From Accidental Academic to Living and Leading Lifelong Learning

In this chapter, the author argues that sustaining lifelong learning in ministry requires more than structural agility; it depends on humility, creativity, reflexivity, and relational interdependence across institutional and spiritual ecotones. Through autoethnography, the author reflects on an unanticipated vocational journey from social work scholar to theological educator, examining how personal narrative illuminates the practice and sustainability of lifelong learning for ministry. Drawing on experiences of institutional transformation at Virginia Theological Seminary, the author situates her own professional evolution within the broader shifts of theological education’s digital, economic, and cultural landscapes. The autoethnographic method—woven with theological reflection—reveals how embodied experience and contextual awareness can generate insight into systemic change, leadership, and spiritual formation. Ultimately, the author concludes that lifelong learning for ministry is both an art and a spiritual practice, cultivating resilience and hope amid uncertainty. When leaders embrace theological interdisciplinarity, sacred listening, and imaginative praxis, they co-create spaces where faith, learning, and human flourishing are dynamically renewed.