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Dean Guides Seminary into 21st Century

By Jadell Forman (Class of 1990)

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Click Photo to Enlarge The dean of the Graduate School of Theology and Missions, Dr. Thomson Mathew, says, "We exist to raise the level of leadership within the Charismatic movement."

Click Photo to Enlarge In student-scripted "reflection papers," faculty assess how effectively each student applies course information to his or her specific calling.

Dr. Thomson Mathew claims to have the "ministry of hanging around." Since becoming dean of the Graduate School of Theology and Missions in 2000, Mathew has been using this ministry to discern academic needs within the seminary and shepherd the department toward an updated educational model.

Considering the mandate of President Richard Roberts to remain interdenominational while still serving the charismatic movement, Mathew wondered, What does the church need? For nearly five years, a group of "representatives from small and large churches and ministries...met regularly with theology professors and worked hard" to come up with the answer.

After identifying "outcomes," Mathew says, the entire faculty spent hundreds of hours asking themselves sometimes-threatening questions such as, Who should teach these outcomes? and Do we need to change our teaching methods? "Not everyone was thrilled," Mathew notes, "...although many seemed relieved that finally someone in academia was asking tough questions about themselves and their own validity and usefulness to the charismatic church."

Having refined their own focus, professors enacted a plan to help students refine theirs. Faculty began challenging their students with thought-provoking questions about their place in the body of Christ: What has God called you to do? and How will you do it?

For their part, faculty started spending more time helping students come up with meaningful answers to those formative and directional questions. They also took time to improve their teaching skills through workshop sessions and a one-day retreat.

The department now measures success differently. Instead of weighing mere acquisition of academic raw material, the seminary faculty assesses--in student-scripted "reflection papers"--how effectively each student applies the information to his or her specific calling.

Mathew says the ORU seminary purposes, with fresh intentionality, to include both "information and formation" within education. "We exist to raise the level of leadership within the charismatic movement," the dean says. And he sees recent seminary growth--numerically, spiritually, and in student retention--as evidence of success.

His paper, "Confessions of a Seminary Dean," tells how the seminary raised the level of leadership within its own walls in its quest to help do the same for the charismatic movement.