One thing I really appreciate about our Wesleyan colleges and universities is that each institution has its own unique value proposition while remaining under and aligning with the values of The Wesleyan Church. A student truly has choices among the Wesleyan institutions, while remaining assured of academic excellence and Christian values. Details on what I’m talking about can be found in the Summer 2015 edition of Wesleyan Life.
So with Houghton College, Indiana Wesleyan University, Kingswood University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, and Southern Wesleyan University all available, what more college dreams could I have? What if The Wesleyan Church, a denomination founded in the abolition of slavery, included an HBCU (Historically Black College & University)?
In 1888, Bishop James Solomon Russell, a man born into slavery, founded St Paul College to educate the emancipated. I would hate to see that end after over 100 years, and I think it is also a unique value proposition. What do you think Wesleyan Department of Education & Clergy Development and Wesleyan Department of Multi-Ethnic Ministries?
That would be amazing!
Fascinating thought!
MMMmmmmm. This causes me to pray!
Have you copied and pasted this entire post into an email to ask people this question with direct contact? Do you have connections there to make introductions?
In this case, I am just the idea guy. I heard about this college for sale as part of a podcast on HBCUs, and pretty much said the same thing you just said, “MMMmmmmm. This causes me to pray!” I wrote this post to put the thought out there, not to call out what we haven’t done, but as a possible vision of what we still could do, to see if anyone else thought this (even if not this particular college) was in line with our vision and something God would want us to reach for. I’ve done no leg work other than this blog post, but if this something that TWC decides to explore, count me as one of the workers to explore it.
I also am not entirely sure who the correct “direct contacts” would be for something like this. I did send the link to you, Santes, and Russ (the latter two since I called out their departments in the post). So far I’ve heard back from you and Santes.