Half a million students attend institutions associated with either the Council for Christian Colleges (CCCU) or the International Association of Christian Education (IACE). Twenty percent of those half a million students are enrolled in Liberty University (LU).
In addition, there are over 220 thousand students enrolled in other Protestant universities that are not associated with the CCCU, IACE, or Mainline Protestant denominations. Over half of those students attend Grand Canyon University (GCU).
In light of the outsized influence of these two universities, particularly the online portion that makes up over four-fifths of the enrollment at each university, I thought it important to investigate the degree to which students encounter Christ-animated learning at these institutions. We will see that one is definitely more serious about operationalizing its Christian identity than the other.
Mission Statements
From their mission statements, one would think that GCU and LU were not that different. GCU proclaims:
GCU is a missional, Christ-centered university with an innovative and adaptive spirit that addresses the world’s deep needs by cultivating compassionate Christian community, empowering free and virtuous action and serving others in ways that promote human flourishing.
Through academic excellence, the university equips students with knowledge of the Christian worldview, instilling in them a sense of purpose and vocational calling that enables them to be innovative thinkers, effective communicators, global contributors and transformative leaders who change their communities by placing the interests of others before their own [bold in the original].
Similarly, LU sets forth:
Maintaining the vision of the founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Liberty University develops Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact the world.
Through its residential and online programs, services, facilities, and collaborations, the University educates men and women who will make important contributions to their workplaces and communities, follow their chosen vocations as callings to glorify God, and fulfill the Great Commission.
Liberty University will:
- Emphasize excellence in teaching and learning.
- Foster university-level competencies in communication, critical thinking, information literacy, and mathematics in all undergraduate programs.
- Ensure competency in scholarship, research, and professional communication in all graduate programs and undergraduate programs where appropriate.
- Promote the synthesis of academic knowledge and a Christian worldview in order that there might be a maturing of spiritual, intellectual, social and physical value-driven behavior.
Both institutions claim to be “Christ-centered,” and both talk about promoting a “Christian worldview.” Grand Canyon emphasizes “a compassionate Christian community,” and Liberty adds an emphasis upon glorifying God and fulfilling the Great Commission. To find any important differences, one will need to dig deeper.
The Online Challenge
Over four-fifths of students at both institutions are online students. The problem with online Christian education is well-known. The most important moral and spiritual formation of students occurs outside the classroom (see, for example, this case study I recently co-authored with Ted Cockle). Faculty like to think they have the most moral and spiritual influence on students, but that is simply not true. Peers and staff often have the most influence.
For both institutions, the co-curricular formation does not extend to their online students. Chapel at GCU is voluntary even for residential students. The GCU catalog lists a class for chapel (UNV-115) for 0.5 credits, but it is not listed as a requirement for any program. LU requires convocation attendance twice a week for on-campus undergraduate and graduate students, but both commuter and online students do not have any comparable requirement. At both institutions, all students can watch the chapel/convocation online.
I also did not find evidence that online students at either campus were offered spiritual life resources, such as their own Bible study/life groups or chaplains (some things offered at other universities with online programs).
Thus, both institutions do not rely upon powerful shaping experiences such as corporate chapels, residential life, or student groups when it comes to their online students. So, it matters even more whether largely online degree-granting institutions operationalize their Christian identity through the curriculum
GCU vs LU Curricular Requirements
According to Grand Canyon’s course catalog, the university only requires one explicitly Christian course, CWV-101 Christian Worldview (“A worldview acts like glasses through which one views the world. In this course, students explore the big questions that make up a worldview, questions like ‘Why are we here?’ and ‘What is my purpose?’ Students examine how Christians answer these questions and work on exploring their own worldviews, as well as learning how worldview influences one’s perceptions, decision-making, and everyday life.”). Interestingly, although Grand Canyon is a Protestant university, students are not required to take a course on the Bible.
Furthermore, unless a graduate program specifically addresses Christianity in some way, most graduate programs do not have a required Christian course. Now, one will find various claims in the graduate catalog that Christianity is integrated into a graduate program, but the structure of the curriculum does not indicate such integration. A couple of the claims can be found below:
- Master of Business Administration with an Emphasis in Sports Business—“The degree program is immersed with Christian-based business values and entrepreneurism, which are foundations of the GCU experience” (p. 74)
- “The Doctor of Education in Teaching and Learning program develops educators capable of generating new knowledge and responsibly applying knowledge to achieve educational outcomes as well as mentoring, coaching, and collaborating from the perspective of the Christian worldview” (p. 94)
In contrast to GCU, Liberty University’s Christian theological requirements are more extensive. I looked up the online degree in Accounting & Data Analysis, since it is a basic professional degree. Online students are required to take four credit hours of RLGN 104: Christian Life and Biblical Worldview, as well as these two four credit courses: Survey of Old and New Testament (BIBL 104) and Introduction to Theology Survey (Theo 104). Clearly, if you wanted to direct someone to one of these institutions for an online degree with more Christian curricular requirements, Liberty University would be the better option.
Interestingly, I did not find theological language in any general education requirements from either school for classes that did not involve a wide array of choices (e.g., the ENGL 101 Composition and Rhetoric requirement at Liberty). Despite all the talk about the integration of faith and learning, it is hard to find theological language in these university catalogs outside of religion classes. I did find this website claim at Liberty University, “All of our general education (Gen Ed) courses are taught from a biblical worldview by faculty who are passionate about mentoring you during your academic journey.” It would be interesting to learn how that claim is operationalized in practice. I certainly did not find evidence of it in course descriptions.
In sum, LU clearly gives more attention to operationalizing the Christian mission through the curriculum. When it comes to online students, that is the primary way that the Christian mission is operationalized. In fact, if this comparison demonstrates anything, it is that the integration of Christianity into the curriculum matters more than ever for online programs and degrees.
