MISSIONS AND THE MODERN ACADEMY: Education is a
Mission Strategy. Plant Universities!
By Paul F. Scotchmer
Missions and Missionaries, February 2002, pages 19-21
Christian mission is not simply about the multiplication of the church; it is about the
discipling of the nations. If a nation is to be discipled, the commanding heights of a nation’s
life have to be opened to the influence of Christ; for Christ has redeemed human life in its
entirety. Andrew E Walls
Christian organizations exist to plant churches by the thousands. But do any exist to plant
universities? Not in the Protestant world-at least not before the recent formation of the
International Council for Higher Education, with offices in Switzerland and the United States.
It’s a bit odd, when you think about it. Most of us would agree in principle with Andrew
Walls’ observations, above, but how many of us have given serious thought to the means by
which “the commanding heights of a nation’s life” can be opened to the influence of Christ?
It is likeliest to happen when young people capable of leadership are taught to think, live, and
express themselves as followers of Jesus Christ within their specific callings.
Judging by the numbers, Christians had better get busy. For it appears that Christian higher
education is not keeping pace with the rapid rise of enrollments around the world.
Burgeoning demand
Largely because of changes in the developing world, enrollments in higher education
worldwide doubled in a span of just 20 years. In 1975, some 40 million students worldwide
were pursuing tertiary (university) degrees. By 1995, that number had risen to 80.5 million
students; around 47 million of these students were in the developing world.
Ballooning enrollments are explained by improvements in education at the primary and
secondary levels: three out of every four adults in poor countries are literate today, compared
to 25 percent in the 1920s. Enrollment increases also reflect growing aspirations to get hold
of the keys that unlock the door to meaningful participation in the global economy-and its
vast cornucopia of consumer goods.
The problem now is access. In Kenya, for example, there is room in the universities for only
one-third of the young people who qualify, based on national entrance exams. In Malaysia,
the problem is twice as bad: only 15 percent of qualified students are admitted to the third
level of studies.
No abatement is in sight. In Asia alone, some 48 million additional students will seek
enrollment in tertiary programs by the year 2020, but only a small percentage of these will be
admitted. Reason: lack of facilities and professors.
For the church, the problem of access to higher education presents a grand opportunity. But
there is no time to waste, for secular institutions-private ones seeking profits and public ones
seeking new revenue streams-are rushing to fill the void. The reach of some of these
institutions is staggering. Examples:
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The British Open University, a year ago at this time, boasted an enrollment of
260,000 students in 41 countries on several continents.
Scottish Knowledge, a consortium of 21 colleges and universities in Scotland, now
offers online and distance courses to students around the world and maintains regional
offices in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia-and of course
Scotland.
The Teikyo University Group of Japan has built a global network of institutions
ranging from kindergartens to universities and now operates in the United States, the
United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, and Malaysia
Sylvan Learning Systems, based in the US, has acquired controlling interests of
private universities in Mexico, Chile, and Spain and owns a hotel management school
in Switzerland.
The Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, announced plans
in December 2000 to establish institutions in Brazil, China, India, and Mexico, among
other locations around the world.
Can Christians compete with these transnational educational enterprises? They better, at least
if they have any intention to compete for the minds and hearts of the world’s future leaders.
When the church is ready to respond to the challenge of global education, three principles
must guide this effort:
(1) Solidarity. If the Christian world is content to confine its educational programs only to
those who can afford them, let us ignore this principle. But if we recognize that some of the
finest candidates for Christian leadership come from the ranks of the poor, or at least those
who have shown a determination to work their way out of poverty, the Christian world must
commit itself to encouraging and enabling these folk to develop themselves in body, mind,
and soul.
Fully 13 percent of all Christians in today’s world, some 260 million people, live in a state of
“absolute poverty;” which the World Bank describes as “a condition of life so characterized
by malnutrition, illiteracy and disease as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human
decency.” And nearly a billion Christians eke out a living with a per capita income of less
than US $235 a year.
Surely more can be done to help these brothers and sisters in Christ. But not merely these. As
a means of Christian outreach, we must also extend an open hand to non-Christians who are
both qualified to attend a university and willing to learn from Christian professors.
(2) Faith and learning. Even if the educator’s exclusive aim were to alleviate poverty, it
would be necessary to deal with the religious dimension of life, for material poverty in the
broad scheme of things correlates with spiritual poverty. As T. S. Eliot noted in the aftermath
of a worldwide depression and two world wars, culture is the incarnation of religion.
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter Centesimus Annus (1991), writes: “development
must not be understood solely in economic terms, but in a way that is fully human:” The aim
must not be simply to raise living standards but to elevate a person’s sense of human dignity
as a creation of God and hence his capacity to respond to God’s calling. “The apex of
development is the exercise of the right and duty to seek God, to know him and to live in
accordance with that knowledge:”
(3) Subsidiarity. God’s calling is not generic but specific to persons, and persons are specific
to places. Thus education, even “global education;” must in a very real sense be local. The
point is affirmed in a new book called Chinese Intellectuals and the Gospel. The authors
argue that evangelism must penetrate every facet of daily life, addressing the circumstances
and burning issues of the people in a given place.
Christian education, like the Christian faith itself, must be universal and personal, global and
local. In practical terms, this double burden of the educator can be met more easily today than
ever before. The global challenge can be achieved through international conferences,
electronic forums, and courses delivered from one part of the world to another via the
Internet. The local challenge can be realized through cooperation between educators and
those most familiar with the needs of the community: political and religious leaders, Christian
relief and development agencies, mission organizations, secondary school teachers, and so
forth.
New Horizons
Can you imagine a globe with “a thousand points of light” (to borrow a phrase), each
representing a new Christian university planted in the world’s most underdeveloped and
restricted nations? Can you imagine these little universities offering degrees that address not
only the science, systems, and techniques of practical disciplines but also raise questions
about the means by which the practitioners are most likely to find fulfillment-a sense of
calling-in their work?
I can imagine this happening by taking the best course materials from, say, the Council for
Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and adapting these materials for local use by
scholars based in Mongolia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Mozambique, Venezuela, Indonesia, and
China. l can imagine courses being delivered via the Internet and DVDs, combined with
short- term residential sessions involving local scholars and, as needed, foreign
scholars/mentors. I can imagine Internet cafes, financed through micro-loans, serving as a
local revenue stream and as the hub for each new campus, with adjoining administrative units
and private rooms - cyber classrooms, if you like - for students enrolled in degree programs.
What I cannot imagine is not responding to the contemporary needs of our world and the
promise of a global Christian university.
Dr. Paul Scotchmer is vice president for programs and development of the International
Council for Higher Education (ICHE). This organization works to establish Christian
universities in developing countries for the purpose of developing Christian leadership in
these countries. Paul can be reached at <scotchmer@att.net>. Slow mail: ICHE, 15521146th Avenue SE, Snohomish, WA 98290.