Very interesting article in the January 2018 Christian Chronicle about how less of 'our' universities have students that self-identify with Churches of Christ. Here is my letter in response...
https://christianchronicle.org/christian-universities-feeling-the-pinch-as-churches-of-christ-shrink/
To The Christian Chronicle:
I read with great interest your January article about the decline at Church of Christ affiliated universities of students who self-identify as members of Churches of Christ. I appreciate this article and the reporting that went into it, but I have a few comments and questions.
First, I do feel more should have been mentioned about the actual financial costs of Christian colleges and universities. I would like to have seen in a chart or within the article what are some of the costs of these universities. I was fortunate to graduate from Harding with both a bachelors and a masters in the early 1990s, and fortunately through scholarships and parental help incurred little debt. But I had many friends who spent almost two decades paying off their student loans. I would suspect that in recent years the problem has only gotten worse. As a parent of two children who will be attending college within a few years, I am already discouraged by the reports I am hearing of how much these colleges cost. We have worked hard to save money for college, but likely have only saved enough for them to attend for a year or two. Here are my questions: Why have these colleges gotten so expensive? Have they moved so far from their humble origins that they are now inaccessible to the ‘have-nots’? Have they so invested in collegiate sports, luxurious buildings, and other ‘necessities’ that they have forgotten their purpose in the kingdom? Where is the critical analysis of past decisions and future plans that university administrations have made that have kept some of ‘our’ people away? And is this part of a larger national trend in which the rich are not affected by the exploding costs of college, while the more low-income and middle-class are being priced out of the opportunities that previous generations took for granted? Is the growing gap between rich and poor within our country to blame, in that it has made our institutional leaders unaware of how difficult it is for some to afford higher education?
Second, I find it interesting that many in a movement that has called for our religious neighbors to become ‘Christians only’ see that when this actually happens it is a cause for alarm. We should be giving praise to God that some are identifying only as 'Christian!' Though I am thankful that this was not overtly stated in the article, I do know many who will read the article with concern that ‘we’ are losing our identity. All around us churches that are growing usually have a non-denominational aspect to them and seek the name of Christian and wear it proudly. Do they always understand Scripture exactly as Churches of Christ historically have? No. But rather than see this as an opportunity to have conversations with those who might look at Scripture and faith with fresh eyes, many feel threatened because they are not ‘of us’. Have we in Churches of Christ become so stagnant in our pursuit of restoration that any kind of correction we might encounter or other form being ‘Christians only’ might take is considered dangerous?
Third, if more of ‘our’ students are choosing not to attend ‘our’ schools, what effect is this having on campus ministries affiliated with Churches of Christ? Is there a marked increase in their number? Are more churches seeking to find ways to support outreach onto state or other private university campuses? Having been both a student at a Christian university and a campus minister at a state university, I found that genuine Christian faith and growth was not necessarily dependent upon being within the ‘bubble’ of a Christian university. Indeed, I knew many of my fellow students at Harding who had grown up in church but had little to no interest in matters of faith; I can vividly remember how many would complain about daily chapel and how few actually attended Sunday services. Conversely, in campus work on a state university campus I also found a genuine Christian hunger on the part of many who could not or chose not to attend Christian schools. Campus ministries and outreaches, if we consider the implications of your story, will have an increasingly vital part to play in the future of the church...so how will we support them?
Finally, one must also consider a growing reluctance for some churches to promote Christian universities, seeing that it might not be in their best interest long-term. While some have always been suspicious of the ‘progressive’ elements that seem inherent to a college education, I wonder if practically churches outside the Bible belt or even within smaller, isolated towns have felt burned by sending students to Christian universities. Why? Because after they finish their education, how many of these students return home to be a blessing to the church in the small town or to a place outside the traditional strongholds of our fellowship? Having spent most of my adult life now in smaller towns outside or on the edge of the ‘Bible Belt’, I have seen what happens when students go away to college...rarely do they come back. Many stay and seek jobs and families in the areas around Oklahoma City, Dallas, Nashville, Little Rock, and Atlanta and join large churches, rather than returning home where they could serve churches and communities that desperately need the insights and education that they learned. Yes, this is part of a national trend, and many students would do the same having attended non-Christian universities...but at least for those far from Christian schools, this would mean they stayed closer to home. Several times I have wondered how genuinely our Christian universities have promoted the idea of ‘home-mission’ to their students...how many chapel programs encourage them to return back to where they came from and make a difference? How many of them encourage them to move to a place where the church is not strong or numerous and do the hard work of building it up? For many churches who have watched with hope their young people go away but disappointingly learned that they were not returning, there is a feeling that perhaps Christian colleges are not worth it for them.
Again, thank you for this article, and for all the good you do. May God continue to bless your work.
For Christ and the Church,
David Blankenship
Mulvane, Kansas
https://christianchronicle.org/christian-universities-feeling-the-pinch-as-churches-of-christ-shrink/
To The Christian Chronicle:
I read with great interest your January article about the decline at Church of Christ affiliated universities of students who self-identify as members of Churches of Christ. I appreciate this article and the reporting that went into it, but I have a few comments and questions.
First, I do feel more should have been mentioned about the actual financial costs of Christian colleges and universities. I would like to have seen in a chart or within the article what are some of the costs of these universities. I was fortunate to graduate from Harding with both a bachelors and a masters in the early 1990s, and fortunately through scholarships and parental help incurred little debt. But I had many friends who spent almost two decades paying off their student loans. I would suspect that in recent years the problem has only gotten worse. As a parent of two children who will be attending college within a few years, I am already discouraged by the reports I am hearing of how much these colleges cost. We have worked hard to save money for college, but likely have only saved enough for them to attend for a year or two. Here are my questions: Why have these colleges gotten so expensive? Have they moved so far from their humble origins that they are now inaccessible to the ‘have-nots’? Have they so invested in collegiate sports, luxurious buildings, and other ‘necessities’ that they have forgotten their purpose in the kingdom? Where is the critical analysis of past decisions and future plans that university administrations have made that have kept some of ‘our’ people away? And is this part of a larger national trend in which the rich are not affected by the exploding costs of college, while the more low-income and middle-class are being priced out of the opportunities that previous generations took for granted? Is the growing gap between rich and poor within our country to blame, in that it has made our institutional leaders unaware of how difficult it is for some to afford higher education?
Second, I find it interesting that many in a movement that has called for our religious neighbors to become ‘Christians only’ see that when this actually happens it is a cause for alarm. We should be giving praise to God that some are identifying only as 'Christian!' Though I am thankful that this was not overtly stated in the article, I do know many who will read the article with concern that ‘we’ are losing our identity. All around us churches that are growing usually have a non-denominational aspect to them and seek the name of Christian and wear it proudly. Do they always understand Scripture exactly as Churches of Christ historically have? No. But rather than see this as an opportunity to have conversations with those who might look at Scripture and faith with fresh eyes, many feel threatened because they are not ‘of us’. Have we in Churches of Christ become so stagnant in our pursuit of restoration that any kind of correction we might encounter or other form being ‘Christians only’ might take is considered dangerous?
Third, if more of ‘our’ students are choosing not to attend ‘our’ schools, what effect is this having on campus ministries affiliated with Churches of Christ? Is there a marked increase in their number? Are more churches seeking to find ways to support outreach onto state or other private university campuses? Having been both a student at a Christian university and a campus minister at a state university, I found that genuine Christian faith and growth was not necessarily dependent upon being within the ‘bubble’ of a Christian university. Indeed, I knew many of my fellow students at Harding who had grown up in church but had little to no interest in matters of faith; I can vividly remember how many would complain about daily chapel and how few actually attended Sunday services. Conversely, in campus work on a state university campus I also found a genuine Christian hunger on the part of many who could not or chose not to attend Christian schools. Campus ministries and outreaches, if we consider the implications of your story, will have an increasingly vital part to play in the future of the church...so how will we support them?
Finally, one must also consider a growing reluctance for some churches to promote Christian universities, seeing that it might not be in their best interest long-term. While some have always been suspicious of the ‘progressive’ elements that seem inherent to a college education, I wonder if practically churches outside the Bible belt or even within smaller, isolated towns have felt burned by sending students to Christian universities. Why? Because after they finish their education, how many of these students return home to be a blessing to the church in the small town or to a place outside the traditional strongholds of our fellowship? Having spent most of my adult life now in smaller towns outside or on the edge of the ‘Bible Belt’, I have seen what happens when students go away to college...rarely do they come back. Many stay and seek jobs and families in the areas around Oklahoma City, Dallas, Nashville, Little Rock, and Atlanta and join large churches, rather than returning home where they could serve churches and communities that desperately need the insights and education that they learned. Yes, this is part of a national trend, and many students would do the same having attended non-Christian universities...but at least for those far from Christian schools, this would mean they stayed closer to home. Several times I have wondered how genuinely our Christian universities have promoted the idea of ‘home-mission’ to their students...how many chapel programs encourage them to return back to where they came from and make a difference? How many of them encourage them to move to a place where the church is not strong or numerous and do the hard work of building it up? For many churches who have watched with hope their young people go away but disappointingly learned that they were not returning, there is a feeling that perhaps Christian colleges are not worth it for them.
Again, thank you for this article, and for all the good you do. May God continue to bless your work.
For Christ and the Church,
David Blankenship
Mulvane, Kansas
