What's in a middle name?
Bill Hobbs raises the issue of ACU's continued association with the Churches of Christ during what has been a period of some upheval in the fairly decentralized CofC movement.
There are some much more educated people out there than I on this subject (and some that have actually been to Lectureship in the past 15 years), but I will hazard a guess that ACU remains fairly close to the mainstream. Were ACU dominated by one Abilene Church or another you could make the argument that ACU had become sufficiently factionalized to put off some people, but having recently attended two chapel services I'm thinking not. If Chapel is considered a practical expression of ACU's position on the divisive topics of the day, then what I observed is this:
Projected song lyrics: YES
Projected song notation: NO
Acapella singing: YES
Instruments: NO
Praise Team format for parts: YES for Friday and NO for Alumni
Praise team standing and facing audiance on Friday.
Directive Female Participation in Chapel: NO
'Praise music' vs. 'Old standbys': Pretty much all praise music Friday, mix for Alumni
Dramatic production: Not observed.
Basically, ACU Chapel varies from moderately progressive for students to minimally progressive as programmed for Alumni consumption, IMO, and within the mainstream on both counts, feel free to disagree so long as you post a comment.
In the literature that comes out of ACU, it's obvious that the institution is aware of the controversies (and occasionally contributes to them) but most commonly ACU's expressed position is to stay out of those fights and stick to the things we can all agree on. ACU has an unenviable position, IMO, but I don't see ACU as a bastion of C of C Conservatism. If there's any erosion of support on religious grounds, it would seem to me to be more likely due to a general postmodernist distrust of institutions than any specific act of omission or commission by ACU.
Discuss...
There are some much more educated people out there than I on this subject (and some that have actually been to Lectureship in the past 15 years), but I will hazard a guess that ACU remains fairly close to the mainstream. Were ACU dominated by one Abilene Church or another you could make the argument that ACU had become sufficiently factionalized to put off some people, but having recently attended two chapel services I'm thinking not. If Chapel is considered a practical expression of ACU's position on the divisive topics of the day, then what I observed is this:
Projected song lyrics: YES
Projected song notation: NO
Acapella singing: YES
Instruments: NO
Praise Team format for parts: YES for Friday and NO for Alumni
Praise team standing and facing audiance on Friday.
Directive Female Participation in Chapel: NO
'Praise music' vs. 'Old standbys': Pretty much all praise music Friday, mix for Alumni
Dramatic production: Not observed.
Basically, ACU Chapel varies from moderately progressive for students to minimally progressive as programmed for Alumni consumption, IMO, and within the mainstream on both counts, feel free to disagree so long as you post a comment.
In the literature that comes out of ACU, it's obvious that the institution is aware of the controversies (and occasionally contributes to them) but most commonly ACU's expressed position is to stay out of those fights and stick to the things we can all agree on. ACU has an unenviable position, IMO, but I don't see ACU as a bastion of C of C Conservatism. If there's any erosion of support on religious grounds, it would seem to me to be more likely due to a general postmodernist distrust of institutions than any specific act of omission or commission by ACU.
Discuss...
posted by Darren Duvall at 4:27 PM
12 Comments:
ACU needs to embrace churches that are conservative in doctrine but - horrors! - have a band. Simple as that.
There is a growing trend of nondenominational churches that are not a capella, and are not tied to any heritage that already has its own colleges and universities. Churches like Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Dallas, Nashville and elsewhere. Churches like the Great Commission Association of Churches. And many many others. The community church/Bible church movement.
ACU ought to be tapping into that, but as long as it stays a capella-only in its orientation, it will have a hard time doing so.
But that has not much to do with why the 1980s alums aren't involved. Sorry I lead the discussion off track, though I do think the lessening of denominational ties to the C of C is contributing to the problem.
The preceding comments do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of Abilene Christian University (I paid an attorney $100 to come up with that for me)...
1)ACU is not "the church." I do not think it's her responsibility to mandate, dictate, or otherwise guide the Churches of Christ in their mission to "find themselves." ACU is just that -- a Christian University in Abilene, and we make no apologies for that. We are dedicated to educating students for CHRISTIAN service and leadership throughout the world. Where those students worship and attend church is up to them.
2)The ACU student population is not 100% Church of Christ. It's not even 90%. We are far more diverse than any "Church of Christ" affiliated University...and we take a significant amount of heat for that. I'm curious what else needs to happen before ACU is seen as "embracing" other churches.
I'm curious what else needs to happen before ACU is seen as "embracing" other churches.
Heh, a percussion section, apparently.
I keed, I keed.
Glad to hear that the percentage of ACU students that are C of C is dropping -- that's actually a sign that we're getting the word out about a great school to more than just the Old Guard. The fact that ACU's student population is growing year-over-year is a credit to the learning that occurs there, and the admissions folks that have a good product to "sell" in a liberal arts marketplace.
If only the alumni were so easy to convince...
Hey there friend!
Very interesting conversation you have going here. Love to comment but I have to run! Just wanted to say Hi!
What is with that "affiliated" language. Don't the folks here know that ACU, with the help of Omar Burleson and George Bush, during the Nixon years, flexed its muscle with the IRS and got a secret little deal whereby the feds would recognize ACU as an "integral agency of the churches of Christ"; just so the math minister and basketball minister and similar sorts could claim the same tax benefits minister ministers receive. - Robert Baty
At the risk of violating Formosa's Law
Not having an ACU employment contract in my hands, I don't know if there is a declared parsonage allowance that can be claimed as an exemption under Revenue Rule 70-549.
Second, I don't know from personal experience whether or not ACU employees participate in FICA. Additional IRS rulings in the 1980s apparently allowed some pastoral employees to opt-out of the SSI system, I don't know that ACU employees do this.
Third, this ruling would seem to apply to any of the several universities and colleges associated with the Church of Christ and is cited by many other clergy/tax law sites that are applicable to other denominations, which you yourself could deduce from the same 20 minutes of Googling it took me to find out about 70-549.
Fourth, if it was an unfair ruling there has been 35 years of increasing intent to separate church from state in a broad sense, and the IRS has not seen fit to reverse itself, even though GHWB has been out of office for 13 years, and Mr. Burleson for 26.
And finally, how is an IRS ruling you yourself admit is obscure, from 35 years ago, germane to this discussion of ACU's position relative to the current tension between the Church of Christ and the community church movement possibly interacting to pull alumni away from closer ties to the school?
Get thee thine own grindstone, Mr. Baty. If I can sign onto Blogger for free, I assume that you can do so as well.
Darren, I think the opeartive phrase you repeated in your note is "I don't know". Since references in the blog here were made to some sort of relationship between ACU and the churches of Christ, I thought it most appropriate to note the somewhat secretive deal ACU got up with the feds, after years and years of effort, which set forth a certain relationship as far as the feds were concerned. What is not so clear in what you may have "Googled", is where and how 70-549 really came about. ACU employees got caught. Rather than play out the matter in the open, Bush and Burleson pressed the IRS for that deal. Do ACU employees and others use it; most certainly. Where I have my own grindstone, there are copies of certain documents relative to how 70-549 came about, even after everyone had admitted it was contrary to the facts and the law. It just didn't happen to be contrary to the political powers existing at that time. - Robert Baty
thought-provoking, mootable pv. just my thoughts, well anyways gl & be chipper is what i say
Hey, there is a lot of variety in the way people worship God. This is wonderful. You always want to balance what is mainstream against what your heart is telling you about what God really wants. Remember what Paul is saying in Romans: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Maybe the cult of culture is where you want to be, or maybe, you'd like to re-think the wisdom of your direction. It's really all in how He speaks to you.
I would caution ACU from being too embracing of some of the so-called non-denoms. My friends and I have had some bad experiences with GCAC (probably active on your campus as GCM) and we have had quite the struggle to get anyone to recognize our concerns in a contructive manner. We get a lot of talk about how people in close relationships get hurt--that's just the way it is.
We are not satisfied with this response whether it comes from our discipleship team leaders, the folks who are discipling them, the campus church leaders, or the pastors of the associated churches. Since we have not found satisfaction with them, we are bringing our concerns to you, the public.
http://www.gcmwarning.org/
The public, especially your kids away at college, ought to know what to expect when they join a church.
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