Ed Leonard
leonarde@bethanylb.edu
335 E Swensson Street,
Lindsborg,
KS
67456
Sustainable Living
(Sustainable living defines success as actively integrating social responsibility, economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and spiritual renewal - people, profit, plant, and prayer - meaning our graduates successfully understand how to live a sustainable life and how to lead a sustainable organization.)
When the Imagineering Work Group was developing the four missional directions of excellence, this direction and what to label it took considerable discussion. The group was moved by the sustainability movements idea of the "Triple Bottom-Line" - that is, social responsibility (people), economic prosperity (profit), and environmental stewardship (sustainability). Yet, the sense of the group was to find something broader then the now cliche and ubiqutous word "sustainability." Though the group recognized the college's core value of sustainability and its focus on environmental stewardship. Additionally, the group wanted something branded to Bethany College and our distinctive approach to the broader concepts of the sustainability movement while recognizing our Swedish-Lutheran identity (adding spiritual renewal) - finally settling on Sustainable Living.
The notions of economic prosperity and social responsibility are cornerstones of the liberal arts education and Bethany College itself. We want our graduates to enter the world to do well and do good. More importantly, we want them to know how to not only lead lives that do well and do good, but how to lead organizations (churches, schools, businesses, etc.) that do well and do good.
But our identities as being both Swedish and Lutheran require us to prepare our graduates to do more. Environmental stewardship are key values of both our Swedish-ness as well as our Lutheran-ness. Being good stewards of all the resources God has put on the Earth is vital to us living out our Swedish and Lutheran identity.
These three are the three-points of the sustainability movements "Triple Bottom-Line." But to brand this as distinctly Bethany, the Imagineering Work Group added a fourth point - that of spiritual renewal. The group recognized in the early 21st century our students are bombarded by social media, juggle part-time jobs with school, are frequently from disfunctional, nonsupportive families, and struggle with school/work-life balance. The group also recognized the research on the spirituality of today's college students and their journey with their relationship with God.
What emerged is the missional direction of excellence of Sustainable Living and its four parts - social responsibility (people), economic prosperity (profit), environmental stewardship (sustainability), and spiritual renewal (prayer).