The Board of Pensions moves from ‘Board University’ to ‘Lifelong Learning’

The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has changed the name of its education program from Board University to Lifelong Learning to reflect a wider focus on wellness and greater inclusion in the program, particularly for employees of PC(USA)-affiliated organizations. What began years ago as a handful of offerings for ministers has grown into robust programming guided by God’s wish for everyone to flourish in life.

The education programs work with the Benefits Plan of the PC(USA), administered by the Board of Pensions, to further the journey toward spiritual, health, financial, and vocational well-being — wholeness. Every plan member may take part in the programs, whether they pastor a congregation or minister in another context, work at a PC(USA)-affiliated organization, or are retired.

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“Many plan members equate Board University with practical programs for clergy, which may have been true a decade or more ago, but not today,” said the Rev. Lori Neff LaRue, Vice President, Education for the Board of Pensions, who has 30 years’ experience in higher education. “We have extended the reach of our programs to give more people opportunities for the experience of abundant life.”

A Presbyterian value

Lifelong learning is a Presbyterian value. Supporting learning across the arc of life, the agency’s team of professional educators develops content for seminars, webinars, and e-learning as well as for the annual Well-Being Retreat and quarterly Well-Being Wednesdays. All these offerings are faithful to the Board’s A Theology of Benefits.

“Every day we should be discovering something new,” said the Rev. Dr. Regina Groff, Director of Education for Wholeness, who designs programs that align with the agency’s mission, vision, and values. Groff, who joined the agency last February, has taught at the secondary and college levels and has over 25 years’ service in pastoral and church ministry leadership roles. She is experienced in curriculum design and program development and advocates for never giving up on learning. “Lifelong learning is key to holistic well-being,” Groff said.

Financial wellness is one element of holistic well-being. Jacqueline Boersema, Director of Financial Education, designs programs to help members “achieve financial confidence and peace of mind.” Boersema, an elder in the PC(USA), is a certified financial planner and registered investment adviser with 30 years’ financial service experience in private banking and at accounting firms. When she joined the agency seven years ago, there was emphasis on “a lot of the rules around retirement plans,” Boersema said. “Now, we’re focusing on financial literacy, financial planning, and retirement readiness as elements of financial wholeness.”

Commitment to ministers

PC(USA)-ordained ministers are serving a changing Church amid diversifying contexts of ministry, and Lifelong Learning reflects the Board of Pensions’ deep commitment to supporting them. Last month, the Rev. Dr. Michael Wilson joined the Education team as Director of Education for the Arc of Ministry. Wilson previously served as a stated clerk for a synod and a presbytery and has served as an adjunct professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Lancaster Theological Seminary.

“One particular part of being a stated clerk that I just really, really enjoyed was getting people in a room and working with them on how they thrive in ministry and do their jobs well,” Dr. Wilson said. “At the Board, I get to focus on helping people do that.”

Wilson is responsible for designing educational programs focused on the well-being of minister members throughout their call. He also oversees CREDO — the agency’s popular in-person, weeklong conference focused on ministers’ holistic well-being — and is charged with integrating A Theology of Benefits and its wholeness themes into educational content for the gatherings. The Board of Pensions broadened eligibility for the conferences this year. Ministers need be enrolled only in the Medical Plan and/or Defined Benefit Plan to be eligible for an invitation to one of the three types of CREDO conferences. The agency also plans to offer an African American CREDO in the fall.

“The Board of Pensions is committed to providing hospitable learning spaces for the breadth of our plan membership,” Neff LaRue said. “Lifelong Learning is creating programming that addresses the needs and concerns of all our plan members over the arc of their lives so they might live their best lives and experience life abundant.”

The Board of Pensions supports wholeness in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) community and care for Benefits Plan members. For information, contact info@pensions.org.