Pro 4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let [her] not go: keep her; for she [is] thy life.
From the beginning of colonial America until the late-19th Century, almost all forms of higher education in the United States were considered Christian. From their inception, the well-known universities of America emphasized the training of clergy and the study of scripture, leaving education in trade and business to models of apprenticeship.
You might be surprised to learn that most of the perennial American universities’ original stated claim was to promote faith in Jesus Christ. For instance, Harvard University, plainly declared that their objective was “to know God and Jesus which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning”. Founded in 1701 by the puritan separatists known as the Congregationalists, Yale’s primary goal was that “every student should consider the main end of his study to wit to know God in Jesus Christ and answerably to lead a Godly, sober life” [1]
Sadly, today these schools are completely secularized and no longer hold to any of the ideals on which they were founded.
Christian higher education has always been a bit controversial among Baptists though, and for good reasons. Early in America’s history, the Congregationalists dominated the colonial landscape and quickly became the established church of New England. Just like the Anglicanism they sought to escape in Europe, the puritans had formed a religious denomination that imbued the political and social fabric of America to the exclusion of their separatist brothers, the Baptists.
The initial discord between the Baptists and the Congregationalists revolved around the issue of infant baptism and the Baptist claim that the administration of the ordinance of baptism must be preceded by an individual’s free-will decision to repent and believe the gospel. The contention around this subject had serious cultural and political implications that resulted in much more than theological strife; the early baptists were persecuted and forced out of many of the early colonial settlements. [2]
Despite their exclusion and oppression, the Baptists thrived. The early Baptist churches of America emphasized authoritative biblical preaching and teaching. Baptists were generally more welcoming to outsiders and often reflected a diversity of social classes. And in a country settled by separatists, Baptists had an even greater distrust of government and institutions than other denominations. All of these qualities were appealing to many people and as the evangelistic movement known as the Great Awakening prospered, many Christian converts were baptized into thriving Baptist congregations.
Shortly after the American Revolution, under the influence of Baptist ministers, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were among the first of the United States forefathers to truly champion the claims of the first amendment. With greater religious freedom came greater opportunity for the Baptists to make their mark, but as they surveyed the terrain, they discovered that almost all of the educational institutions were founded and managed by the long established Protestant denominations, leaving the Baptists to pursue more unconventional forms of teaching and training for their pastors and missionaries. [3]
Since that time, Baptists have taken many different approaches to providing men and women with the biblical and ministerial education they need to serve the Lord. Some Baptists have partnered to form Baptist organizations and academic institutes. Other Baptists have doubled down on their autonomy, determined to do all their teaching in-house. In both of these educational manifestations there are inherent strengths and weaknesses.
There is great value in believers organizing for the sake of sharing resources and accountability. Many fundraising missionaries have benefited from the fellowshipping and networking that local churches do. When Baptists gather together in unity and with a mission in mind, they are capable of doing great things without compromising the independence of the local church. The problem is that many Baptist organizations and academic institutions allow over-formalization and bureaucracy to suffocate their collective faith, promote unnecessary uniformity and deter believers and churches from missional risk taking. When Baptist schools falter in this way, history tells us that they either dwindle and divide, or worse, they grow into large but doctrinally compromised monuments to themselves.
On the other hand, those Baptists who desire to educate in-house, often lack the resource and energy to take a thorough and rigorous approach to educating their growing leaders. This is less an issue of weakness in philosophy but rather a weakness in capacity. So much energy in a local church can and should be poured into evangelism, discipleship, counseling and congregational care, so the added prospect of building an efficient and high quality education program is daunting. The reason good churches send folks away for Bible school is because even good churches lack the resources to effectively instruct at the leadership level.
So what should a church do? What is the right approach to take? Well, I don’t know. History is often great at providing a diagnosis but it isn’t always good at providing a prescription. Ultimately, I believe that each church has to decide what is best for them based on the convictions of their leadership and in relation to what their congregants need to ensure growth.
What I can say is that it is of the utmost importance for every church to have a plan for training godly men and women to take the gospel to the world. This isn't a tertiary or passive endeavor, it’s a central and urgent endeavor. As churches, we have very little time left to fulfill the mission for our age (Rev 3:11; 22:7;12; 20). Christ’s return is imminent, which means that in the wisdom and conviction of the Spirit, each local church must take the responsibility to train pastors, missionaries and church planters seriously.
With this sense of urgency in mind, and with the lessons of Baptist history to serve as a warning, in 2013 the Living Faith Bible Institute was established to provide biblical education and resources for growing ministers while granting them the freedom to minister within their autonomous local churches. Ten years later, Living Faith Bible Institute has approximately 600 students from all over the Unites States and around the world.
There are certain guiding principles that our leadership has held since the school’s inception, principles we believe are important to making institutional biblical higher-education work for local churches.
It must be biblical.
A Christian education is nothing if it isn’t biblical. If a local church is going to partner with a school by recommending their members, they need to have the assurance that the instructors are doctrinally like-minded, trustworthy and accountable. This is why a school must present a statement of faith and be clear about the nature of their beliefs. For this same reason, a Bible education should not include an option for professional tenure, because if the views of an instructor stray from the tradition of the faith, the school must reserve the right to terminate the relationship. But if you hire the right instructors, this instructional divergence should be rare.
In the selection of instructors, the Living Faith Bible Institute employs pastors and missionaries who have graduated from like-minded schools and have proven a doctrinal orthodoxy within the body of their historic preaching and ministry work. Too many schools hire instructors based on pedigree rather than testimony.
It must be local church focused.
The implicit contradiction of the typical seminary model is that church members must withdraw from their home church in order to get trained for church ministry. While many Bible schools have tried to fix this by requiring students to find and attend a church near the school, the truth is, in most cases, no one has the ability to love and train disciples of Jesus Christ the way a healthy home church can.
In order for a Bible school to be effective, we believe that it requires that a student continue to get trained for ministry by investing day-by-day within the local church of their membership. For this reason, biblical higher-education should be accessible online. In our day and age, there is no reason for us to ship our best and brightest to another city to learn biblical doctrine and theology. The online platform allows students to receive a high quality education while making immediate applications within the context of their church ministry.
Each student in the Living Faith Bible Institute is required to get pastoral approval from their local church before their application is approved. Students are also asked to sign an agreement that allows the school to provide a general report back to the local church on the progress of their members' education. These kinds of mechanisms allow schools and students to remain accountable to their local churches.
It must be flexible.
God’s calling is for everyone. A Bible education should accommodate young single people who have tons of physical energy and latitude in their schedules. A Bible education should also accommodate working adults with families and busy schedules. No matter your life circumstances, you should be afforded an opportunity to grow in God’s word without the fear of failing to keep up with the work.
An online platform, like the one we utilize, provides a Bible school the ability to build a curriculum that meets the scheduling needs of every student, in every walk of life and in every time zone. To have flexibility means that a student can engage with the material in a way that suits their schedule and doesn’t interrupt their vocation or the actual work of ministry.
It must be academically rigorous.
It takes a lot to build an effective program of study. It requires clear educational objectives, knowledgeable teachers, biblically sound content, pertinent and appropriate pedagogy, practical and comprehensive assessments, a trustworthy team of people to grade and communicate with students, an administrative team that holds people accountable and keeps the vision of the school at the forefront of activity. All of these things require resources that are much more achievable in the context of partnership than they are alone.
Many local churches have reliable teachers and sound lecturers, but employing assessments to further the development of the student is critically important. When training men and women for ministry, it’s not sufficient for them to simply listen to lectures and take notes, they must engage with the assignments and projects that help them to process and apply what they are learning. Not only that, without assessment, how does a pastor know that their growing minister truly understands the content they were taught.
It must be affordable.
Most Christian higher-education, like all higher-ed, is exorbitantly priced. The inflated price is the result of many factors including the cost associated with real-estate and staffing. If the objective is to train as many ministers as possible, a Bible-education cannot be for the financially privileged alone, it must be a viable option for all growing leaders.
For the Living Faith Bible Institute, the exceptionally low cost of our school is made possible by the passion and sacrifice of our instructors as well as the donations and support of patrons of the school. Many people and churches choose to support the school financially because they believe in the vision of the school and recognize that their investment contributes directly to the development of future pastors, missionaries and leaders. These contributions make it possible for us to offer financial aid to our students who are in need of help.
Finances should never be a hindrance for a person who has a burden to grow in their knowledge of God’s word and to serve him.
It must serve into the Great Commission.
Lastly, a Bible education must have a Matthew 28:19-20 impact on the kingdom of God. What we provide growing students must be more than knowledge or intellectual exercise. Everything from the subject matter of the courses to the required reading to the design of the assignments, the aim must be to encourage biblical understanding and useful ministry application. This is why the design of every course in the Living Faith Bible Institute begins with stated learning objectives which frame the intentions of the curriculum.
The aim of Christ should be the aims of every local church, to teach, preach and shepherd; to raise up laborers for the harvest. Whatever construct we choose to use for the purpose of educating the flock, it must effectively aspire to commission faith-filled ministers in the biblical mandate.
Mat 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the labourers [are] few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
It is my hope that these principles that guided the development of our school help both pastors and students navigate the responsibility to train biblical leaders for the harvest. If these principles resonate with you, we want to invite you to consider partnering with the Living Faith Bible Institute. It is an honor to stand alongside local churches and provide supplemental educational resources to help them further their gospel enterprise.
Independent Baptist churches like the ones in the Living Faith Fellowship are warranted in their critical view of seminaries and institutions that deprive the local church of the right to train their congregants. We also know that if we are going to raise pastors, plant churches and send missionaries, our churches will need to provide a deep and intentional form of biblical education for the growing disciples in our flock. However we decide to train those in our churches, we must keep in mind the intrinsic weaknesses of men and, with a heart of hope, hold ourselves accountable to the principles necessary for advancing biblical truth.
[1] Ringenberg, William C. The Christian College (RenewedMinds): A History of Protestant Higher Education in America. Ada: Baker Books, 2006.
[2] Morgan, Abel. "Anti-Padeo Rantism: Our Mr. Samuel Finley's Charitable Plea for the Speechless, Examined and Refuted: The Baptism of Believers Maintained; and the Mode of It, by Immersion, Vindicated." The Ancient Baptist Journal, Infant Baptism 5, no. 2 (Fall 2012), 91-220.
[3] Kidd, Thomas S., and Barry Hankins. Baptists in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.
Brandon Briscoe is provost of the Living Faith Bible Institute and the pastor over the College and Young Adults ministry at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, MO.
