new church life: march / april 2014
The College should
be measured by how
well it is achieving
its mission, engaging
students with New
Church teachings
in ways that deepen
their humanity
and their ability
to bless others.
students already familiar and on board with
the General Church, or only students who
will later join the General Church.
Although increasing the enrollment
in the Church is a welcome and desired
outcome, I want to be clear that the College’s
primary focus is to engage students with
New Church teachings in the context of
higher education and campus life.
Students join the College community
for four years to study liberal arts and
learn about New Church teachings, in a
New Church environment. They sign up
for a college experience. If they do join the
General Church…wonderful. But we should
remember that growing numbers of our own
baptized young people do not join our church, or any church for that matter.
To the extent that the General Church (and other Swedenborgian
branches) successfully increase membership through birth or through
attracting newcomers, the College will have a ready pool of students to draw
upon, as do most denominational colleges. If this pool were large enough, the
College could rely on these students alone and not reach beyond them. But we
do not have that luxury.
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.
The College has an extraordinary challenge in having such a small pool
of church members to draw upon. Certainly religious colleges strengthen
the faith of many students who attend, and some previously unaffiliated
students will join the mother church, but it would be unfortunate to tie Bryn
Athyn College’s success too narrowly to a head count of students who join the
General Church during or after their sojourn on campus.
The College should be measured instead by how well it is achieving its
mission, engaging students with New Church teachings in ways that deepen
their humanity and their ability to bless others. By students I include those
affiliated with the Church – as many as we can get – as well as those who are
coming upon these teachings for the first time.
I respect the passion and desire to protect the strengths of the past. We
all want that. And if we did not have New Church theology, there would be
no reason at all to have Bryn Athyn College. That said, the College serves the
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