A coming together

Why we need your help to transform students who transform their communities

The impact of the coronavirus—particularly on our physical and emotional health (not to mention our wealth)—will be one of the defining marks of 2020. We’ve acclimatised to social distancing, self-isolation, border closures and contact tracing yet often wonder what will be next as we return to the new normal.

Here at Avondale, most of our staff members have been working from home and all of our students have been studying by distance mode. The flexibility and tenacity of both have impressed me. From innovative practice in teaching and learning to wider connections in pastoral care (including a Festival of Faith presented on Instagram), we did everything possible to ensure our students completed the semester successfully.

In a way, the “social experiment” brought about by the pandemic has made it easier to communicate my vision for Avondale—that it transforms students who then go and transform their communities. We also recognise, however, that a transformational future must be sustainable. We have thus begun a consultative process to re-examine our structure and the effective delivery of our mission and purpose. The objectives are to develop a viable operating model that will enable us to return to a balanced budget by 2023. The challenge: redressing the imbalance between what we earn and what we spend.

In her book Positioning Higher Education Institutions: From Here to There, Manja Klemencic argues we need to develop a greater degree of “contextual intelligence” within higher education. She believes institutions need to move from being merely analytical or descriptive (concerned primarily with reliability and validity) to being transformational (concerned with relevancy and legitimacy). One of the ways Manja suggests we accomplish this is to bring our “communities of practice” together and to genuinely listen. This same principle applies to our consultative process as we move forward in finding a sustainable future. We want to come together to listen and learn.

We’re seeking your help in two ways.

The first is for you to share your ideas with us, not just in relation to finances but also in our ability to transform the lives of students who then go out to transform their communities (email [email protected]). We realise the former will be a complex task and likely result in changes to our operation, while the latter is crucial to fulfilling our purpose and mission here at Avondale. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated.

The second is through our economic hardship grants. These provide funding to domestic and international students who have lost income due to the coronavirus and have demonstrated significant financial need. Transformation is built on a foundation of financial sustainability and an important part of this is ensuring we don’t lose students because of personal financial hardship. This initiative helps make an Avondale education possible for those who would otherwise find it difficult to afford things such as tuition, textbooks and on-campus accommodation. We’d welcome your donations to our annual Think&Do campaign—give here for domestic and here for international students).

My favourite Scripture passage in the New Testament is one that speaks about coming together and of community—“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13, NRSV). God’s great passion is in reconciliation and in drawing people close to Him, where He knows they will experience completeness. We, as an extended Avondale family, get to play an important part in this transformation. This is an exciting privilege!

Thank you for journeying with us as we accept the challenge of learning and discovery and as we navigate this new normal.

Image: Freepik