The Enduring Legacy of Christian Missionary Colleges

Christian missionary colleges have played a significant role in shaping education, spreading religious beliefs, and fostering social change across the globe. These institutions, often founded with the express purpose of training individuals for ministry and missions, have evolved over time, adapting to changing societal needs while maintaining their core values. This article explores the history and impact of several Christian missionary colleges, highlighting their unique origins, development, and contributions to both the religious and secular spheres.

The Historical Context

The rise of Christian missionary colleges is closely linked to the expansion of Christianity and the growth of educational opportunities in the United States and beyond. In the 1600s, some of the earliest laws of the American colonies required villages to train children to read so they would be able to read the Bible. These Protestants began constructing universities in America. It may surprise some people to learn that our oldest and most prestigious universities were founded by Protestant churches for the express purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Harvard University was founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its charter declared that its purpose was to “train a literate clergy,” because the colony’s leaders were “dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust.” Yale University was founded in 1701 by a coalition of ten pastors, out of a “zeal for upholding and propagating the Christian Protestant Religion.” The University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1740 by Reverend George Whitefield - one of the most consequential preachers of the Great Awakening. Princeton University, originally called the College of New Jersey, was founded in 1746 as a seminary to train up pastors. Columbia University was founded in 1754 as Kings College. Reverend Samuel Johnson, the first president of Columbia, sought to establish an “Episcopal College” in New York City, explaining that “The chief thing that is aimed at in this college is to teach and engage the students to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve Him in all sobriety, godliness, and righteousness of life.” Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, dedicated to educating Native American students.

Bob Jones University: A Pillar of Faith-Based Education

In 1927, evangelist Bob Jones established Bob Jones College with the aim of helping Christian students strengthen their faith and empowering them to impact the world for Christ. The College opened in Bay County, Florida, with 88 students in its first academic year and was distinguished by its academic excellence, expectations and opportunities to appreciate the fine arts. In 1933, Bob Jones College relocated to Tennessee, where daily chapel services encouraged students to deepen their relationship with God. The growing student body also enjoyed playing sports, attending Artist Series and meeting in their literary societies. As the College attracted large numbers of students and faculty to its new home, it added degrees for every level of study and several minors. BJC also began offering a work scholarship program to help students pay for school.

To accommodate substantial growth after World War II, BJC relocated to Greenville and became Bob Jones University, opening in 1947 with over 2,500 students. Under the leadership of Bob Jones Jr. (president 1947-71), the University increased its fine arts opportunities for students and the public. Shakespearean plays, large-scale operas with visiting guest artists and concerts enhanced the social and cultural scene on campus. Campus guests and students also had access to the vast selection of artwork displayed in the renowned Museum & Gallery which opened in 1951.

BJU’s renewed emphasis on outreach and missions under Bob Jones III (1971-2005) spread the Gospel around the world. New scholarships also enabled international students to attend BJU and receive a Bible-centered education developing their abilities to share the Gospel and plant churches in their communities. Quality education became readily accessible to schools and families in new ways through the founding of BJU Press in 1974. Under the leadership of Stephen Jones (2005-2014), the University increased its focus on mentoring students and investing in their lives through academic excellence, an encouraging culture and the spiritual atmosphere on campus. In 2006, BJU received national accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, which unlocked greater financial aid for students and affirmed the high quality of its academics. BJU also reinstated intercollegiate athletics, replacing its 1927 mascot the Swamp Angels with the Bruins.

With a new ROTC program and the new School of Health Professions, key programs expanded to meet growing career demand under Steve Pettit’s leadership (2014-2023). BJU achieved regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2017, affirming the academic quality of the University’s programs and its commitment to ongoing progress and improvement. In 2025, Bruce McAllister became BJU’s seventh president.

Abilene Christian University: Purposeful Learning and Devotion to Christ

Since 1906, Abilene Christian University has pursued purposeful learning and enthusiastic devotion to Christ. Over the past century, our campus has moved and expanded, and our academic offerings, athletic fortitude and student accomplishments have flourished along with our growth. Our community at Abilene Christian University is bonded through traditions that uplift our faith, encourage our student-athletes and celebrate our shared purpose as Wildcats. Our history unites us across generations, inspiring every one of us to confidently claim our place in a legacy of excellence.

Messiah University: Service-Oriented Education

Messiah University received its charter in 1909. Founded by the Brethren in Christ Church, its orientation to Christian service is reflected in its first name-Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home. Originally located in Harrisburg, the school was moved to Grantham in 1911 following the construction of Old Main. In the early years, the school offered a high school curriculum and several Bible programs. By 1921 it had also become a junior college, making it the second junior college in Pennsylvania. To reflect this development, the school's name was changed to Messiah Bible School.

By the early 1950s the school had developed four-year college programs in religious education and theology. Another change of name-to Messiah College-again intentionally reflected this academic advance of the College. During the 1950s, the College added degree programs in the liberal arts and in 1959 discontinued the secondary school program. Growth in the student body and in facilities accompanied the growth in the academic program. Contributing to the increase in numbers of students was the College's policy, declared in its earliest official statements, of welcoming non-Brethren in Christ people as members of the student body. From a first-year total of 12 students, the student body has grown to nearly 2,800 undergraduate students, representing 35+ denominations.

In 1965, Upland College, a Brethren in Christ school in California, merged with Messiah College. Three years later, Messiah College opened its Philadelphia Campus in collaboration with Temple University, the first cooperative arrangement in the United States between a church-related college and a nonsectarian university. In 1983, the College became the senior educational partner with Daystar Institute (now Daystar University) in Nairobi, Kenya. Messiah College played a leading role in the founding of the Christian College Consortium in 1971, and later, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

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Two presidents held notably lengthy terms of office. C.N. Hostetter Jr. (president from 1934 to 1960) directed the College through the difficult years of the Depression, and guided its academic life into becoming a four-year liberal arts college. D. Ray Hostetter presided for thirty years (1964-1994) over an expansion that occurred on virtually every level of Messiah College's life. Under the leadership of its seventh president, Rodney J. Messiah College is a Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences. The College is committed to an embracing evangelical spirit rooted in the Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan traditions of the Christian church. In December 2004, the College celebrated the appointment of its eighth president, Kim S. Phipps.

Tougaloo College: Educating Freed Slaves and Their Offspring

Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was established in 1869 by New York-based Christian missionaries for the education of freed slaves and their offspring. From 1871 until 1892 the college served as a teachers' training school funded by the state of Mississippi. In 1998, the buildings of the old campus were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1869, the American Missionary Association of New York purchased 500 acres (202 ha) of one of the largest former plantations in central Mississippi to build a college for freedmen and their children, recently freed slaves. In 1871, the Mississippi State Legislature granted the new institution a formal charter under the name of Tougaloo University. In its initial institutional form, Tougaloo University was not a university but provided basic education for black students born under slavery. Another goal was to train African-American students for service as teachers.

On January 23, 1881, Washington Hall-the main classroom building-caught fire during religious services and was entirely destroyed. For the rest of the academic year, classes were conducted in a new barn recently constructed on campus, nicknamed "Ayrshire Hall". On May 31, 1881, the foundation was laid for a new classroom building, a three-storey facility named Strieby Hall after M.E. Strieby, corresponding secretary of the American Missionary Association.

Six years after Tougaloo's founding, the Home Missionary Society of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) obtained a charter from the Mississippi State Legislature to establish a school at Edwards, Mississippi, to be known as Southern Christian Institute. That same year, Sarah Ann Dickey, who had worked with the American Missionary Association since the 1860s, established the Mount Hermon Female Seminary, which would later merge with Tougaloo in 1924, as the two schools had similar ideals and goals. Carmen J. Walters, the fourteenth president (and second female president), began her tenure July 1, 2019. In 2020, Tougaloo received $6 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

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The campus includes a Historic District, which comprises ten buildings that are each listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Robert O. Woodworth Chapel, originally known as Woodworth Church, was built in 1901 by students. It was restored and rededicated in 2002. In September 2004, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded Tougaloo College the National Preservation Honor Award for the restoration of Woodworth Chapel. The restoration was also recognized by the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, who bestowed its Honor Award. Woodworth Chapel houses the Union Church, founded alongside the college as a Congregational Church. Today, it is one of two congregations of the United Church of Christ in Mississippi. Located in the heart of the campus beside Woodworth Chapel is Brownlee Gymnasium. Built in 1947, the building was named in honor of Fred L. Brownlee, General Secretary of the American Missionary Association.

The college holds the prestigious Tougaloo Art Collection. It was begun in 1963, by a group of prominent New York artists, curators and critics, initiated by the late Ronald Schnell, Professor Emeritus of Art, as a mechanism to motivate his art students. The collection consists of pieces by African American, American and European artists. Included in the African-American portion of the collection are pieces by notable artists Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, David Driskell, Richard Hunt, Elizabeth Catlett and Hale Woodruff. The Tougaloo Art Colony is another distinctive resource of the college. Begun in 1997 under the leadership of former College trustee, Jane Hearn, the Tougaloo Art Colony affords its participants exposure to and intensive instruction by artists.

The Civil Rights Library and Archives are a part of Tougaloo College. Among their holdings are the original papers, photographs and memorabilia of movement leaders including Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. It contains the works of blues musician B.B. King. The college established the Medgar Evers Museum in 1996. The Evers family (trustee Myrlie Evers-Williams and her children with Medgar) donated their home to Tougaloo College for its historical significance. In 1996, the home was restored to its condition at the time of Mr. Evers' assassination in the driveway. It is operated as a house museum and is open to the public. The Tougaloo athletic teams are called the Bulldogs.

Jarvis Christian College: Uplifting the Black Community

Jarvis Christian College, a fully accredited four-year private liberal arts college offering associate's and bachelor's degrees, is at Hawkins, in southeastern Wood County. It was originally known as Jarvis Christian Institute, and ever since the school's founding in 1912 it has been affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). By 1988 it was the only historically Black college that remained of the twelve such Black colleges originally founded by the Christian Church. The school, modeled after the Southern Christian Institute in Edwards, Mississippi, held its first formal classes in January 1913 with twelve elementary-level students.

In 1904 the Negro Disciples of Christ in Texas and the Christian Woman's Board of Missions began collaborating to raise money for the school's establishment: the Negro Disciples of Christ (primarily because of efforts by the women of the churches), raised $1,000, and the Christian Woman's Board of Missions contributed $10,000 more. At around the same time, Virginia Hearne, state secretary for women's work, contacted Ida Van Zandt Jarvis, who with her husband, Maj. James Jones Jarvis, in 1910 deeded 456 acres to the Christian Woman's Board of Missions to "keep up and maintain a school for the elevation and education of the Negro race…in which school there shall be efficient religious and industrial training."

In 1912 construction began, led by Southern Christian Institute graduates Thomas Buchanan Frost (who served as the first superintendent) and Charles Albert Berry (the first principal), and with help from the school's potential students. James Nelson Ervin of Johnson City, Tennessee, became the school's first president in 1914. That year the school began officially teaching high school courses; until 1937 it was the only accredited high school exclusively for Blacks in the area. The school began regularly offering junior college courses in 1927 and was incorporated as a college the next year. Senior college courses were offered beginning in 1937. When Peter Clarence Washington became the second president in 1938, high school classes were eliminated.

In 1939 the college was granted its charter by the state of Texas, and in 1950 Jarvis Christian College was included by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools on its "Approved List of Colleges and Universities for Negro Youth," the only regional accreditation available at that time for Black colleges in the South.

In 1958 an independently elected board of trustees began governing the college, replacing a Texas board of trustees (members of the Disciples of Christ) that had been appointed by the Department of Institutional Missions of the United Christian Missionary Society. The independent board, however, still included representation from the church. In 1964 the college became affiliated with Texas Christian University, a relationship that was discontinued in 1976. When in 1966 Dr. James Oliver Perpener, Jr., was established as the college's fifth president, he became the first Jarvis alumnus to hold that office. The next year Jarvis Christian College affiliated with the Texas Association of Developing Colleges, a consortium of Black colleges, and also gained accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The Texas Education Agency approved the school's teacher-education program in 1969.

The alumni associations of Jarvis Christian College and the Southern Christian Institute merged in 1979. In 1980 Jarvis alumnus Dr. Charles Albert Berry became the school's eighth president; the next year the title of the Jarvis couple's original land donation was transferred to the college from the United Christian Missionary Society. Oil wells discovered on school property in the early 1940s were still providing some revenue in the early 1980s, when the college owned about 1,000 acres. At that time the 243-acre campus proper had some twenty-four buildings that cumulatively cost over $12 million; buildings included a library built with funds from the Olin Foundation and the James Nelson Ervin Religion and Cultural Center, opened in 1983 and named in honor of the school's first president. Faculty numbered fifty in 1987. By 1989 Dr. Julius F. Nimmons had become the school's ninth president. Enrollment for the 1989-90 school year was 546.

In the early 1980s the school began systematically compiling an archive of materials related to Jarvis Christian College, Southern Christian Institute, and the Black Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In the fall of 1998 the college had forty-eight faculty and a student enrollment of 505. Sebetha Jenkins was president. Courses were offered in three divisions: arts and sciences, education, and business. In the fall of 2010 Jarvis Christian College had 538 students.

Point University: Equipping Students for Christ-Centered Leadership

Point University was founded as Atlanta Christian College in 1937 by Judge T. O. Hathcock (1879-1966), who served on the bench in Fulton County, Georgia, from 1914 until 1942. He and his wife, Nora Hathcock, were members of the independent Christian Church; to this day, the University maintains its affiliation with the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Point University’s main campus is located in West Point, Georgia, while its historic campus was located in East Point, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The campus was a part of a 300-acre farm inherited by Nora Head Hathcock. With a barn, livestock and cultivated fields, the campus in its earliest days had a distinctly rural flavor.

Following its founding, Point University devoted attention primarily to the education of ministers, missionaries and other church-related workers. In 1965, the college became an accredited member of the American Association of Bible Colleges (AABC). In 1990, in conjunction with a broadening of the curriculum, the college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award the associate and baccalaureate degrees. The University’s education programs have earned accreditation by the National Council on Accreditation Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Professional Standards Commission (PSC) of the State of Georgia. In February 2011, the board of trustees announced that the college’s name would change to Point University on July 1. In fall 2012, the traditional, residential campus relocated to West Point, Georgia, and the growing Greater Valley area.

The University’s curriculum currently offers majors in areas of study ranging from biblical studies to biology. Degree programs are offered for traditional college students, high school students pursuing dual credit enrollment, online and graduate students.

Vanguard University: A Leader in Educational Innovation

During the summer of 1920, Harold K. Needham, D. W. Kerr, and W. C. Peirce opened a school to prepare Christian workers for the various ministries of the church. The new institute, Southern California Bible School, moved from Los Angeles to Pasadena in 1927. In 1939 it was chartered by the State of California as a college eligible to grant degrees, and it became Southern California Bible College-the first four-year institution of the Assemblies of God. In 1943 the college received recognition by the government for the training of military chaplains. It moved to the present campus in 1950. Regional accreditation and membership in the Western Association of Schools and Colleges were granted in 1964. In 1967 the college received recognition and approval of its teaching credential program from the California State Board of Education. In June 1983 the Graduate Studies Program received approval from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. A Degree Completion Program was started in 1994 for adult learners. For over a century, Vanguard University has been a leader in educational innovation within its denomination, preparing students for all types of ministry. Orange County, California's first four-year college, Vanguard University is rooted in a strong academic tradition and commitment to student success. The mission of Vanguard University is to pursue knowledge, cultivate character, deepen faith and equip each student for a Spirit-empowered life of Christ-centered leadership and service.

The Role of Women in Christian Missions and Education

Recovering the heritage of women leaders in Christian missions is essential to understanding the full scope of Christian missionary colleges' impact. Northwestern University in St. Paul, Minn., for example, had a student group known as the “Missions Band” with seven men and 46 women in a photograph. A photograph of the graduating class of 1915 also shows far more women than men. This example is typical of other Bible schools around the same time period, which had many more women than men enrolled. Because Christians in the 1800s, influenced by premillennialism, believed that Christ’s return was imminent-and therefore, they were far more concerned about obeying the Great Commission than they were about gender. As a result of this freedom to serve in ministry, women outnumbered men on the mission field, two to one. Women enrolled in Bible institutes like Moody, Gordon, Northwestern, BIOLA, and others and were trained and authorized to preach and teach Scripture to both men and women all over the world.

Women not only served as missionaries, they also became founders and funders of missions organizations. This legacy has shaped groups like the Women’s Missionary Union, an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention that equips Christians to become radically involved in the mission of God all over the world.

The Ongoing Relevance of Religious Education

The quality of a religious education is not inferior to secular education; in fact, studies have found that religious schools are superior to secular schools. Until recently, the Church has always played the dominant role in advancing education. In the 1600s, some of the earliest laws of the American colonies required villages to train children to read so they would be able to read the Bible. Our oldest and most prestigious universities were founded by Protestant churches for the express purpose of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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