Part 2: The Challenges

Our prayer is that each of you will be walking in the strength and grace of Christ, that you will be encouraged daily in Him.  He is our Light and our Salvation!

We now come to Part 2 of 4 in our fall Mission Moment series.  In Part 1, we had a glimpse into current mission fulfillment.  And that continues!  For example, just this week I sat with one of our students who is a leader in CRU, and he told me how the ministry has led 15 students to faith in Christ on the Montana State University campus so far this school year!  He is discipling other young men by taking them with him to teach them to share Jesus with people!

Introduction:

There’s a lot of that going around these days with the challenges and pressures we are all facing.  Therefore, let us read this with realism and a sober mind – yes – but without losing our perspective.  I’ll be sure to bring our eyes back to our BIG and ABLE God at the end.

Now, let’s introduce Part 2, The Challenges, with an illustration.  Some of you have been whitewater rafting or kayaking; the rest have at least seen video footage.

You’re sweeping around a river bend, the thunder of looming rapids filling your ears.  Then you see them – rushing, churning, smashing, swirling – a boulder-strewn gauntlet of potential death.  Fear leaps like a wild white wave in your heart.  There’s no turning back.  There’s no . . . time . . . to paddle for shore . . . time . . . to change your mind . . . here comes the first drop!  The raging waves engulf you.  You dig your paddle left . . . right . . . right again . . . fend rock left . . . sucked right . . .under water . . . dig paddle . . . gasp . . . and that’s just the first three seconds!  In whitewater rafting, you confront powerful forces constantly changing, and the current sweeps you ahead unrelentingly.

I imagine we all identify with the illustration to some degree, trying to cope with powerful and constantly changing forces in life.  We are living through the most rapid change our world has ever seen.  It affects us all, yet our situations are unique.  So let me present the challenges facing Biblical higher education and MBC specifically.  Of course, to write this in a logical way I have to isolate various features, but we can understand that, like a big run of rapids, all the features are intertwined in a complex mix.  No single part stands alone.

I’ll focus on FIVE significant challenges.

The first two challenges I’ll address have to do with Culture which is changing SO fast on SO many fronts.  (I’m not telling you anything new.)   The second two challenges are related to Enrollment, and the final challenge is Economic.

Challenge #1:  Communication Technology and Information Exchange

Here is a fun infographic that demonstrates the explosion in communication technology and information exchange, and it already feels like ancient history because it only goes through 2020!

When Montana Bible College was founded in 1987, communicating with prospective students was relatively simple:  we had a phone number, an address, and a printed catalog – that’s it!  Now the experts tell us we have less than one second to capture attention with our web site or a social media post.  There are complex algorithms which constantly change to determine if anyone will find us in a search.  It’s a “pay to play” game for ads on Google, Facebook, etc.  Prospective students start their college searches on YouTube and other social media.  There are virtual reality campus tours.  There’s an expectation of nearly instantaneous response via social media or chat features.

Education delivery has gone from chalkboards and in-classroom only learning to distance courses to online courses to fully synchronous online courses.  Now there are “Metaversities” – colleges offering programs entirely in virtual reality in the Metaverse.

At MBC, we’ve gone from no media or technology staff to a full-time media person and outsourcing our technology help because it’s so complex.  And we’re not keeping up!  We need more help, and that help is expensive!

But it’s more complex still; more than keeping up with the platforms.  How are students these days accessing information?  Is social media a source of trustworthy news and perspective?  How do they filter the myriad voices on YouTube?  How do we help them recognize and break addictions to social media?  Teaching students to do research is much more complex than it used to be.  Teaching Logic is ever more critical so students have the thinking skills to evaluate the ideas and arguments coming at them.  Teaching students to understand worldview, how it is shaped, where it comes from, and how a Biblical worldview stands in contrast to other worldviews is crucial.  Our curriculum must adjust accordingly.

Today’s students are very different than the students of 5, 10, 20, and 30 years ago.  Their readiness for college level academic work has dropped drastically.  Reading comprehension and speed is down.  Basic writing skills (spelling, punctuation, grammar) are often severely lacking, to say nothing of research and formal writing ability.  Mental health, likewise, has declined (and no wonder, given the world students have lived in).  Suicides have been on the rise.  And study after study links the increase of social media consumption to increase of loneliness and depression.  Students coming to Bible college are not immune, putting an ever-increasing burden on our academic success services and student life staff.

Challenge #2:  The rapid secularization of society and the resulting persecution and regulatory challenges. 

I don’t need to spend valuable words here telling you about the sexual revolution and radical LGBTQ agenda or Critical Race Theory and WOKE ideology which have so rapidly ascended to dominate in much of the public square – politics, education, and media.  How does this affect Biblical higher education and MBC?

First, persecution is increasing against any individual or institution that dares to stand for the truth.  Multiple Bible colleges personally known to us have come under vicious attack.  So far MBC has been spared such attack, but we know it could come at any time.  We’ve had to put additional measures in place and devote additional staff time to readiness, and there’s only so much we can do.

Second, the current administration is moving right now to redefine the word “sex” in the civil rights law known as Title IX to include “gender identity.”  Title IX was enacted with a goal to eliminate discrimination based on sex (male/female) and race.  Now, instead, the left wants to redefine “sex”, pushing the gender indoctrination of children into schools, destroying women’s sports by allowing biological males to compete, forcing as much of society as possible to participate in the delusion by using “preferred pronouns”, and the list of drastic implications goes on.  The administration’s message to faith-based organizations is to say in essence, “But nothing to fear: we’re preserving the religious exemption!”  That’s a lot like a Monopoly player who already owns 2/3 of the board and has just acquired Board Walk and Park Place saying, “Don’t worry, you still have the railroads!”  Sure, they’ll let the religious exemption stand for the moment, until they have the strength and opportunity to snatch it away.  And in the meantime, they’ll whittle away to isolate and weaken everyone who stands for truth.  In Monopoly language, you’ll lose more money every time you go around the board.  And, if possible, they’ll simply sweep the religious exemption aside by taking away 501 c3 tax exempt status for any organization that will not bend the knee.  They’ll leave the stool seat and cut the legs right out from under it.  Am I overstating the case?  No.  There have already been multiple attempts to take away tax exempt status.  I’ll share a link here to a short video from the Alliance Defending Freedom explaining what’s going on with Title IX.

What does all of this mean for the future of Biblical Higher Education?  It’s safe to say that unless there is a widespread revival, we can expect increasing challenge and persecution.  It’s hard to predict how rapidly things will continue to develop, but it’s not unrealistic to envision a future where the true Church will be forced “underground” in this nation as it has been in others.  We’re not there yet, but wise forward thinking demands that we set ourselves up as wisely as possible to meet the increasing regulatory challenges.  Do we plan on extinction?  Far from it!  We have a mission to accomplish!  But we must be prepared for adaptation.

Challenge #3:  Enrollment

College enrollments have taken huge hits since COVID.  I could back this up with plenty of statistics and breakdowns showing the enrollment trends in regions of the nation, demographics, undergraduate versus graduate, and residential versus online.  And in spite of predictions that enrollments would bounce back in the fall of 2021, or again in 2022, college and universities have continued to see decline.  Hardest hit are the traditional undergraduate and residential colleges – MBC’s niche.

Having just returned from the Presidents’ Conference for our accrediting body, the Association of Biblical Higher Education, which accredits over 150 Bible colleges and seminaries, I can tell you that Biblical Higher Education has taken an enrollment hit on par with the colleges and universities across the nation.  MBC has been no exception.

Because colleges are facing such declines, the competition for students is more fierce than ever.  On average, other Bible colleges have been spending about $3000 to recruit each student while MBC’s budget has allowed a meager $500 per student.  We absolutely trust God for each student.  And we also know that God has placed us in the real world where it does cost money to get things done – to print things, to maintain a web site, to travel, and to hire necessary staff.

In addition, the so-called “enrollment cliff” is looming (2025) when, due to low birth rates starting 18 years previous, the number of college-age students will decline around 15%.  Here’s a quick overview article for those who are interested.

The biggest bright spot for college enrollments is in the adult learner sector – people who are going back for more education or re-tooling for a different focus.  The trend holds true for people interested in ministry.  So, how might MBC need to adapt to help train these people for work in God’s harvest?

Is there hope on the enrollment front for MBC?  Yes, with God’s help.  First, as the culture turns darker, Christians are choosing more and more to enroll their kids in schools that will teach from a Biblical worldview.  K-12 Christian school enrollments have been growing rapidly, and more of these families may be looking to higher education options from a Biblical worldview too.  Second, with all the noise about the exorbitant cost of college education, MBC is situated among the “affordable” options.   Third, we have made significant strides in building our faculty and academic programs as well as in adding creative partnerships to increase flexibility for students.  And, fourth, we are building more strength into our enrollment efforts.

Challenge #4 – Value Proposition and Government Funding

This area of challenge is also an enrollment challenge, though it is indirect rather than direct.  Here’s what’s happening.  First, if you listen to news outlets at all, I’ll assume you are aware that there’s a lot of talk about the inflated price of a college education, the problem of student debt, and the resulting degrading of the “value proposition” of a college education.

The government enters into this issue in a huge way – in both the causes and the so-called “solutions”.  I won’t take the time to detail the government’s role in causing these problems.  I’ll simply say that the Federal Title IV system allowed colleges to keep expanding their budgets because the government kept subsidizing student tuition AND allowing students to take on more debt than they could reasonably afford.  The proposed solutions?  Double the Pell Grant (pump more money into the system) and forgive student debt (shift the burden onto the taxpayers).

So, how do these forces affect Biblical Higher Education and MBC?

First, because of the negative perception of the value of college education, we need to carefully help prospective students and their families see the real value proposition of an MBC education.  The typical value proposition conversation centers around how much money a graduate will earn in the high paying job they are supposed to land after college.  But that’s NOT our value proposition!  Our value proposition centers on developing the whole person as a citizen of God’s kingdom – to be a person with the character and integrity and skills to succeed in whatever vocation/occupation God leads into – whether ministry-focused or secular – and be effective as ministers of the gospel there.  Our value proposition includes a top quality education students can afford, a relational environment where students experience true discipleship and community and learn to replicate those, and a dedication to the Great Commission and Great Commandment by which graduates will make an ETERNAL impact.  Here are links to three short and encouraging videos produced by the Association of Biblical Higher Education (MBC is a member) that help people grasp what BIBLICAL higher education is all about and the broader movement.

• ABHE’s Mission and Vision
• God’s Faithfulness to ABHE
• ABHE’s Future

Second, the increase in Pell Grants already given in 2022 (and much more promised), in essence means that MBC’s “competition” just got more affordable by comparison since we don’t participate in Title IV.  Just this week, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) summarized the key findings of the College Board’s annual Trends in College Pricing report.  “The average net tuition and fee price paid by first-time, full-time students enrolled at private, nonprofit four-year institutions has also declined to an estimated $14,630 in 2022-23.”  What does this mean for MBC?  I’ll address finances more in Part 3 to come, but I’ll give a preview now by saying that MBC needs to see a significant increase in operating and scholarship funds.

Challenge #5 – Economy and Funding

Here is the basic question:  How do we provide a high quality education to train and serve students with excellence AND take care of our staff and faculty in a way that pleases the Lord AND keep student costs truly affordable?  There are external and internal factors at play in this challenge area.  Let’s take them in turn.

External Factors:

I don’t have to tell you about inflation.  We are ALL feeling it.  At MBC, we anticipated inflation last year.  The best predictions were 7%.  We adjusted tuition and built in a staff raise.  However, Montana’s inflation was 9.6%.  We went backwards.  And we’re not in a business that can easily adjust on the fly – we publicize tuition months in advance.

The Bozeman economy, in particular, has presented additional challenges in the areas of housing and employment. Home purchase and rental prices have soared as you can see in the following graphics.