Building faith

by Alex Bryan, president

Imagine you grab my arm and ask for a private conversation. Just the two of us.

“Can we go for a walk, Dr. Bryan?” And we make our way out of Village Hall, strolling across College Avenue, down the center of campus past the Melvin K. West Fine Arts Center, and along the sidewalk threading Chan Shun Pavilion, Kretschmar Hall, Bowers Hall, and finally we slow a bit as we cross Bade Street and climb the front steps of the University Church.

During our short walk you ask questions. “Why should I work for Walla Walla University? Why should I teach there? Why should I enroll as an engineering student? Why should I encourage my daughter to study math or aviation? Why should I advise my grandson to pursue a degree in marine biology en route to a career in medicine? Why should I pray for, cheer for, volunteer for this university, this institution of higher education? Why should I give a million dollars to Walla Walla University?”

(With that last question you have my attention!)

“Why Walla Walla University, Alex? Why does this place matter?”

Here’s what I tell you. Four things.

First, the world is now, as always, struggling to hold itself together. Social, political, ethical, environmental, economic, even religious, even the Christian church—we are always on the precipice. Since our eviction from Eden, we humans are slumming it, trying to survive somewhere between Babylon and Rome, Moscow and Washington, D.C. And now, at the beginning of the second quarter of the 21st century, we find ourselves in yet another dark valley. All is not well.

Second, the primary way God has always worked to heal, bless, restore, and renew the world is clear to us: Grow a generation of humans who love God, worship God, serve God, and who humbly act as light and salt on the earth. The prophets of old, the birth of Christianity, the beginning days of the Adventist movement—always, every time, an invitation to a new generation to do something remarkable in the manner of Jesus. You want revival of our land? You long for renewal of our public conversation? You want repair of our institutions, our neighborhoods, our communities? Invest in raising up a smart, useful, creative, credible, high-character crowd of young people.

Third, the best way to ignite and sustain such a God-centered moment and deal with our common malaise is apparent: Go all-in on higher education drenched in God. The problem we face is real: The vast majority of some 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States have excused God from the classroom, have evicted God from the campus. Higher education in America practices a philosophy of education largely agnostic, often atheistic, frequently antagonistic, habitually materialistic, and too-often absent moral foundation. We have collectively chosen to take our 18- to 25-year-olds, in the tender and critical years when frontal lobes are getting their final wiring—and have decided it would be an acceptable idea to teach them history and literature, science and technology, psychology and religion (yes, religion) absent God. We have taken the university, an invention of Jesus-followers some 1,000 years ago, and made it secular. Do modern universities add value? Of course. But research, job prep, and the construction of professional networks are not the transcendent purpose of the university. Creation of an integrated view of the world, rich in ultimate meaning, critical thought, moral impulse, and humble service, this is the superior and grander mission.

Fourth, and finally, then, this grander mission is, and has always been, the aspiration and practice of Walla Walla University. This is who we are—“a community of faith and discovery.” And this is who we are committed to be in growing measure in the days and years ahead. This is a season of Christocentric Crescendo on this campus. Do you want to change the world? Do you want the way of Jesus to bring new tenderness and truth, fresh kindness and character in this moment in time when God has entrusted us with the planet? If this is what you desire: Work here. Teach here. Learn here. Volunteer here.

And yes, invest a million dollars, or two, here.

There is no greater way to gift the world the abundant life of Jesus than joining the vocation of Walla Walla University. And this has always been God’s strategy: “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” (Psalm 78:4)