The ties that bind universities to Churches of Christ
From Florida College in Temple Terrace, Fla., to Pepperdine University…
Declining church membership creates university hiring challenges
Why many universities associated with Churches of Christ are hiring from outside the fellowship.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
While the number of Churches of Christ declines in the U.S., demand for professional programs at universities associated with the fellowship is rising.
This is part of a series exploring the identity of Churches of Christ. Read more here.
Those realities create hiring challenges for university administrators. Increasingly, universities must look outside Churches of Christ to find faculty for programs in specialized fields — nursing, pharmacy, law and engineering.
The Christian Chronicle interviewed the presidents of 11 higher education institutions associated with Churches of Christ. Nine of these require all board members to be members of the fellowship. Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., requires 75 percent of its board to be members of Churches of Christ. Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., requires that a majority of its board be members of Churches of Christ.
Faculty hiring policies differ as well.
Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., maintains a policy in place since its founding more than a century ago, “that our board, administration, faculty and staff are to be members of the Churches of Christ,” President Keith Harris said. The only exception is for hourly employees in hospitality and housekeeping.
Related: The ties that bind universities to Churches of Christ
At other institutions, including Lipscomb, Harding University in Searcy, Ark., and Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City, the majority of faculty are members of Churches of Christ. But rather than make membership a requirement, these schools have adopted statements of faith that all employees must sign.
“We have loosened strings on faculty,” Oklahoma Christian President Ken Jones said. “They have to be willing to agree to our covenants — who we are as a university — and deeply Jesus-centered in their faith and committed to a local congregation.
“We can’t fill our faculty ranks otherwise,” Jones added. “You don’t have to believe exactly what the Church of Christ believes, but you have to agree to live in this environment with us.”
Richard Johnson
Smaller schools associated with Churches of Christ face similar challenges.
Richard Johnson, president of Crowley’s Ridge College in Paragould, Ark., said more than 90 percent of employees are members of Churches of Christ.
“We try to hire all employees within Churches of Christ when we can,” Johnson said, “but that doesn’t mean we’re always successful.”
Florida College in Temple Terrace, Fla., has a similar approach.
“Employment is not dependent on membership in a Church of Christ but in a set of spiritual, religious principles and beliefs which every employee assents to upon hire,” President John Weaver said. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean Church of Christ — currently all are to my knowledge — but in theory that’s not necessarily the case.”
York University in Nebraska has “policies in place to have a majority of faculty in the Church of Christ,” President Timothy Westbrook said. “But we are open to people from other backgrounds as long as they’re in alignment with our mission.”
Graduates celebrate during commencement at Lubbock Christian University in Texas.
Scott McDowell, president of Lubbock Christian University in Texas, echoed that sentiment.
“We want people who are Jesus followers and passionate about faith in Jesus,” McDowell said. “Members of the College of Biblical Studies must be members of Churches of Christ.”
At Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., faculty in the university’s traditional programs cannot be tenured unless they are members of a Church of Christ, President Mitch Henry said. But that policy does not apply to Faulkner’s law school or its College of Health Sciences.
At Abilene Christian University in Texas, “all full-time faculty and senior administration would be members of a local congregation of the Church of Christ,” President Phil Schubert said. “But we have the ability to ask for exceptions to that policy, and the board has been willing to grant them. We have not asked for an overabundance of them. Through our conversations, we do ask, ‘Are they a spiritual fit? Do their values line up with the university’s values?’”
ACU’s Graduate School of Theology includes a Baptist Studies Center, opened when the university welcomed faculty and graduate students from neighboring Hardin-Simmons University, which shuttered its divinity school in 2020.
Students walk on the campus of Abilene Christian University.
Pepperdine requires a critical mass of members of Churches of Christ for faculty, President Jim Gash said.
“It’s not a majority — but a sufficient number to have an important influence on direction,” he said. “The issues are different everywhere, but we’re intentional about our connection to the heritage of the institution — intentional about the heritage of Churches of Christ.”
Attempts to interview the presidents of two institutions — Rochester Christian University in Michigan and Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas — were unsuccessful.
CHERYL MANN BACON is a correspondent for The Christian Chronicle. She served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University in Texas.
