A MISSION HELD IN TRUST: STEWARDING THE CHURCH-RELATED UNIVERSITY

Even when the mission statement of a church-related college or university includes reference to a particular Christian tradition, the connection between an institution’s heritage and its commitment to various academic and professional values can be difficult to see. In some cases, it can seem that these references mainly and merely refer to past relationships or bureaucratic connections to ecclesiastical bodies. What is missing in such cases is the animating connection between a school’s origins and charism and the education it provides to its current students. Even in cases when a mission statement clearly connects these things, church-related schools still find themselves contending with a “post-secular” age, in which many have become indifferent to this connection. How do church-related colleges and universities need to reposition their missions in order engage with a post-secular culture? Moreover, how can they meet the related challenge of stewarding an inherited mission in a fluctuating employment culture, in which the stewards themselves seem temporary, often moving between different institutions and leaving earlier missional commitments behind?

In an effort to address the challenges facing church-related colleges and universities and the missions they strive to advance, this conference seeks to contribute by offering strategies for:

1) Understanding how mission statements serve as organizing rationales for how church-related colleges and universities exercise their identity;

2) Understanding the larger cultural context in which church-related colleges and universities find themselves operating and how their mission statements intersect with that context; and

3) Understanding the theological, philosophical, and legal characteristics of institutional and missional stewardship, and how trustees, administrators, and educators are formed for such service.

The Workshop is offered at no cost to senior administrators at Lilly Network member institutions. Each institution is eligible to register one senior administrator (president, vice president, academic dean, provost, or equivalent). One participant from each school will be reimbursed for travel costs up to $600. Meals and hotel accommodations will also be paid by the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities. Additional participants from member schools will be waitlisted until the Registration Deadline, August 25, 2026, and will be enrolled as slots become available. If more than one person from a single school attends, the Lilly Network will either: 1) split the $600 between the different attendees; or 2) provide up to $600 for one attendee while the sending school covers travel costs for the other.

The Workshop will begin at 9:30 am on Thursday, October 1, 2026 and end at 4:30 pm on Friday, October 2, 2026. Registration for the 2026 Workshop will close on August 25, 2026.