Why Something Better?

There is a subtle but urgent crisis in Adventist education today. It is not a crisis of belief; we still affirm the value of Christian education. It is not even a crisis of intention; faithful educators are pouring their hearts into this work every day. But despite all this, the system is faltering. The crisis is one of design relevance. Adventist education was built on a 19th-century blueprint; visionary in its time but never re-engineered for a 21st-century world. We refer to this as the Preservation Model (PM): a system that protects our heritage but often locks us into outdated modes or ways of operation. To meet today’s realities, Adventist education must move beyond the Preservation Model, a structure designed in the 19th century to safeguard the mission, but one that now too often safeguards outdated forms at the expense of future impact. What we need instead is the Strategic Advancement Model (SAM). This model focuses on strategic leadership that enables leaders to make intentional, connected decisions across academics, business, and mission into practical outcomes.