Christian Colleges Face Faculty Hiring Pressure Amid Church Decline

Faith Facts

• Churches of Christ membership is declining across the United States.
• Christian universities tied to the fellowship continue to see rising enrollment in professional programs such as nursing, pharmacy, law, and engineering.
• Most of these institutions maintain policies requiring faculty and board members to share a commitment to the Church of Christ faith tradition.

Declining membership in Churches of Christ is creating new hiring challenges for universities affiliated with the fellowship. As demand for professional programs continues to grow, administrators are finding it harder to recruit faculty who are members of the Churches of Christ.

Presidents from eleven institutions spoke with The Christian Chronicle about their hiring policies. Nine of the schools require all board members to belong to the fellowship, while Lipscomb University requires seventy-five percent and Pepperdine University requires a majority.

Faculty requirements vary by campus. Freed-Hardeman University continues its longstanding policy that board members, administrators, faculty, and staff must be members of the Churches of Christ, with only hourly hospitality and housekeeping workers exempted.

“We have loosened strings on faculty,” Oklahoma Christian President Ken Jones said. “They have to be willing to agree to our covenants — who we are as a university — and deeply Jesus-centered in their faith and committed to a local congregation.

“We can’t fill our faculty ranks otherwise,” Jones added. “You don’t have to believe exactly what the Church of Christ believes, but you have to agree to live in this environment with us.”

Smaller institutions face similar realities. Crowley’s Ridge College President Richard Johnson reported that more than ninety percent of employees are members of Churches of Christ, though the school sometimes must look beyond the fellowship.

“We try to hire all employees within Churches of Christ when we can,” Johnson said, “but that doesn’t mean we’re always successful.”

At Florida College, President John Weaver explained that employment depends on spiritual and religious principles rather than denominational membership alone. York University maintains a policy for a majority of faculty to be members of the Church of Christ while remaining open to aligned candidates from other backgrounds.

Lubbock Christian University President Scott McDowell emphasized the desire for faculty who are Jesus followers passionate about faith. Members of the College of Biblical Studies must belong to Churches of Christ.

Faulkner University requires faculty in traditional programs to be members of a Church of Christ for tenure, but this rule does not apply to its law school or College of Health Sciences. Abilene Christian University seeks full-time faculty and senior administrators who belong to a local Church of Christ congregation, though the board may grant exceptions when candidates demonstrate spiritual fit.

Pepperdine University President Jim Gash said the school aims for a critical mass of faculty from Churches of Christ to preserve institutional heritage and direction.

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