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By Dr. Justin Harbin
Assistant Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning
xpansion of online programming at all levels
through LBC | Capital's global initiative invites
a variety of logistical and strategic questions
among our community. Beyond the obvious
intended outcome to grow enrollments and thus
touch the lives of a greater number of students,
we might ask a more fundamental question: What
business does a Bible college have engaging in the
online space? Alternatively, one might probe more
deeply and ask whether a faithfully Christian model
of education can take place through the online
modality? How we choose to respond to these
questions matters if we are to maintain our mission
amidst a tumultuous time in higher education.
Although it remains beyond the scope of this article
to discuss at length where the philosophy and
practice of faithfully Christian education intersect, I
would like to address why LBC | Capital can expand
with confidence as a global institution of higher
learning.
Leading up to the 1880 founding of the Free
University of Amsterdam, theologian-statesman
Abraham Kuyper faced objections of whether a
Christian education should offer areas of study
outside of those traditionally relegated to vocational
ministry. His response? " Oh, no single piece of our
mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from
the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole
domain of our human existence over which Christ,
who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!' " Of
course, Kuyper's famous quote does not permit us
to simply baptize any effort we desire with Christian
language and think we have done due diligence.
Rather, he rightly affirms Christ's ownership of
every square inch and our duty as His followers to
faithfully live oriented toward that reality, rejecting
the culture's narrative of a sacred-secular divide.
Such work requires LBC | Capital to consider carefully
the ways in which we pursue a globally delivered
education. Any effort to expand program offerings
or the modality where they take place requires
a response to not only how we will educate in a
manner faithful to the Christian story but also how
we will preserve the mission of Lancaster Bible
College that has shaped student lives over the years
since 1933.
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