(our alumni) are living engaged lives and doing good things for the right
reasons. It extends into heaven where alumni are networking and community
building in ways that escape our understanding but touch our hearts as we all
endeavor to be part of the New Jerusalem.
The Mission of the College
I began this talk by referencing the mission of the College and the contention
over whether growth was strengthening or weakening mission. I don’t think
there are simple ways to ease that tension. Intelligent, passionate, devoted New
Church people disagree on this and other issues. But let me say something
about missions in general and ours in particular.
Mission statements develop over time. The College updated the wording
of its mission several times in the past 20 years, not because we got it wrong,
but because we are defining more carefully how we stay educationally and
spiritually pertinent in a changing world.
Mission statements are supposed to evolve, especially in an educational
institution. One of the conditions of the College’s accreditation is that we
keep the mission updated, making sure it reflects the aspirations and specific
goals of the institution.
We continue to emphasize the three-fold Word but have added language
to reflect how we accomplish this education at the college level. If we are going
to have a New Church college, we need to have quality education to support
the integration of these priceless teachings.
Of course, nothing says we must have a college, much less a liberal arts
one. It is not specifically named in the Academy’s 1877 Charter, after all.
Neither are the Secondary Schools, the Theological School, or the General
Church, much less Glencairn or Cairnwood. What is called for is:
• Propagating the Heavenly Doctrines (and establishing the New Church)
• Promoting Education in all its forms
• Educating young men for the ministry
• Publishing books, pamphlets, and other printed matter
• Establishing a library
The Charter of the Academy requires interpretation. Not “anything
goes,” certainly, but honest engagement with how we will continue to honor
and enact it over time. We have clearly felt free to interpret so far:
• We have taken “publishing printed matter” to include e-texts, websites,
video.
• We have taken “education in all its forms” to mean New Church
education, of a few specific types.
• We have taken “educating young men for the ministry” to mean men
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