wfn.org | Educators examine church and college relationship

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 19, 1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
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NOTE: This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #373 .

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The relationship between the United Methodist
Church and its related colleges was precious 50 years ago, but the two
sides have gone through a withdrawal from each other since then, said
the bishop in residence at a Kansas college.

Fifty years ago, church-related colleges were academies where Scriptures
were studied, people specialized in ethical insights into society, and a
sense of Christian character and community existed, said Bishop Richard
Wilke. "Sometimes it was somewhat legalistic, but it was a place where
character could be nurtured."

However, the cost of education soared and the government moved in, he
said. The relationships between the church and its schools changed, and
in many cases colleges tried to be more independent, he said.

"There was a distancing."

Wilke, bishop in residence at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan.,
spoke to more than 100 faculty, staff and administrators of United
Methodist-related schools at the 1998 Institute of Higher Education,
held June 15-17 in Nashville, Tenn.

The institute, held regularly since 1948, helps the 123 United
Methodist-related schools, colleges and universities reach their goals
while maintaining the tradition begun by church founders John and
Charles Wesley: "to unite the pair so long disjoined -- knowledge and
vital piety." The institute is held by the United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of Methodist
education. The relationship between Methodists and schools began in
1748, when John Wesley opened Kingswood School in Bristol, England. 

In an effort to celebrate the past and link arms with the denomination
again, the educators discussed the meaning of the relationship between
church and school; what it means to work in a church-related school; how
their institutions show their United Methodist relationship; and whether
that relationship makes a difference in their work. 

Wilke told the participants that the distancing of colleges and the
church occurred because the schools wanted independence.

"It was like a child becoming an adolescent, and an adolescent wants to
be independent of parents," he said. "There was a feeling among some
United Methodist-related colleges that we've been a child long enough,
now we can stand on our own feet and don't want anyone telling us what
to do."

Another type of separation brought on by the academic world was "the
sense of objectivity,"  he said. Schools, colleges and universities did
not want feelings or people becoming involved with their science or
studies.

"They did not want the emotional level that the church sometimes
brings," he said. "They didn't want that on a college campus."

In an effort to gain money and be open to all people, Wilke said that
some United Methodist-related institutions broke away.

But in the last 15 years, Wilke said, there has been an attempt to
reclaim each other.  

"One might say it is about time," he said. "We're both swimming
upstream."

 In 1996, the University Senate, a 25-member body of academic
professionals that determines which schools are affiliated with the
denomination, adopted a seven-point statement identifying the marks of a
United Methodist Church-related college. 

The senate said that while each college is different, a denominationally
related school:
*	identifies itself as such in printed materials, official
listings and other statements;
*	respects, honors and provides the teaching of religion;
*	respects and honors religious practice, especially worship and
service for students and faculty who choose to participate in the
Christian tradition at school;
*	allows faculty and students to explore the place of religious
belief and practice;
*	encourages exploring the place of religious belief and practice
in society and advocates recognizing the contributions of religion to
public life;
*	recognizes the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church
and seeks to create a community of scholarship and learning that leads
to social justice; and
*	includes among its faculty, administrative officers, and board
of trustees people who understand and respect the relationship with the
United Methodist Church.

As the conversations continued, another speaker reminded the educators
about the value and strength of pluralism.

Gloria Randall Scott, president of Bennett College, Greensboro, N.C.,
said the historically black colleges are integral parts of the United
Methodist connection but are sorely underused by the  majority. 

Church leaders and congregations must realize that black colleges are
good places for non-blacks to get an education, Scott said. Faculty
partnerships and student exchanges are needed between the 11 black
colleges and the other church-related colleges to help diversify
campuses, she said.

"This type of roping will help provide the kind of pluralism we are
talking about and trying to meet."

Black colleges are committed to being on the cutting edge of pluralism,
she said. "We see ourselves as being agents to be used in the church."

Black colleges particularly can help the church and its colleges in
dealing with race and gender problems, she said. "We are the academy and
can show the church the way."

The church-college relationship is defined by a commitment to
value-related education, service and opportunities for spiritual growth,
said Robert Armour, a staff member with the church's Division of Higher
Education in Nashville. 

"A college is not the church and does not do its work," he said. "But a
church-related college does hold that Jesus is the way, the truth and
the life . . . which is a belief that motivates and guides the college."

It is not enough for a college to "subscribe to the trappings of faith,"
but it must show that faith permeates the entire college atmosphere, he
said. A church-related college, he said, prepares the next generation of
Christian leaders.

A focal point of the institute was a series of panel presentations
highlighting the ways individual schools, colleges and universities make
the United Methodist connection felt on their campuses and within their
communities. Representatives of the Catholic church and the Mennonite
church gave examples of the relationships between their denominations
and schools.

A highlight of the 1998 institute was the premiere of the play "The
Vision," based on the founding of Kingswood School. 

The next institute will be June 21-22, 1999, in Nashville.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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