Sattler College Turmoil

[joshuabgood]

It hasn't broken here yet, but I suspect many of you have heard, it has been formally messaged to staff/faculty etc...and I have personally had no less than 5-7 independent, and closely connected sources, verify it for me, but in short, sadly, Sattler College has got quite a bit going on right now that will be destabilizing for the institution. We have discussed/analyzed this movement prior and I think it deserves a convo as a current event.

In short, reportedly, President Dean Taylor is leaving the college leadership (though he may have limited involvement for time), Mike Miller, Provost and architect of their initial accreditation, is also leaving (though he also may have limited involvement for a time), numerous other faculty members will likely be leaving in the next year or so.

Reportedly the entire board (David Bercot, Charles Pike, Eva Adams, ...), minus Finny Kuruvilla, is resigning due to their discernment that Sattler has left its original mission of being a more inclusive school of "pan-Anabaptists" and became more of a denominational school fundamentally guided by FOTW tenets. This culminated in the majority of the board, reportedly, blessing the idea Dean Taylor brought of an Anabaptist church being started for Anabaptist students at Sattler, in Boston. The word is Finny Kuruvilla strongly opposed this move. The board believes Sattler can't exist without Eventide contributions (through proximity with Finny) and therefore is resigning with the encouragement that a board be set up that is exclusively, and explicit, about the school being an FOTW denominational school.

I am personally quite disappointed in this outcome. I had high hopes when Dean Taylor was hired that the school was going to be able to maintain, and respect, a broader array of Anabaptist church groups, and his hiring seemed to be a clear indication, given his social capital with the Anabaptist community, that Sattler was going to create a school of mutual effort/respect where hopefully the differing streams could learn and work with each other. I can't at this point feel great about students enrolling in an institution that is obviously (President stepping away, Provost stepping away, and board resigning) going through instability.

I remain sympathetic with many of the FOTW positions, and feel their critiques of the CA movement as a whole are worthwhile. But I do feel there is a little too much dogmatism/fundamentalism/exclusivity attached to some of their positions that make partnering a bit challenging.

I would advise the college to message something clearly/coherently to the public, students, and former students, in the near future.

[Ernie]

Yes, it is very sad. I was hoping there would be more back-and-forth between the the two constituencies in the future.

You can't build a solid, well-rounded organization with a guru and a couple protégés.
One of the protégés who help found the college resigned from Sattler just before it opened its doors, and left FOTW over a year ago.

You also can't build rapport with a constituency by encouraging them to leave their churches and join yours, trying to hire leaders away from that constituencies' organizations, and not sitting with the leaders of that constitency to hear their goals and desires.

The Sattler founder needed other churches to get the college up and running, but now that the college is operating and has received an influx of FOTW members from the Anabaptist constitency, it can do away with it and keep moving forward. This model happens all the time in the corporate world.

I too like some of FOTW's values that Anabaptists don't have. But there are other values that I am glad the Anabaptists don't have.

[Ken]

How big is FOTW? According to their web site I only count 5 congregations in the US: https://www.followers-of-the-way.org/

That can't possibly be a large enough population to keep a college going on their own. Can it?

[joshuabgood]

I don't see the CA's continuing to patronize the school...moving forward. So unless they either radically down-size, or are more effective in the future, than they were in the past at attracting other students, I am not sure what their future holds.

Also I think the piece that stings is that the CA community was intentionally and strategically targeted for enrollment...fwiw I asked Finny this personally, in writing, in 2018 just prior to the school opening:

Here are possibly a few different messages students might receive...and I'd be curious as which you would see most closely representing the "message" students will likely hear at Sattler.

1) "Come out from among them" - The churches you are members of are mostly apostate and no matter how much you "be the change" you want to see, it will probably never work. As quickly as is reasonably possible you should join a FOTW type of group because we are the true Christians.
2) "Be the change you want to see" - We partner with churches to develop and raise up a generation of prospective leaders that will shape the future of your congregation. Therefore, graduates, go to your churches and build the kingdom of God. Don't quickly leave your churches to join other perceived "more perfect churches."
3) "Here is how we see biblical Christianity" - We are unapologetic about what we teach/believe. Having said that, we don't actively call people to leave their churches and join ours. We challenge individual students to follow a biblical Christian model where ever it takes them.

If none of these capture ideals - I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. I do think this is probably a question that you want to have "clarity" on, with regard to, for lack of a better term, conservative Anabaptist involvement.

Finny's response:

Hi Josh, Great to hear from you. We of course have a team here, so I wouldn't expect the message to be uniform, but I would say that your #2 and #3 are closest to the mark. We certainly do not believe that FotW is the only true church (any church that says that is deceived), so I would strenuously deny #1. Thanks for asking this question -- I appreciate it. Hope you and the family are doing well. Yours for the King, Finny

At that time, and still am, fine with that answer...however, not sure how that jives with strong opposition to Dean Taylor starting an Anabaptist church in Boston.

[joshuabgood]

How big is FOTW? According to their web site I only count 5 congregations in the US: https://www.followers-of-the-way.org/

That can't possibly be a large enough population to keep a college going on their own. Can it?

I actually don't think that website is accurate. I heard that "there were problems" between the Minneapolis group and the mothership in Boston and they have since split.

Regarding size though, that is part of the problem. FOTW couldn't handle the students in their house churches. So some students at least, weren't going to church at all, or didn't want to "go FOTW." Hence why Dean proposed a Boston Anabaptist church.

[Ernie]

Finny told me that he tells the young people at FOTW, "You should go to the most Biblical church you can find. If that is not us, you should go elsewhere." So while they maybe didn't tell others that they should leave their churches and join FOTW, this flavor was in the air that was breathed at FOTW and with some at Sattler.

[Ernie]

The board believes Sattler can't exist without Eventide contributions (through proximity with Finny) and therefore is resigning with the encouragement that a board be set up that is exclusively, and explicit, about the school being an FOTW denominational school.

Some Anabaptists met with Dean and Finny this winter to suggest that if 95% of the students are coming from Anabaptist churches, it would seem reasonable that they should have board representation.

[joshuabgood]

Finny told me that he tells the young people at FOTW, "You should go to the most Biblical church you can find. If that is not us, you should go elsewhere." So while they maybe didn't tell others that they should leave their churches and join FOTW, this flavor was in the air that was breathed at FOTW and with some at Sattler.

Yes...except that doesn't explain why they would be threatened by Dean starting a church. If they are confident in their lens, why not go the Gamaliel route?

[joshuabgood]

The board believes Sattler can't exist without Eventide contributions (through proximity with Finny) and therefore is resigning with the encouragement that a board be set up that is exclusively, and explicit, about the school being an FOTW denominational school.

Some Anabaptists met with Dean and Finny this winter to suggest that if 95% of the students are coming from Anabaptist churches, it would seem reasonable that they should have board representation.

Yes it would be reasonable. In fact it seems the college itself would seek it out.

[Dan Z]

The board believes Sattler can't exist without Eventide contributions (through proximity with Finny) and therefore is resigning with the encouragement that a board be set up that is exclusively, and explicit, about the school being an FOTW denominational school.

Some Anabaptists met with Dean and Finny this winter to suggest that if 95% of the students are coming from Anabaptist churches, it would seem reasonable that they should have board representation.

Yes it would be reasonable. In fact it seems the college itself would seek it out.

I know firsthand that Dean has been actively working on this for a while now, at least at the faculty level - I believe with the blessing of Finny. He also was openly wishing for an Anabaptist church plant to provide another compatible church option for the campus community. Their board development, however, has been a bit of a mystery to me.

Sorry to hear these things may not be occurring, and that the situation may be destabilizing for the college. I like Sattler's vision, and the quality of what they are educationally and spiritually seeking to do - I hope they can sort this all out quickly. I too have trouble imagining them moving ahead without the inclusion of conservative Anabaptists.