Concordia Edmonton repudiates its Christian identity

Concordia Edmonton repudiates its Christian identity February 3, 2016

Concordia University Edmonton, a college of the Lutheran Church Canada (both of which were founded by the LCMS), has removed all references to Lutheranism and to Christianity from its governing documents.  The institution’s board of directors took that action without consulting the Lutheran Church Canada.

The college had gradually been cutting its ties with the church.  Instead of the church body electing the board members, the school moved to a self-selecting board.  Apparently, the LCC does not own the campus, as the LCMS does its network of 10 institutions in the Concordia University System.  Edmonton’s seminary is a separate entity from the college.  But many of Concordia Edmonton’s faculty members are on the clergy roster and have calls to the college, which will apparently end now that the institution has rejected its Christian ties.

I am shocked at this.  I spoke at Concordia Edmonton a couple of years ago, and I met some very solid faculty members.  My understanding is that many of the faculty are against this decision, and that the president of the LCC, Robert Bugbee, is studying what action can be taken.  Church colleges often slowly drift away, but I don’t know that I’ve seen this kind of decisive repudiation of Christian identity.  (Canadian Lutheran readers, can you tell us more about this?)

UPDATE:  Be sure to read Bror Erikson’s comment, below.  He gives some more context, saying that part of the problem is that church, in effect, severed its ties with CUE, cutting off its funding and forcing it into the arms of the state.

From  Canadian Lutheran Online » Concordia University of Edmonton no longer a Christian institution.

Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) no longer identifies itself as a Christian institution. The university’s Board of Governors made the decision on November 27, 2015 when it decided to remove all references to Lutheranism and the Christian faith from its mission and vision statements.

Prior to the action, Concordia’s Mission statement identified the institution as a “community of learning grounded in scholarship, freedom, and the Christian faith.” Among its Values Statements, it identified itself as an “excellent smaller Christian university true to its mission and vision,” that “maintains its mission as a Christian university serving the public.” Guiding Directional Statements professed that “Concordia will honour its Lutheran heritage” and “will provide a foundation of faith and intellectual integrity that supports a scholarly community.”

All references to faith have now been deleted. . . .

Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) was given no advance notice that such action was being contemplated. As late as the end of August 2015, church officials had been assured in a letter from CUE’s Board of Governors that “all of the Board remains committed to Concordia’s Missions, Vision and Values.”

LCC President Robert Bugbee has communicated his dismay to CUE President Gerald S. Krispin over the recent action of CUE’s board, asking for clarity as to why the action was taken without consulting synod. He noted multiple assurances over the past years from Concordia’s leaders that such action was not being considered.

“Concordia was founded in 1921 as an educational ministry of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod,” President Bugbee reflected. “It is with incredible grief that we see Concordia now silence any reference to the Christian mission for which it was originally founded.”

Concordia’s recent decision has put LCC in a difficult situation: a number of professors (including the University president) are ordained ministers of LCC and hold calls from the church body to serve as ministers at the institution. As Concordia no longer claims to be a Christian institution in its mission statement, it is doubtful whether service at the institution can continue to be considered a call in the church’s understanding, thereby jeopardizing the place of these colleagues on the Synod’s roster.

CUE leadership held a town hall December 15, 2015 to answer serious concerns from faculty regarding the abrupt change in the college’s mission and values statements. LCC was not invited to or informed of the meeting. At the time, CUE President Krispin assured those present that the change in wording would not alter the deeper identity of Concordia, and that the college and synod could remain in cooperation despite these changes.

Concordia has taken a number of actions in recent years that have further separated it from the church. In 2010, Concordia notified LCC that it planned to alter its bylaws regarding the requirements for sitting on its Board of Governors. Previously all board members had been elected by Lutheran Church–Canada meeting in convention.

While synod raised concerns at the time, Concordia understood itself as able to make the decision with or without synod’s approval, arguing the 1978 Act of Incorporation that instituted Concordia as an independent organization failed to make provision for synod’s continuing legal authority over the college. The college, however, continued to operate under bylaws relying on LCC in convention to appoint its Board of Governors. But in 2010, as noted above, Concordia informed LCC it planned to change its bylaws regarding governance.

Even so, President Krispin assured LCC leaders that any decisions the college made would “not only maintain, but strengthen the shared ecclesiastical bond” with Lutheran Church–Canada. At the time, President Krispin further explained that Concordia’s Mission, Vision, and Values Framework would ensure the college’s identity as a Christian institution would be maintained. “It is this distinction that gives us ourraison d’être,” he wrote.

[Keep reading. . .]

HT:  ngb

The idea that the CUE president is putting forward that the school has a “deeper identity” as a Christian school, while expunging that identity from its mission statement and other governing documents, is pretty ludicrous.

I don’t know how it is under Canadian law, that nation having a different relationship between church and state.  But I know that in the United States  professors in a college with an explicit Christian mission are free to talk about, teach, and apply their faith.  But in a college that takes government money, as CUE does, the professors aren’t allowed to.

 

"I love that the day of worship moved from the last day of the first ..."

DISCUSSION: Easter
"Wait . . . Bugs Bunny isn't real?"

DISCUSSION: Easter
"Yes, my church will have a sunrise service at 6 AM (followed by services at ..."

DISCUSSION: Easter
"A "day" is a a 24-hour period in the same way that a piece of ..."

Sasse’s “This Is My Body”

Browse Our Archives

Follow Us!