How do churches compare to universities?

A Consideration of Advanced Christian Education within a Church (June 1, 2023)



Universities are places with lots of smart people.  Accordingly, these institutions have conducted substantial study into the best means of educating people.  Churches are also responsible for educating people, primarily on the love, grace and commandments of God.  So, it makes you wonder how teaching techniques used by universities compare to Christian lay-person education in the church.  Let’s look at just a few.


Universities emphasize the importance of examining all sides to any subject matter in an unbiased manner.  Churches tend to avoid addressing matters that are contrary or contradictory to the core beliefs of its denomination, perhaps fearing that church members will not be able to see the dominance of the core beliefs.


Universities emphasize the importance of studying a wide variety of writings on a subject matter to get and contrast multiple views.  Churches rarely stray from the Bible and Bible study materials, even though there are contemporaneous non-canonical and extra-canonical Christian writings that equal the New Testament in volume.  Many of these writings would enrich the core beliefs of modern churches; while many inject apparent inconsistencies.  However, churches don’t usually encourage or empower their members to read scriptures that contain material that is at odds to its core beliefs.


Universities provide for a progression of advancement in its students that see them learn harder and harder subject material as they move from grade level to grade level, terminating in a highly educated graduate.  Churches, through both sermons and Bible study, seem stuck in a cycle of rudimentary Christian education that rarely progresses to difficult subjects that challenge Christian core beliefs.  Further, many stay at the same grade level.  There is rarely any progression in churches for Christians who want more comprehensive and difficult subject matter, aside from a program towards pastorship or priesthood.  


Universities employ multiple teaching techniques to help fully engage and enrich their students.  These include classroom teaching, challenging readings, encouragement of rigorous challenge by students of their professors, research projects, group deliberation, visits to relevant external establishments, high-level guest speakers, and even employing high-achievement students to help teach others.  Churches do use some of these, but do they use enough of them?


Universities know that they cannot assess their students’ level of achievement without some form of testing; whether through classroom challenge, graded written papers, and/or formal examination.  Churches have very little idea of the true level of their membership’s achievement in Christian education, whether in terms of understanding or belief.


As a way of illustrating my point, contrast divinity colleges with church-based teachings.  The current structure seems to develop pastors with very advanced Christian education that go on to teach, figuratively, only at the elementary level when they get to minister at a church.  And we all get held back each year for a do-over.


You might wonder whether there is any need for higher Christian education being brought to the Christian masses.  If we are learning all that we need in order to lay claim to Jesus’ saving grace, and to follow God’s commandments, why complicate things?  The answer to this is clear from an assessment of some of the core beliefs held by those who claim to embrace religion, the high majority of which are Christian.  Check out the following.



Remember, these are the views of the 30% of the Canadian population who say they embrace religion.  I wonder what else we would find out if other questions on core beliefs were surveyed.  Well, a separate poll in 20158 produced data on some specific beliefs of people who claim to attend a religious service monthly or more often. Here is what was found.



Just to add on to this readily clear message, a poll by ARI Religion Survey in 2015 reported that of all the people who claim to be ‘religious but not spiritual,’ 46% believe in psychic powers, 43% believe in contact with the spirit world, and 37% believe in precognition.  (As you might guess, those who claim to be both religious and spiritual had higher score for all three.)9


Granted, a small portion of these figures may be due to the teachings of non-Christian faiths.  However, my point here is not a matter of the above listed beliefs being right or wrong.  Rather, it is about churches not knowing what their adherents believe, and whether these beliefs line up with church teachings and the scriptures.  

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1. Bibby, Reginald W, Resilient Gods: being pro-religious, low religious or no religious in Canada,

     UBC Press, 2017, page 74


2. Bibby, page 111

3. Bibby, page 68

4. Bibby, page 67

5. Bibby, page 138

6. Bibby, page 122

7. Bibby, page 153

8. Bibby, page 174

9. Bibby, page 155