ALC on ‘learning journey’

What use is Australian Lutheran College (ALC) to the LCA? Why should the church keep it?

These questions formed the basis of ALC Principal Pastor James Winderlich’s opening lecture for 2018, delivered on 26 February to mark the start of a new academic year.

Entitled The shape of things to come for a church who learns: ALC’s renewing purpose to serve as an enquirer centred, transformational learning community, Pastor Winderlich’s presentation aligned the college’s ongoing and vital service to the church with the LCA’s own commitment to lifelong learning.

‘For four years (and even longer for some) I, together with the college’s Board and staff have been on a learning journey’, Pastor Winderlich said. ‘It has been a journey concerned with the future of theological education in the contemporary life of the church. While a conversation concerning the college’s identity and performance has always punctuated the college’s 50-year history, external financial realities have brought it to a point where the outcome of that conversation has become critical.’

Pastor Winderlich said the challenge to increase college income through growing enrolments was dependent upon two major factors. These were firstly, the church’s capacity to identify, value and express itself as a constantly refreshed learner and, secondly, the quality of the relationships that the college shares with stakeholder groups, mainly from within the church.

With the ALC Board’s Strategic Direction 2017-2022 statement as the driver behind a new era for the college, ALC had entered a period of transition and restructure, supported and progressed by strong evidence, Pastor Winderlich said. ‘The college is engaging deeply with all stakeholder groups to improve educational experiences, so that learners are shaped and transformed in ways that align with the church’s current and future needs’, he said.

To view a recording of Pastor Winderlich’s lecture or to read the strategic direction document, go to the college website at www.alc.edu.au