By Jennifer Johnson
At this summer”s North American Christian Convention, representatives from Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Ozark Christian College, Milligan College, and several churches participated in a workshop to discuss how our churches and our schools can partner to build stronger relationships and develop the leaders we need.
“The changing landscape in America requires kingdom workers with a global perspective who can confront a secular culture with a Christian worldview,” says Phyllis Fox, director of church relations and the Youth in Ministry program at Milligan College and the coordinator of the workshop. “How can our Christian colleges and universities best prepare students to minister in the church and marketplace? How can our churches and Christian higher education work together to produce world-changing disciples?”
The “ReMission Forum for Christian Higher Education” led to some good answers, some more questions, and some action steps for all of us in moving the mission forward.
Recognize the Issues
“We”re living in a post-Christian culture, as exiles in a foreign land,” said Dr. William Greer, president of Milligan College. “We”re also living in an age of moral relativism, and our colleges and universities can teach the correct idea of what it means to live as and to be God”s people.”
When she was a student at Milligan College, Lindsey Meding (top) participated in Semester in Ministry with Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland. As part of that experience, Meding joined Mountain staff in a mission trip to Africa.
It”s important for our institutions of higher education to play this role not only for young undergraduates, but for lifelong learners of every age.
“Churches are hiring from within, but the leaders they”re raising up often don”t have the biblical and theological training they need,” said Dr. Teresa Welch, professor of Christian education and ministry at Ozark Christian College.
“It”s great to develop leaders from within, but eventually someone on your team needs to be able to think theologically,” agreed Ben Cachiaras, senior pastor at Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland. “I don”t want a doctor who says, “˜I learned about heart surgery 20 years ago.” We need to stay current.”
While churches must understand the need for educational opportunities beyond their own walls, leaders must also realize the struggles these schools are facing.
“For one thing, federal involvement is increasing, and that means potential threats to religious freedom,” said Greer. “We”re also seeing a shrinking number of people going to college and concerns among many students about the cost of obtaining a degree and whether it”s worth the investment.”
“One of the biggest causes of debt today is student loans,” said Cachiaras. “This is especially concerning when we”re talking about ministry students.”
Cultivate Understanding
Despite these issues, both churches and schools must realize they need each other; developing ministry and marketplace leaders requires a belief that we”re better together.
“We live in one of the most difficult mission fields in the world,” said Brian Jobe, senior pastor at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri. “Our schools offer not only education and spiritual formation, but connections to our larger movement that can help us be more effective.”
“Neither academic institutions nor local churches can do it alone,” Cachiaras said. “These schools were launched in a different era for a church with different needs, and they can”t prepare workers for the church in the same way. At the same time, churches need to understand they need help beyond what they can provide; refusal to continue learning can lead to a shallow practitioner approach. Both need to contribute what they do best and stop pretending that what they can”t do doesn”t matter.”
Explore New Models
Many of our colleges and universities do understand the needs of today”s church and have expanded the options for ongoing education with online, weeklong intensive, evening, and weekend courses. Some have also partnered with churches (see sidebar, p. 50) to make it easier for both staff and volunteer leaders to pursue education for personal benefit or professional growth.
“Schools are also eager to continue helping students and churches after graduation,” Welch said. “Often they will send a professor or other subject matter expert to your church for a seminar or workshop, and of course many alumni stay connected to teachers who have become mentors and advisers.”
Send and Give
Finally, it”s important to encourage our students to attend these schools and our mission teams to support them.
“Send your students!” said Welch. “They”ll get a great education, but it”s more than that””there is no better training for ministry formation. So send your staff members, or consider pursuing a graduate degree yourself.”
“And if you”re in church leadership and have a voice in the allocation of funds, make sure you”re supporting one of our schools,” said Cachiaras.
This financial support is significant; casting the vision is one thing, Greer pointed out, and funding it is another.
“It takes a long-term perspective,” he said. “Missions is more than foreign fields and domestic church planting; if we”re not also investing in our educational institutions, we”re going to run out of missionaries and planters.”
Jennifer Johnson writes from her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she does a variety of church and media-related ministries.
I have really enjoyed thinking through this article. I think that there is an obvious and necessary relationship that needs to be re-sparked by academic institutions, seminaries and the local church. I am somewhat cynical though, admittedly, after serving at a local rural church for nearly a decade. There is such a distrust for intellectuals and academicians that is prevalent throughout the current conservative “Political Right” culture that many of our churches subscribe to philosophically. This distrust has included even theologians. From my experience, churches don’t want theologians or to discuss the intricacies of soteriology or liberation or other forms of systematic theology. Rather, they want storytellers. Now this is not all incorrect either, as Jesus certainly was a weaver of tales and it proved to be very successful in his ministry with the parables contained in his sermons. But we are too hasty in thinking that Jesus was just “common man: Garrison Keillor spinning pithy tales of Lake Woebegone.” Jesus at that time of his bar mitzvah was astounding the doctors of Hebrew theology in Egypt (a known common hangout of the early pre-Pharisaical mystics in Judaism). My point being after this ramble, I’ve never felt welcome as an academic in a church. Rather they tend to demean our experience as linguists, parsons, theologians, philosophers and mistrust us to employ the techniques of simplicity that resemble gnosticism more and more.