by John Williams
In July 2012, the PC(USA) General Assembly approved a list of “Presbyterian-affiliated” schools, colleges and universities (as it does every time it meets). The list of 63 schools adopted in 2012 reflects the historic relationship those institutions have with the denomination. It also helps to identify which students qualify for financial assistance through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). While approving of the list, the 2012 commissioners also pressed the question, “What qualifies a college or university to be able to claim affiliation with the PC(USA)?” The assembly turned that question into a request for the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), in consultation with the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, to develop a definition of what it means to be “Presbyterian-affiliated.”
The PMA assigned Adrian McMullen, the then-associate for collegiate ministry, to craft a draft response to that question. He, in turn, invited the Presbyterian College Chaplains Association (PCCA), at its annual meeting in February 2013 to provide input into forming that definition. After a mind-stretching and heart-tugging discussion, the chaplains produced a statement that expresses their take on church-relatedness:
Because we are Presbyterian-related, our institutions value learning, faith, service, and connection to each other, the Church and the world, honoring the dignity and worth of every person.
McMullen then took the chaplains’ statement to the March 2013 Presidents Conference of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities (APCU). The presidents voted unanimously to affirm the statement.
Later that year McMullen left the position and the PMA assigned Gary Loleng, as interim associate for college ministry, the task of forming a definition from the church’s perspective of the characteristics required of academic institutions to be included on the list of related schools, colleges and universities that will go before this year’s General Assembly.
Drawing upon the ideas in the chaplains’ statement and with help from Gary Luhr, the executive director of APCU, he offered the language:
That a school, college or university be considered Presbyterian-related if it can identify as having an historic connection to the Presbyterian Church and demonstrate a commitment to Reformed values through the education it provides. Among these values are a commitment to faith, truth, learning, service, community, character and the dignity and worth of each person.
The PMA board approved this definition at its meeting this past February and forwarded it to the upcoming GA for its approval.
It also included the chaplains’ statement as background, along with the chaplains’ own explanation of the meanings of the wording:
“Because”
We don’t value learning and all faith traditions represented on our campuses in spite of our church-relatedness. It is because we are church-related that we value and cherish all inquiry and welcome and encourage all faith communities. In an increasingly pluralistic nation and world, Presbyterian-related colleges and universities are ideal places to learn and model serious and respectful interfaith dialogue.
“Learning, faith and service”
We are schools, not churches, and our primary mission is education. As church-related institutions we are concerned to educate whole people for the whole world. We strive to graduate students who are not only academically well-prepared but also spiritually and socially mature participants in the religious and civic communities of which they are members.
“Connection”
We value our relationships with the Presbyterian Church and with other schools who share a similar relationship. We are not, and do not wish to be, identical institutions. Yet we appreciate our common connections and commitments. We benefit from our mutual relationship; we are all grateful for the historic and ongoing support of the
Presbyterian Church through councils, congregations, and individual church members; and we are committed to maintaining that relationship.
“world”
Our connection to the world is both social and environmental. We seek to serve the whole world through our service to each student. We understand ourselves to be part of a global community of teaching, learning and inquiry. We also work to exhibit, embody and encourage environmental responsibility on our campuses and beyond. As was stated above, we strive to educate whole people for the whole world.
“honoring”
Our efforts to live out our commitment to learning, faith, service and connection take place in the context of our ongoing commitment to honor the dignity and worth of all people.
The PMA Board’s rationale acknowledges that the structural ties that once marked church-and-college relationships have faded in recent decades. Nevertheless, it points out that higher education “is the oldest form of Presbyterian Church mission in the United States dating to the early 1700s” and that Presbyterians had been instrumental in starting roughly one-fourth of all U.S. colleges at the time of the Civil War.
Referring to the 2005 blue ribbon commission at Presbyterian College in South Carolina, it declares that “healthy church-relatedness cannot be confined to a check-list. It involves the entire ethos of the school: its spirit, its commitments, its vision and values, and its sustaining relationships.”
The definition proposed by the PMA, accompanied by the rationale, next goes to the commissioners to the General Assembly for their consideration and approval, along with the names of the 63 schools that have been and desire to continue to be PC(USA)-related.
JOHN WILLIAMS is chaplain and Director of Church Relations at Austin College, a PC(USA)- related school in Sherman, Texas.
