6 minute read
From the President
Carrying out our Mary, Martha purpose
Paul Gerhardt was a pastor in Germany, but also a prolific hymnist. It is said that the majority of Gerhardt’s hymns were written as the result of his own personal trials and grief. History notes that Gerhardt experienced much suffering in his life as he and his parishioners lived in the era of the Thirty Years’ War. Within his own family, four of his five children died young, and his wife died after a prolonged illness. Gerhardt’s hymns appear in many hymnals today including one entitled “Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?” The third verse begins with the words, “God oft gives me days of gladness, shall I grieve if He give seasons of sadness?”
During the past two years, there have been challenging times all around. We also know there will continue to be difficulties in the future. However, even amid the ongoing pandemic, right now Bethany is blessed by our almighty God with a season of gladness.
During the current pandemic, when most higher education institutions are struggling with declining enrollment and challenging financial pictures, at Bethany by God’s grace and blessings, we are thriving while carrying out our two-fold Mary/Martha Bethany mission. In this article, I’d like to share some of the ways God is blessing our Christian higher education mission at this time.
Bethany strives to be like Mary intently focusing on and supplying our students with the Good News message of the Gospel—The One Thing Needful. This is accomplished in required religious studies classes, during daily chapel worship and small group Bible studies, and evidenced through annual baptisms of Bethany students, and when our students and alumni become connected with churches in their local communities.
And while dedication to the Gospel is Bethany’s most important focus, we also strive to carry out our Martha purpose by equipping students and alumni for productive and fulfilling lives and vocations. Bethany continues to expand upon this aspect of our mission in various and deliberate ways.
For the second time in three years, Bethany is ranked the number one college in Minnesota for its graduates’ social mobility (U.S. News National Liberal Arts Category). This means in comparison to what would be expected of Bethany graduates based upon their academic profile and demographic background, our students outperform what would be predicted. Yes, Bethany is number one in Minnesota and number forty in the nation among a prestigious group of National Liberal Arts Colleges in a ranking category that measures a College’s ability to equip alumni to have successful and fulfilling careers while climbing the socioeconomic success ladder.
Another way Bethany is fulfilling its Martha purpose is through a deliberate expansion of our academic program options for students. An institutional first, Bethany recently launched a master’s degree program in clinical mental health counseling. Taught from a Christian perspective, the program has sixteen degree-seeking graduate students in this online program. In addition, in Fall 2021 we launched two new majors in fine arts administration (combining strengths in both our fine arts and business courses), and another program in Spanish. Bethany now offers 29 majors from which students can choose.
In addition to these new program offerings, in an effort to add value and better support for the vocational employment needs of Bethany alumni, the College launched a full-time Career Services Office with the goal to help our students gain valuable internships in the Mankato area and throughout the country.
What do all of these tangible blessings mean? Combined with many other factors, a result of these initiatives is record student enrollment. Again, at a time when most colleges and universities are faced with declining enrollment, for the second year in a row Bethany stands at record enrollment of 660 fulltime undergraduate students, and 800 total full and part-time students taking courses through Bethany. These blessings provide us the opportunity to engage students with Jesus, and to help equip them for productive and fulfilling lives.
The Bethany student body looks different today. Most of Bethany’s growth in recent years has come from two sources: international enrollment and American urban and minority students. Today, thirty-seven percent of Bethany’s student body comes from an international or minority background, which is very similar to the demographic make-up of our communities. Among the 800 students learning at Bethany are 128 international students representing six of the seven continents of the world, and twenty-nine countries (largest: Congo, Ethiopia, Albania, Spain). Also, at Bethany, are students from urban, minority backgrounds who found Bethany through a local program called Urban Ventures, and with a national Christian organization called Act 6 (based on the Bible account in Acts 6 in which the question was asked “who’s going to take care of the Grecian widows,”— so the question asked in this program is “who’s going to give a chance to academically-qualified, first generation to college, minority students in urban centers to earn a college degree and return to be leaders in their communities?" Today, at Bethany, we are privileged to carry out the Great Commission given us by our Lord to go and tell all nations. What an amazing blessing this is!
On top of these blessings, the College was fortunate to experience a balanced operational budget this past year. A big reason we were able to make our budget is because of you! Thank you, each of you, for your financial support, and most importantly for your prayers of support. Your gifts mean so much to our faculty, staff, and students! We couldn’t serve them without your partnership together with us in the Bethany mission!
And now, on behalf of Bethany Lutheran College, I again ask for your prayers and thoughtfulness. We humbly ask for your support this year for our annual Bethany Fund Campaign that’s of primary importance in carrying out our annual mission; and an historic campaign to close the funding gap for our Building Bethany Campaign which now is seeing construction designed to increase activity space for all students. Bethany hasn’t increased activity space for students in over twenty-eight years, and this new facility is sure to be a blessing for the entire Bethany student body as well as the Greater Mankato community and youth programs which helps keep Bethany forefront in the minds of prospective families and students.
We do need your ongoing support to continue to carry out Bethany’s two-fold purpose. Please keep Bethany’s mission and her students, faculty, and staff in your prayers; and prayerfully consider generously supporting the Bethany Fund and the Building Bethany Campaign.
Yes, God is certainly blessing Bethany with a season of gladness. May Bethany continue to carry out its Mary/Martha mission so that more may know the message of The One Thing Needful.
Jesus with Mary and Martha at Bethany as depicted in the Trinity Chapel altar triptych, by former Bethany art professor William Bukowski.
