William Booth College: Outlining a new vision

Principal Lieut-Colonel Judith Payne concludes her series sharing the exciting changes that have already begun to unfold at William Booth College.

Over the next 12 months, William Booth College is continuing to reshape and reimagine how we can best play our part in equipping God’s people for works of service for the next decade and beyond.

There are exciting plans and possibilities afoot. These include the embedding of the newly launched Certificate of Higher Education in Salvation Army Leadership.

In September, a pilot cohort for this new award was launched with the aim of resourcing the learning and development of territorial envoys, pioneer leaders and other employed spiritual leaders. This enables new groups of people to access modules in doctrine and biblical studies – which were previously only available to cadets – as well as new modules in mission, leadership, preaching and pastoral care. It also sees cadets learning alongside other spiritual leaders. One of our priorities for the coming 12 months is to learn from this pilot and see a broader roll-out of this course.

The integration of the work of SISTAD is under way. We are listening hard to discern and reflect upon how we can best equip and support the vocational development of officers and employed spiritual leaders, and the professional and personal development of employees. We expect the new units to be in place by summer 2023.

All these changes are so that we can empower and release our WBC community to be even more effective. I am extremely blessed to have such a great team committed to fulfilling and supporting the mission of the Army. I have no doubt that God is at work in us and through us and it is our greatest privilege to serve in a community that exists to give him glory.

We want WBC to flourish as a community of practice for mission and spiritual life development. We want the college to be a vibrant, dynamic and exciting place that encourages the spiritual life of all who become part of our community here, whether they are working, studying or visiting for a short time.

We’re developing the campus to make it an effective and hospitable resource and the newly established Spiritual Life Team, which includes a mission enabler for William Booth College, are exploring how we can enhance our rhythms of spirituality and mission.

We’re excited about the future and the role that WBC will play in sustainably, effectively and faithfully equipping God’s people for works of service.