Church membership is tapering off in areas, and
many of our baptized members under 40 are
disaffected and disengaged from the organized
church. I don’t mean to sound grim, only to point
out that in most scenarios it is the church that
populates its affiliated college, not the reverse.
we are still struggling with the aftermath. Finally, nothing has stirred more
unrest than the divided view of whether growth at the College strengthens
mission, or weakens it.
I believe we have made the case, and we will keep making it, that the right
kind of growth strengthens mission, and that devoted New Church faculty
members should be listened to when they attest to the quality of the New
Church education taking place in their classrooms. The New Church faculty
are the front line in preserving mission.
The College mission is to educate in the light of the Word. The mission is
to strengthen students’ intellectual, moral, civil and spiritual life. Outcomes
data, as well as personal testimonies from students, families, faculty and
employers, tell us the mission is flourishing. It is not perfect in every expression
and effort, but it is alive and well in general.
In my view, the quality of education at the College has never been
stronger, nor more focused on the mission of sharing heavenly teachings
in an academic setting. In fact, last October (2013) I brought to campus the
foremost expert on American religious colleges and secularization. Robert
Benne has spent decades studying why some Christian colleges lose their
mission and others do not. I asked Dr. Benne to study the College and identify
where he saw us drifting from our mission.
His assessment? Bryn Athyn College is overwhelmingly focused on
mission, so much so, that he called us orthodox. While the word “orthodox”
is not entirely comforting, Dr. Benne was stunned by the integrity of our
curricular focus on mission and by our emphasis on and monitoring of moral
behavior on campus. We are successfully fostering “clean living” in a way that
many campuses do not.
Not everyone supports the College’s efforts to grow. It would be
unrealistic to expect that, given the polarity of views in our church on most
issues. But let me address one particular expression of anxiety that I have
encountered repeatedly. Some people feel that the College should accept only
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