Lincoln Christian University: A Legacy of Faith and Transition

Lincoln Christian University (LCU), an institution rooted in the Restoration Movement, is preparing to close its doors in May 2024, marking the end of an era after 80 years of operation. This closure follows a period of financial and enrollment challenges, as acknowledged by LCU President Silas McCormick. However, the university's legacy will continue through its programs and the ongoing work of its alumni.

The Founding and Early Years

LCU was founded in 1944 as Lincoln Bible Institute (LBI). This was because area church leaders were concerned about the lack of educated church leaders in the region. Earl C. Hargrove served as its first president, with Enos Dowling as the first dean. The establishment of LBI was announced by Earl C. Hargrove, with the intention of opening a preacher-training school. The geographical position and transportation facilities were ideal. The church at Lincoln is soundly typical of Restoration ideals and favorable to such an enterprise in the community. Lincoln College is located there, operating as a Junior college now, in which all academic instruction can be had at reasonable cost, thus making it unnecessary to provide a large general faculty.

From the beginning, alongside academic degrees, LBI also offered non-credit educational opportunities, initially through the People’s Christian Academy. Over the following 80 years, LBI became Lincoln Christian College, then Lincoln Christian College and Seminary, and then Lincoln Christian University.

In May 1945, the Lincoln Bible Institute moved from rented facilities in connection with Lincoln Junior College to the old building formerly occupied by Lincoln Business College. The building was leased for one year with an option to buy. It was remodeled to suit the needs of the Institute, with classrooms, a library, an office, a chapel room, and a students' lounge.

Growth and Development

Throughout its history, LCU adapted to the changing needs of the Christian community, evolving from a Bible institute to a comprehensive university. In January 1962, Lincoln Bible Institute became Lincoln Christian College. The purpose of the change of names is to clarify the educational program of the undergraduate school which is operated on a four-year college level, and to distinguish the graduate school (an additional three-year program), which will be known as Lincoln Christian Seminary. Total enrollment reached 452, with 27 faculty members. Lincoln Christian College is accredited by the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges.

Lincoln Christian College became Lincoln Christian University in 2009.

Athletics

Lincoln Christian athletic teams were known as the Red Lions. The university was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as an NAIA Independent within the Continental Athletic Conference from 2014-15 to 2021-22. They were also a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing as an independent in the North Central Region of the Division I level. The Red Lions previously competed as a member of the NCAA Division III ranks, primarily competing in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC). At the time of the school's cancellation of the athletic program.

Financial Challenges and Closure

Like many small, private institutions, LCU faced significant financial headwinds in recent years. LCU president Silas McCormick said "a whole host of things" contributed to the difficulties the 79-year-old private university faced before its leadership decided to close the campus altogether and turn over its seminary program to Missouri-based Ozark Christian College. "Schools (with enrollment) under 2,000 we know are at a greater risk. We've never been at 2,000 and in fact, we've only briefly been half that size," McCormick said. "Rural schools are also at a greater risk. Momentum: Prospective students are probably more likely to be concerned about a school that doesn't appear to have a positive, forward trajectory. So, I can't really attribute any one particular cause - I think there are a lot of causes." In a statement released earlier this week, LCU leadership cited a "steep" decline in enrollment as a major factor.

After downsizing its academic programming to ministry-related degrees only last year, Lincoln Christian University will have its seminary acquired by a sister Christian college and shut down its campus operations in Lincoln after the 2023-24 academic year ends in May. The downsizing "got us further down the road. It allowed a lot of the debt to be addressed," McCormick said. "Our hope was that we would be able to survive and ultimately thrive - independent and niche. But as it turned out, the best we were able to do was really get healthy enough to be acquired by someone else." LCU's current debt load is about $3.1 million; McCormick said the hope is to have that reduced to $2.6 million at the end of the year.

Transition and Future Plans

Come June 2024, Lincoln Christian will turn over its seminary and $3.8 million scholarship endowment over to Ozark Christian Christian College, which will partially retain the closing institution's name: Lincoln Seminary at Ozark Christian College. Prior to the acquisition of Lincoln's seminary, the institution had only just begun offering one graduate degree - an M.A. in Christian Ministry. Students who are currently enrolled at LCU will proceed through classes as normal throughout the remainder of the year, according to the announcement. Students in some seminary programs who are not yet finished will be offered a chance to finish via OCC and "are guaranteed zero loss - no increase in tuition, no increase in degree requirements." OCC said the degree programs all have online-only options. Those in other degree programs can expect leadership to "help each student find a “home” for your continued education that reflects sound stewardship of the work you’ve already done," the announcement said. LCU and OCC leadership said the closure of LCU and OCC's acquisition of Lincoln Seminary is pending approval from the Higher Learning Commission, the Association of Theological Schools, and the Association for Biblical Higher Education.

LCU's campus operations in Lincoln will close and while Ozark Christian College leaders indicated "a few exceptions" may be made, most of LCU's staff will not be transferring to OCC. "The expectation is that most or nearly all of us will lose our jobs at the end of May," McCormick said.

A Church's Vision for the Future

When Lincoln Christian University closes its doors in May, a Lincoln church is set to become the owner of much of the properties and grounds that comprised the 80-year-old private liberal arts college and seminary. Larry Crawford, an LCU alumnus himself and pastor of Open Arms Christian Fellowship in Lincoln, said he began discussing leasing options with LCU leadership a few years ago before entering into a purchase agreement for six buildings and acreage that was finalized for around $4 million last year. Now, Open Arms is preparing to pay $800,000 to purchase the remaining five buildings and some green space acreage that comprised LCU. “One of the things that’s really important to us is to build on the legacy of Lincoln Christian university. Literally, they’ve raised up leaders that are all over the world. We want to honor that, we want to celebrate that legacy,” Crawford said in an interview with WGLT. [Open Arms] has “been a wonderful partner and neighbor-particularly these last four challenging years” McCormick wrote. “Though I grieve what is lost, that grief is certainly not without hope, and I look forward to what may yet be.”

Crawford said the church has a “really big plan” for the campus, but would only publicize some parts of those plans since meetings and work to finalize details remains ongoing. He said the church plans to open a youth center for junior high and high school students in one of the buildings. That youth center is separate from church programming Open Arms already offers on Wednesday and Sunday nights. Plans to offer additional on-site services for younger children are still being worked on, Crawford said. “One of the biggest things right now is that students don’t have a place to go. This will provide for them a place to go - and it will enable us to reach more students through youth ministry and outreach to the community,” he said. “We’re looking to provide after-school programs and have a place where they can hang out.” With the purchase of a building that has a kitchen and dining hall, as well as its ownership of a former residence hall, Crawford said the church will expand the amount of conferences and retreats that it hosts. The church also plans to use the extra space to serve more people community meals on Thanksgiving. Already active in sports ministry, Crawford said the church is also considering expanding that athletics programming with groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletics, since it will have both dining and residential spaces. “That’s just a small part of what we’re looking to do,” Crawford said.

The Broader Context of Closures

This is the second higher education institution to close in the city of Lincoln within nearly two years: Lincoln College, a 157-year-old school and the only predominantly Black institution in downstate Illinois, announced its immediate closure at the end of May 2022. In just over a year, two higher education institutions that called the city home have shut down for financial reasons.

Community Impact and Future Hopes

Lincoln mayor Tracy Welch told WGLT. "It makes it a little bit more challenging." Welch said he's heartened by new businesses coming to the roughly 13,000-person city, including a new urgent care and a car wash, but the city is still working on other draws to boost its revenue. "We're really trying to beef up tourism and try to capitalize on what places like Atlanta and Pontiac are doing," he said. "That's kind of our focus: Economic development, tourism and trying to keep growth going." Welch said decisions on what to do with the remaining parts of Lincoln College's campus are still forthcoming. Although he had publicly suggested something was in the works several weeks ago, Welch told WGLT the movement has been slow-going. "If what has been proposed for that location pans out, it will be good for the community," he said.

Read also: Affording LMU: A Guide

Lincoln's Influence on the Independent Christian Churches

On May 31, 2024 Lincoln Christian University will close its doors. It will truly mark the end of an era for the Independent Christian Churches. The formative years of this group are often considered a titanic struggle between two contrasting personalities, Dean Walker on the left and R C Foster on the right. Yet it should be remembered that at the end of May the two most significant institutions of the Independent Christian Churches during its formative period will only be history-or more bluntly, dead. That can hardly fail to be significant or perhaps crucial or essential for the group as a whole. Intriguingly, while Emmanuel and Lincoln proposed different emphases, they derive from a common source, the Kerschner Butler School of Religion.

One area in which he did maintain his Disciple interests was his view of women in the pulpit. He seemed particularly impressed by their ability to keep congregations loyal and coherent during a difficult period. When Prof. Heine (alumnus and professor of Lincoln) published a seminal article on the subject in 1977, it was not a new emphasis. Female graduates of Lincoln often found active careers in the churches. Eleanor Daniel was probably the most prominent Independent during this period, having served as a seminary professor and/or dean at all three seminaries and having demonstrated that she was “the expert” on Christian Education.

The rise of Lincoln to a position resembling hegemony seemed to owe a great deal to timing and environment. Agricultural entities may be various sizes, but they generally are quite sophisticated in their approach to the practice. Most state universities in this area have schools of agriculture that are well-funded and often have vast extension services, the local one being the U of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. It’s no wonder that their descendants found missions a congenial field. The endorsements in Lincoln’s catalogue (and many others) by the American Legion as well as references to the GI Bill of Rights make it clear that many of the students were veterans of WW2 and Korea, and thus older and more disciplined-perhaps even more aggressive-than previously entering students. Such descriptions as more mature, more serious or solemn, and even more sophisticated may have been appropriate.

The conception that a Bible college can serve as a regional center for evangelism did not originate with Lincoln. Yet, Lincoln-started after the war-demonstrated that the model was indeed productive. The one caveat is that Lincoln’s success was evangelism not in any simple or pure sense but largely by strengthening existing congregations. Historically, then, the preference for Bible colleges came out of Lincoln, in the fifties. It appeared to have phenomenal success in rejuvenating congregations there (they regularly talk about 500 congregations within a hundred miles), and the model of a Bible college as a center of evangelism was born. The lack of interest in producing new liberal arts colleges was a combination of factors: (1) money-most of the supporting churches were rural and small; (2) public university education was strong and inexpensive in these states; and (3) liberal arts colleges (e.g., Eureka and Culver Stockton) had demonstrated both a susceptibility to critical views (which were not acceptable in this wave) and a declining ability to produce preachers.

The other notable shift that was centered on Lincoln was the focus on theology. However, the lasting focus on preachers and preaching may be the result of Lincoln and other regional schools. The supply of preachers seems to have upgraded the position of the sermon. This focus on preaching, supported by Lincoln and regional schools, must be combined with two other key influential figures. It is difficult to understand the ministerial ethos among Christian Church preachers without understanding P. H. Welshimer. McGavran took-up Welshimer’s emphasis on the priority of evangelism and “the simple gospel,” which has resulted in a kind of theological minimalism in the church growth movement and his successors in big churches. Thus, the key influences of Lincoln, have been the focus on preaching, on regional emphases and needs, practical ministries, church growth, and theology.

A Personal Reflection

C. J. My tenure at Lincoln was only one year, and in that year, I studied almost exclusively with James Strauss. Though I could not always understand his precise point, Strauss’s charisma, breadth of reference, and enthusiasm worked a profound influence. His mode of doing theology inspired his students, like myself, to pursue higher degrees in theology. My work, in psychoanalytic theory and philosophy, may be unusually arcane but is one example of the directions inspired by Strauss. Though Strauss, like most all of his contemporaries, was limited by the paradigms of modernity, his legacy at Lincoln seems to have created space for those working in postmodern theology, philosophical theology, and historical theology. In the classroom, Strauss was famous for his various witticisms. When he would ask a question and receive no reply, he indicated we could ask any passing truck driver on Hwy 30 to answer. He referred to the slow infiltration of the “principalities and powers” into the Church as the frog in the kettle syndrome. The frog is happy to sit in the warm water and misses the fact that he is adjusting gradually to being boiled to death. C J describes the cross purposes in Lincoln’s focus on preaching, church growth, practical ministries, and theology. Theology turns out to be the loser in a group geared toward church growth and pragmatics. It is not clear theological depth can survive among Independents. Lincoln was the key exception and now the primary exhibit, that this is the case.

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