"The principle of large, online classes contradicts [a] school's emphasis on Christian discipleship"

If it were not for on-line classes, I would not be able to finish my degree at a Christian college. The nearest one is in Phoenix, and 135 miles is a little too far for me to drive on a daily basis. I enjoy the fact that I can get a decent education on line, and while I agree I’m sacrificing something by not being in a position to interact face to face with my fellow classmates, it’s worth it to me. I am actively involved in my church and ministries there, so I’m not really losing out on discipleship. Of course, I’m an older student and wouldn’t necessarily advise this for a student who is fresh out of high school, but it definitely works for me.

If a college-age student is growing well in his local church, why send him away to be discipled? Distance-learning is one several approaches that avoids this problem. Letting them stay at home, grow in their local church, and go to a local secular college or university is another. Everybody doesn’t have to go to a Christian college to grow.

Wise parents and wise pastors and elders can advise students in a fashion appropriate to their degree-program, future plans, and their nature.

Mike….I agree and would add that beyond the opportunity for parents and the local church to continue discipleship with young students, there is a cost savings and also, the mentality in today’s generation is that the first year of college is for partying, goofing off and experimentation with their new freedom. (And that assessment includes most Christian colleges as well with perhaps a differentiation about what constitutes “partying”, et. al.)

I’ve been an online prof and faculty mentor for Liberty for six years now. I’ve never been assigned a course with more than 20 students enrolled (that’s policy — at least in the grad school where I have my experience) and have had classes with as few as 7 students. This allows us to have far more interaction with the students and it is common for me to spend time exchanging emails, talking on the phone and doing “outside-the-class” coaching. I literally have on-going input with students who took my courses years ago.

Thirty years ago, when I was in college, I had several classes at a Christian college with as many as 1,200 students in them my freshman year. For a fraction of the cost, I could have stayed at home, attended my local community college, stayed plugged into my local church, remained with my family and saved a ton of money. Anymore, I find myself recommending both the local community college and the online option for the first year or two for both financial and social/maturity issues.

Having mega-classes, whether online or in person, simply isn’t a great idea in my book. You can impress people from a distance and in large numbers, but if you want to impact them — it’s going to take some one on one.

Dan

I wanted to put two bits into the conversation. I graduated in 1986 from BJU with an outstanding education and for years wanted to get my master’s degree. Piedmont International University just recently started a program called E 4-12 which allows you to get your masters degree at community college prices through the avenue of your local church. We attend our classes at our local church where we have the plus of discussing the material as a class of 8 with the expertise of our pastor to answer questions. The classes are top notch and I would put them up against any classes I had previously at BJU. So we take the class online but we also have the advantage of discussion with other students within our local church

Way to go PIU!!!

As if the school model is somehow a Biblical one in and of itself?

It is truly amazing how so many ship off the responsibility of discipleship to others. Schools were never given the responsibility of discipleship by Jesus. If schools are upset at the possible loss of revenue because of online courses, then step up and do it better. The arrogance of schools to think they are entitled to be the only hope for people getting a good education is shameful. Still others continue to whine and cry about yesteryear when schools were run by demigods, er, giants of fundamentalism to teach the up and coming.

I’m not sure that sending kids off to a good institution of higher learning is the equivalent of “ship(ping) off the responsibility of discipleship to others). Things are (or should be) taught in the third and fourth year of good programs that are often above the average expertise of most local church pastors. I’ve never sat under the leadership of a pastor who was proficient enough to actually teach someone Greek or Hebrew, though they were quite proficient in it in at least one occasion. There are courses on the law, technology, administration and more that are really important for people in the ministry to go through if they are to have a well-rounded and steady ministry. Yeah….I know that many small churches don’t struggle with these issues and we can open a whole debate on the problems with larger churches and institutions and so on, but the fact is that some churches do get big and complex and I’m not willing to assign that as a negative thing or not of God. I think a wise parent (note that I did not say, pastor, but parent) should know their child well enough to chart out a good educational path for them to follow that doesn’t wait until college to begin nor ends at the end of high school. A combination of local church training, internships, post-secondary training and self-study that complements God-given gifts might be the best strategy. Credentials can matter today. Not everyone is a good mentor or teacher. Not all colleges prepare people well for ministry. Not every young person learns the same way. Education can and does provide additional opportunities throughout one’s life. So, I don’t think that broad-brush characterizations or a one-size-fits-all approach either one is a wise approach to preparing young people for ministry and adulthood. FWIW.

If a person leaves a church to go to a school in another city, then he should find a good church where discipleship will continue. Expecting a school to do that is deliberately fumbling at your own goal line.

I will echo the comments of several others here. While there is nothing wrong with Christian colleges and universities striving to support the local church in the discipleship of young people, the biblical mandate for discipleship is given to the local church. I’m not really convinced that colleges are very effective at discipleship anyway, but teaching advanced courses on Greek exegesis is not discipleship. This article illustrates a grave weakness in 21st century American Christianity in my opinion. The emphasis is on the individual Christian and his personal growth rather than on the body of Christ and how each believer ministers to and is ministered to by his local church. We have replaced the local, visible assembly with the concept of the universal one, and so we have invited many to divorce themselves from the discipline (think discipleship) of their local church. The idea that a young person can move away from home and their local church and be discipled by their Christian college, without the ministry of a local body of believers is wrong.

As a bible college alumnus (both in residence for my B.S. and online for my M.A.) I think very highly of the education I received. When I lived in southern NM, the closest seminary I could find was in Phoenix, over 350 miles away. Distance learning was truly a blessing, but I also enjoyed the opportunity to put my education into practice immediately in the context of my local church where I was actively teaching and serving. IMO, this actually led to a greater apprehension of the truths I was being taught, since they were reinforced by practiced application almost immediately. For missionaries overseas, busy pastors geographically removed from seminaries or any other Christian interested in advancing their understanding of God’s Word who cannot afford the time and expense of a traditional classroom, online education is extremely valuable. Even if that means taking a MOOC course.

In this talk, it covers a Christian philosophy behind homeschooling. There are many reasons to homeschool, but most are not reasons that purposefully extend God’s kingdom. We are immersed in a culture that has deviated so far from the Bible that we often do not see how far we have gone astray. This is a survey of commonly discussed pro and con arguments regarding homeschooling with specific applications for both boys and girls.