LBC Echo Fall 2022 - 51

By Dr. Peter W. Teague, President Emeritus
risms refract light; one beam emerges as an array of hues angled into infinity.
Consider how a singular focus on proclaiming Christ becomes a spectrum of
vocations serving Him in the Church and society, personified in the pages of
this ECHO.
Historically, Bible colleges have existed as training entities to develop biblically,
theologically and practically equipped servants for professional Christian ministries.
However, the training and development of those students was never intended to be
an end in itself. The programs of the Bible college were means to a greater end: the
equipping of local church members to have a Great Commission impact wherever
they worked and lived.
Until relatively recent history, many ministry organizations looked to Bible colleges
to fill pastoral and missionary roles. The standard of Bible colleges offering terminal
education solely for vocational ministry has quickly faded and is no longer the
norm.
Consistent with this general Bible college development, Lancaster Bible College
was founded on the premise of training students for service in missions, the
Church and Christian education. Our focus for our first 75 years of existence
was preparing students to " serve through professional Christian ministries. "
But something has shifted. The Bible college, once designed for (and by)
the church culture a century ago in North America, finds itself without clear
identity in a missional culture where the concept of ministry is not always
defined by the constraints of occupation. Instead, ministry is more organic,
integrated, cross-cultural and relational. The traditional established evangelical
church infrastructure is being displaced. Whether this shift in culture is positive
or negative, it is reality. Our critics warn that being culturally sensitive could
move us away from our purpose and instead urge us to pour all our energies
into re-establishing the church culture. Yet it does not appear at present that
we may ever get back to the church culture as we once experienced it. How
do we develop culturally-discerning missional graduates? Where does that
leave LBC?
We observe in the reality of our post-modern world that the dichotomy
between " Christian " and " secular " occupations is not as clear as it once was
in the modern world. Many young men and women seek to serve God with
their lives and thus desire broader academic programming than what the
Bible college has traditionally offered.
But does this begin to fundamentally change LBC from a Bible college to a
Christian liberal arts college? If the " bullseye " for Christian liberal arts education
is the creation mandate-be fruitful and multiply-then every vocation can be
viewed as a Christian vocation; part of God's vision for his people to go into every
walk of life and bring it under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Juxtaposed to this is the
raison d'être for Bible colleges-the Great Commission, to go into all the world and
preach the gospel. Some would say the creation mandate and the Great Commission
are two concentric circles. At LBC, our mission is clear: educating Christian students to
think and live a biblical worldview and to proclaim Christ by serving Him in the Church
and society.
The emerging need for LBC is to now, more than ever, crystallize the heart of our
mission-the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the concept of ministry-oriented
life-all the while navigating the complexities of a post-modern context.
We remain ever grateful for your support for Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary &
Graduate School as we live out our mission, expand our global footprint and embark on
a critical capital campaign in the near future.
ECHO 51
LBC Echo Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LBC Echo Fall 2022
