Harvests, Homecomings, and Horizons:
A Reflective History

Educating a new generation for ministry and leadership.

The logo of a young tree expresses a myriad of interpretations for the School of Divinity of Wake Forest University. One interpretation, originated by the Celtics as The Shaker Tree of Life, depicts roots digging deep into the core of the earth and sipping from the sacred waters of life. When branches stretch to reach the heavens, heaven and earth eventually touch, creating an arch for earthly and heavenly wisdom and power to connect and embrace one another. Since every Celtic tribe possessed its own version of the Shaker tree as a symbol of sacred wisdom, spiritual growth and rebirth, the School of Divinity adopted The Shaker Tree at its founding as an apropos logo and interpretation of the mission statement and guiding principles as a professional school for theological education.

WFUSD’s vocation is to equip students to be nimble and innovative religious leaders who build bridges across often vast differences and who forge life-cultivating partnerships in times of political and religious dissension, discrimination and other injustices, and increasing uncertainty about the role of faith communities in the public sphere. This has been the School’s mission since its beginning in 1999, a bold endeavor from the outset. For the University, the advent of a School of Divinity on the Reynolda Campus in 1999 represented a homecoming of sorts for a vision first articulated by the first leader of what was then the Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute and his wife, Samuel and Sarah Wait, in 1834. 

As we approach this academic year–a year of harvests, homecomings, and new horizons–we are pleased that in 1999 a group of bold educators and courageous students were called to be a school of divinity in this place–Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Last fall through conversations with faculty, staff, students, and Board of Visitors members, we underscored our formational emphasis when we reconfirmed our mission statement and our calling to equip students to be agents of justice, reconciliation and compassion in congregations and other ministry contexts. This distinctive triad–justice, reconciliation, and compassion–has been a central part of our mission since we enrolled our inaugural class of nineteen students. This triad, in concert with our overall mission and purpose, continues to provide us with a solid foundation for the educational and formational work that awaits us in the coming years.

So another year begins. We look back to remember those Baptists who gave birth to a school for ministers on the old Wake Forest Campus. We also give thanks for those University trustees, alumni and friends who generated a vision for a new theological school that today welcomes students from a wide array of denominations, geographies, perspectives, and backgrounds to our campus to become community as they study theology and prepare to be religious leaders. We look back to remember our roots even as we turn our feet toward new horizons where our students and alum will encounter familiar and unexpected ministry challenges and opportunities.

Last spring a group of students, faculty, and staff gathered on the steps of Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Students in an undergraduate course taught by Dr. Joseph Soares had rediscovered a part of Wake Forest’s history. Led by Dr. Soares and his students, Dr. Leann Pace from the Department of Religion, Dr. Kami Chavis from the Provost’s Office, Dr. Melva Sampson from the School of Divinity and several other faculty members and students, we remembered this part of our history through a ritual of commemoration. 

We called the names of enslaved individuals who were sold at auction on May 7, 1860, to create a fund to support the education of Baptist ministers at the Wake Forest Institute:  Isaac, Jim, Lucy, Pompie, Emma, Nancy, Harriet and child, Joseph, Harry, Ann and two children, Thomas. On May 7, 2019, 159 years later, we commemorated these slaves and their descendants as a vital witnesses in the cloud of witnesses who surround our educational work and their memory as essential to our present and future identity.

Educating faith leaders who flourish.

On the occasion of its 20th Anniversary, the School of Divinity consulted with Tobias Becker of BirdBox Graphic Design in Olathe, Kansas to create an identity that would dynamically depict the creativity, vision, and transformation of the School over the last two decades. The original Shaker Tree of Life, adopted at our founding, provided inspiration – representing strength, generosity, introspection, determination, and connection. The 20th Anniversary Tree of Flourishing carries these original ideals forward and celebrates twenty years of igniting innovative ministry leadership as students build upon their life experiences and religious foundations. At the School of Divinity, unparalleled teaching enhances discernment, internships cultivate wisdom, and spiritual and community life draw students together as they grow on their journey and transform their faith into powerful instruments of human goodwill. Together, our community explores understandings of God, God’s hopes for the world, and how to put God’s hopes and our faith into action.

WFUSD is indeed surrounded by witnesses who prepared the soil for our present and future flourishing long before faculty, staff and students walked onto the University campus in 1999. As we enter into our next decade as a School of Wake Forest University, we are emboldened by these witnesses, the needs and challenges in today’s communities, and our mission to continue our journey to equip students and invite others who come our way to be agents of justice, reconciliation and compassion in the myriad places where their callings take them.

Jill Crainshaw began work at WFUSD in August 1999 as the School’s first director of what was later named The Art of Ministry program. For the last two years she has served as Interim Dean. Crainshaw is now Vice Dean for Faculty Development and Academic Initiatives and Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology. Dr. Crainshaw is a 1984 graduate of Wake Forest University.