflected in its diversity of faculty, staff, and students, in culture, race, gender, and sexual orientation
2. An Austin Treasure
Seminary of the Southwest will be known as one of the educational and cultural treasures of Austin, a place that convenes interdisciplinary conversations about things that matter most and serves the community in times of challenge.
3. Support from the Community
Seminary of the Southwest will have strong community and financial support to discern and respond to the priorities called forth by this vision.
4. Fully Resourced & Resilient
Seminary of the Southwest will create and maintain the financial and physical resources to sustain and grow this vision.
5. Model MDiv Program
Seminary of the Southwest’s MDiv program will train a diverse group of ordained leaders for the church with a curriculum rooted in the organic dynamism of the Anglican tradition, the inclusive vision of the Beloved Community, the exploration of new models of ministry, and the centrality of conversation and collaboration with others inside and outside the church.
6. Top Military Chaplaincy Program
Seminary of the Southwest will distinguish itself among Episcopal seminaries as having the strongest and best resourced military chaplaincy concentration among peer institutions.
7. A Magnetic Reputation
The reputation of Seminary of the Southwest will help attract the most creative and talented applicants who are drawn to this vision of ministry and service.
8. The Leading MHC Program
Southwest’s Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree program will lead the professional counseling field in training spiritually-integrated, culturally-responsive counselors equipped to meet the mental health needs of clients of diverse backgrounds.
9. A Church-wide Iona Collaborative
By 2025 the Iona Collaborative will become the Episcopal Church-wide leader in bi-vocational ministry by resourcing a majority of dioceses to do local formation for ordination, discipleship, leadership, and community engagement.
