This section provides an overview of the organization and administration of the university including legal authorization, accreditation, ownership and governance, leadership team, foundation and general counsel.
Missional University is a higher education institution that claims a religious exemption from oversight by the Nonpublic Postsecondary Institution License Act of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. All programs at Missional University lead to professional degrees to prepare graduates for service in various types of ministry in the mission of God in the world through faith-based organizations and community service. All programs support theological content and objectives clearly laid out in the Missional Competency Framework that is integrated into every course and program.
Missional University maintains a list of exemptions from state licensure in most of the states in the United States. The university has an international presence with faculty and students from around the globe.
As a new university, Missional University is currently not accredited yet — nor can be for at least four to six years after launch which is the normal accreditation process time frame. Thus, as a grassroots training institution designed to equip missional leaders (volunteer, bivocational and vocational; paid and unpaid), Missional University is currently not accredited.
However, all of our faculty have advanced degrees from accredited institutions and have experience in their fields. During course development, each professor is guided by our Dean of Online Education and submits their course to a faculty peer-review process. This process ensures measurable standards of excellence in course design are met or exceeded. We provide students with both transcripts and other documentation for them to use that validates the quality of their courses as they submit their work for transfer credit at another institution. As we develop articulation agreements with a select number of colleges and universities to facilitate transfer credit, a link to that information will be posted on our main site.
In the future we plan to become accredited. We are exploring our choices for regional accreditation, national faith-related accreditation, and other national accreditation agencies. Once we begin working through that process we will update our main site to reflect our current stage.
Missional University is the division of the Intercultural Institute for Contextual Ministry (IICM) that provides grassroots missional and theological training. IICM is a non-profit, religious organization chartered in the state of South Carolina and has 501(c)3 tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. IICM has incorporated Missional University as a non-profit religious organization in the state of South Carolina and is pursuing tax exempt status. The university adheres to a model of shared governance. Shared governance is a collegial ethos and inclusive process that allows all constituencies of our community to participate meaningfully in the University’s strategic and operational decisions. The operant assumption of shared governance is that each of these constituencies—faculty, administration, staff, students, trustees and alumni—bring unique and valuable perspectives to the deliberative decision process. Shared governance signals our institutional commitment to create and follow policies and procedures that facilitate inclusive decision-making. Successful shared governance ensures that University constituencies have voice in, and influence on, the decisions that affect them.
The Board of Directors, as the legal body responsible for the institution, has the duty and authority to approve and ensure that the mission of the Institution is implemented. The Board of Directors ensures Missional University is free from undue influence of external bodies and protects MU from such undue influence. The Board of Trustees is the active policy-making body for the Institution and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the financial resources of the Institution are adequate and sufficiently stable to provide a sound educational program. The Board of Directors exercises its governing policy-making function through the adoption of Board policy. Board policy is a policy that has broad application throughout MU, states MU position on a subject matter, and directly affects and enhances the mission of MU. Some Board policy may also help achieve compliance with applicable laws and regulations or reduce institutional risk. The Board of Directors holds the President and his administration accountable for implementation of Board policy, including personnel matters. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Board of Directors has the authority to adopt such Bylaws and pass such resolutions consistent with the purposes as set forth in the Articles of Incorporation. The Chairman of the Board of Directors and a majority of the other voting members of the Board of Directors have no contractual employment, personal, familial, or financial interest in MU.
The Executive Leadership Team of Missional University consists of the President, other C-level executives as needed and the University Chaplain.
The Board of Directors has voted to establish the Missional University Foundation as a corollary institution to support the endeavors of Missional University.
General Counsel for Missional University will be announced in the near future.
