A Mission Held in Trust

Your Institution's Mission Is Key to Its Flourishing

For church-related colleges and universities, a mission statement is a powerful tool. It communicates what is distinctive about each institution and its relationship to its faith tradition. Yet having a clear and compelling mission statement is not enough. Universities face ongoing challenges in stewarding their missions in a rapidly changing culture.

In A Mission Held in Trust, leading administrators and educators from both Protestant and Catholic institutions provide wisdom on mission alignment in higher education. Mission is designed to be held in trust by members of a community and stewarded for the next generation.

Contributors shed light on a number of topics to help church-related colleges and universities advance their missions, including:

• how mission statements serve as organizing rationales for exercising institutional identity;
• challenges to mission in a post-secular cultural context;
• issues of law, lobbying, messaging, and finance;
• the theological, philosophical, and legal characteristics of fiduciary service; and
• how students, educators, board members, and other stakeholders are formed for service.

This book brings together a distinguished roster of higher education leaders from presidents of Notre Dame, Baylor, Biola, Pepperdine, Franciscan, and Samford to senior officials from Wheaton, Villanova, Saint Louis, and the Catholic University of America. Spanning Catholic, evangelical, and ecumenical institutions, their combined experience in leadership, formation, and ministry offers readers practical, hard-won wisdom they can trust.

In the midst of uncertainties and change, mission remains a sacred trust—inherited from predecessors and passed along to successors. A Mission Held in Trust is a unique ecumenical resource providing wisdom and encouragement for leaders seeking faithfulness in these vital vocations.