Evangelical Living and Learning Centers: A Proposal

In recent months, both the secular and the religious press have called attention to the economic plight of small, private colleges and universities. Evangelicals cannot ignore the serious question raised in an editorial in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, “Shall the Christian Colleges Die?” (May 21, 1971). We must face the realistic possibility that many Christian schools will be closing their doors; one estimate is that more than forty schools will shut down this year. Evangelical educators are aware that some hard decisions must be made if their schools are to survive.

Yet there are signs that the finest and strongest of our evangelical colleges will weather the storm and will continue to provide the high caliber of education for which they have become widely recognized. Crises are nothing new for the Christian colleges: their histories are replete with them. The Christian college has proved itself amazingly resilient.

In the previously mentioned issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Frank E. Gaebelein sounded a challenge to evangelical educators, and a most timely one: “Christian education must explore new paths, though this may mean breaking with traditional ways of doing things.” Breaking with the traditional ways is no easy task, but evangelicals have been quite willing in the past to make necessary educational adjustments. To mention a few: they introduced the Sunday school, the Bible school, and in more recent times—yet long before reinforcement theory became popular in educational psychology—the motivational techniques of Sunday-school contests and prizes.

Is there an educational alternative to the private college for evangelicals to consider in the light of current economic stresses and strains? I propose that “Evangelical Living and Learning Centers” for undergraduate students be built on private property near large state universities. What I have in mind is not unlike the old colleges at Oxford University, or the new, small state colleges located within large state universities, such as those at Michigan State and at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

But although there are similarities, there are also important differences. A Center would have no official connection with the state university. The student in an “Evangelical Living and Learning Center” would use all the instructional and other facilities of the state campus. The Center building, or cluster of buildings, would be architecturally attractive and well equipped to provide meals and residence-hall living in a Christ-honoring atmosphere. In addition, these buildings could accommodate both large- and small-group instruction and would be equipped with the latest in audio-visual learning aids. The permanent staff would be academically qualified evangelical educators.

Along with their studies at the state university, students would be required to take courses and seminars in the Center during their four years; the subjects would be Bible, theology, apologetics, and philosophy. Students would be encouraged to develop their own “mini-courses” to meet particular needs and interests. In addition to the regular staff, outstanding evangelical professors from both this country and abroad would be invited to teach at the Center for a semester or two. There are indications that state universities are increasingly willing to give credit for off-campus courses if they are taught by qualified people in the field.

The teaching staff would also spend time talking informally with students, discussing the conflicts that will arise between the secular instruction at the university and a Christian world-and-life view. Much time would be spent in an intellectually honest investigation of the Christian faith and its relation to secular disciplines. The university class in anthropology, sociology, or psychology, for example, would become a testing ground for the Christian view of the nature of man. In the physical sciences the philososphy of science would be investigated from a Christian perspective. Thus the Christian student in a Living and Learning Center would use his knowledge daily on the campus.

Many evangelical students and faculty members at state universities belong to campus organizations dedicated to reaching students for Christ and ministering to those who commit their lives to him. For a number of years Inter-Varsity Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ have been the vanguard of evangelical penetration of the secular campus. The Center would not compete with these organizations but would seek to work with them in a concerted outreach. Those of us who are associated with large universities know that there is plenty of room for all who want to reach students for Christ. The problem is not that we have too many organizations but that we have too few.

Nor would the Center replace the good, effective, Christian liberal-arts college. The possibilities for cooperation are inviting: for instance, some students might transfer from one to the other, thus gaining the experience of studying in two different kinds of learning situations; and professors from Christian colleges might teach at a Center for a semester or two.

A large part of the cost of education is in salaries, student services, and building construction and maintenance. The cost of living in the Center would be only slightly more than what the student attending the state university would normally pay. The rest of the money needed to ensure a quality program could come from interested people who were convinced that the Living and Learning Center was a worthy educational innovation.

Some may point out that the students at the Center would be largely from the state in which the Center is located. There is indeed an attractiveness in attending a college where students come from all sections of the country. But in recent years state legislatures have substantially raised out-of-state tuition for undergraduate students. Some states have limited reciprocal arrangements with neighboring states, and perhaps state legislatures could be encouraged to do more. This would give the Center a wider geographic distribution.

My experience has been that Christian students on the secular campus do not witness forthrightly for Christ in class even when given the opportunity to do so. Perhaps the reason is that, like all other students, they are afraid of low grades and social disapproval. Most professors do not value evangelical Christianity. Furthermore, most students are not equipped to handle arguments presented by a professor or opposition from other students. One of the objectives of the Center would be to develop in the Christian student both the courage and the skills necessary to make his witness for Christ effective in the classroom and on campus.

The possibility of “Evangelical Living and Learning Centers” with hundreds of witnessing Christians involved in the mainstream of university life is exciting indeed. This kind of witness could not easily be ignored by even the largest state university.

Frank C. Nelsen is assistant professor of the history and philosophy of education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He received the B.A. from Wheaton College and the M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State.

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