Single Minded Mission
Since 1897, Trinity’s mission has been to educate men and women to engage in God’s redemptive work in the world by cultivating academic excellence, Christian faithfulness, and lifelong learning. Its goal is to prepare students to lead others, as they are entrusted with the gospel to think and live as Christ-followers in the twenty-first century.
IN THE BEST ORGANIZATIONS, mission drives the allocation of resources. Today’s market realities have required Trinity to think afresh about how we align our resources with the market realities, so that we can drive our mission forward. Trinity’s mission will be sustained only by reaching financial stability and offering academic programs that meet the changing needs of today’s students. As we celebrate 125 years of participating in the work of God’s redemptive kingdom, we now find ourselves at a turning point where together we follow his lead—prayerfully and strategically—sketching out the next chapter of the Trinity story.
The Market Realities
The landscape of higher education, including postbaccalaureate theological education, has shifted significantly over the last decade, and most dramatically in the last few years. Trinity has chosen to make hard decisions as a proactive measure to ensure that it continues to live out its mission in the midst of such challenging conditions.
The Process
Since coming to Trinity in 2019, President Nicholas Perrin has sought to respond to these market realities by strengthening the business model (for example, creating efficiencies, ensuring best practices in marketing and enrollments, building a more student-responsive culture internally) while prayerfully clarifying the vision. This year, the time had arrived for Trinity to undertake a highly data-driven, Spirit-led process of discernment—leading to a Mission Activation Plan. This transparent and collaborative Mission Activation Plan Process (MAPP) focused on the University’s operations and academic programs, seeking to align our mission, strategic priorities, and core values within a financially sustainable model. Outsourced partners have provided rich and granular data never before available, empowering the administration, deans, and faculty working groups to come together in designing solutions that combine mission and sustainability.
The Plan
A mission-centered and fiscally sound Trinity is a strong Trinity. The Mission Activation Plan Process (MAPP) has highlighted the need for Trinity to adjust to financial and market realities in light of our mission. The collected data has given us a new window into the program and course economics, enabling us to focus on each of Trinity’s schools and to discern how each of them could be best aligned with those realities and challenges. This is not a static plan, but a new way of thinking; its outcomes will unfold over time as the University pursues mission vitality and financial sustainability. You will see not only staff resizing but also reinvestments in areas that are strategic to our mission. This process of data collection and reflection—along with the reallocation of resources—will be continual and ongoing.
Trinity’s leadership relies heavily on prayer in discerning God’s guidance as it develops plans and makes adjustments. This web page will be updated with developments as they arise. As you review these developments, we ask that you continue to pray for a spirit of wisdom for the leadership team, any personnel who might be adversely affected by difficult decisions, and fruitfulness in new areas of investment.
APRIL 13, 2022: Trinity College
Trinity College remains staunchly committed to a personal, practical, and biblical liberal arts education. We believe that God’s kingdom work is interwoven into the life stories of regular people who strive to live exceptional, God-honoring lives. Our commitment to Trinity College students as they embark on their journey is to teach them key skills, to think critically by discerning truth, and to grow in faith, knowledge, and wisdom. From initial registration to graduation, our hope is that Trinity students are well equipped to live out their stories as faithful Christ followers in a complex, dynamic world.
The College’s focus demands both mission vitality and a sustainable business model, which, in light of the challenges facing all institutions of higher education in the U.S., will involve the reduction of operational expenses and the innovation of market-responsive academic programs in order to increase enrollment. All the while, our aspiration is to be more competitive in the global market, forging strategic partnerships through the creative innovation of platforms and networks.
While Trinity College has made some advances over the last few years in providing more affordable and flexible delivery options, the current strategy has not yielded the kind of enrollment growth necessary to keep pace with rising operational costs. We are being called to renew our commitment to wise, Christ-honoring stewardship. We have sought to exercise that stewardship through the MAPP, involving a collaborative, transparent and data-driven dialogue between administration and College faculty representatives, reflecting the best ideals of shared governance.
For the College, that process has resulted in substantial progress in closing the gap between revenue and expenditures, all the while securing its commitment to a personal, practical, and biblical liberal arts education. Effective fall 2022 we will close the Worship Music major due to very low enrollments, teaching out the remaining student in that program. Graphic Design will move from a major to a minor, with advisors proactively working with students with their teach-out, or to help them transition to an appropriate major with a Graphic Design minor. These changes also included three non-tenured faculty contracts not being renewed, as well as the voluntary move of five full-time faculty to half-time teaching status. Such hard but necessary decisions will better enable the College to lean into its Christian liberal arts educational commitment and be best positioned to deliver on its mission to educate men and women for God’s redemptive work in the world.
APRIL 6, 2022: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
When faced with hard changes, it’s important to start with first things first: our mission and our identity as those “entrusted with the gospel.”
Historically, the goal of TEDS has always been to meet the needs of the global, evangelical church—remaining unswervingly orthodox in respect to the major doctrines set out in our statement of faith. Our global focus demands not only a long-term plan for recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty body but also a sustainable business model, involving the reduction of operational expense, increase in net tuition revenue, and the innovation of market-responsive academic programs. All the while, our aspiration is to be more competitive in the global market, forging strategic partnerships through the creative innovation of platforms and networks.
While TEDS has made some advances over the last few years in providing more online and synchronous delivery options, the current strategy has not yielded the kind of enrollment growth necessary to keep pace with rising operational costs. We are being called to renew our commitment to shrewd, Christ-honoring stewardship. We have sought to exercise that stewardship through the MAPP process, involving a collaborative, transparent and data-driven dialogue between administration and TEDS faculty representatives, reflecting the best ideals of shared governance.
For TEDS, that process has yielded substantial progress in closing the gap between revenue and expenditures, all the while extending the mission. We have significantly decreased operating expenses by tightening our operation on the ground (curricular and scheduling efficiencies, streamlined program tracks) and reshaping our faculty body. Such reshaping has involved the decision, on the one hand, to refrain from replacing certain faculty lines (vacated through voluntary retirements and departures) and, on the other hand, to forgo renewing the annual contracts of two non-tenured faculty. None of these cost reductions will impact the quality of a TEDS education or the amount of programs it offers. On the contrary, thanks to this reshaping process, we will be able to strategically invest in four new faculty hires, even as we launch a new Doctor of Ministry track designed to serve immigrant church pastors and leaders.
Trinity Global
In an effort to more effectively globalize its educational offerings, Trinity International University is proud to announce the creation of a new entity and a new arm: Trinity Global. With an initial focus on supporting Trinity Graduate School, Trinity Global will seek to serve all University entities as both a strategic partner and a platform, enabling more effective distribution of hybrid and fully online (synchronous) educational content for the benefit of unreached and underserved audiences. The purpose of Trinity Global is twofold: First, through the formation of strategic partnerships and the implementation of a content marketing strategy, Trinity Global will seek to expand the impact of existing TEDS, TC, and TLS programs by breaking into untapped markets. Second, Trinity Global will be tasked with identifying gaps in the global market with a view to creating educational content and appropriate delivery mechanisms needed to fill those gaps. In keeping with our strategic priorities (worship/mentor/build), Trinity Global will seek to lead students around the world to exciting educational opportunities that are biblically integrated, mentor-driven, and culturally sensitive.