A state-level committee in the state of WV may revoke OVU’s ability to confer degrees. Read more: christianchronicle.org/breaking-news-ohio-valley-university-faces-possible-shutdown/
I think one problem that OVU has is that they didn't ride the recent wave of inter denominational cooperation in our generation. The restorationist ethic is PERFECT for this...especially if the COC would adopt the ethos of their forerunners and acknowledge that some things, like the denial of spiritual gifts in mainline churches of Christ, are not rooted in Biblical truth. Rather, they are the dirty leftovers of a legalistic Presbyterian church of 2 centuries ago.
It’s okay to be exclusive (for marketing purposes of, say, a college affiliated with a religion) but an organization has to be exclusive enough that people are fiercely loyal to it. CoC isn’t, for the most part, like that anymore, and like you said they didn’t go more open. And their growth strategy seemed to rely on athletics which isn’t why many went there back in the day. Just some. We (me and those like me) went there for Church of Christ reasons. But I was there 2001-2004. Good thoughts - thank you for the comment.
I see what youre saying. On a personal note,, I went because God made me go there. I told him it was the one University that I would not go to, because of it being in the COC. God pushed me, opened the doors, and provided for me. It became clear why this happened in short order. Their dedication in the Bible department to orthodox Christian principles is incredible. They let me form my own thoughts and encouraged me to go back to scripture even though it ultimately led to conclusions that didn't agree with what they thought. They helped me pick apart the word in ways that are radically transforming lives in the greater Philadelphia area. Three days ago a former drug dealer and his son gave their lives to the Lord. People have been miraculously saved from gang violence. We've also seen multiple addicts enter recovery. The way they taught me to pick apart the Bible 2014-2018 led to this. I think they had and perhaps still have the chance to impact others in this way, but they need to find world changers to come study to make an impact. They don't need a bunch of athletes.
Thank you for sharing. I’m glad they’re such wonderful things happening in Philadelphia. May I ask what your denominational background was before OVU and what you identify as now?
Before I was essentially bapticostal. After OVU I would consider myself a restorationist. Many would say the same. We don't fit in with the mainline churches of christ, but there is an appeal to restoring primitive Christianity in its pure form. Technically speaking I do work within the churches of christ.
@@alecb3332 Gotcha. My own journey was I was raised mainline C of C and converted to Catholicism about 4 years ago. In part because of the ingrained drive/feeling to find the original church, I think in retrospect. I thought I was rare but I found a lot of other C of C folks had become Catholic also. It makes me wonder if being raised C of C with its focus on the original church was part of the influence in my conversion. I think it probably was, although at the time I was going through the process I don't think I realized it. What you just mentioned also brings up another interesting point - there may be a lot of folks like you who are sort of aligned with the restoration-type thinking but aren't aligned directly with C of C (I guess you may not fit in that context since you work under that structure, but many others might not formally work under that structure) and it may be that the numerical decline in the C of C may not account for these folks who are sort of aligned but not formally. If that's the case we can probably expect numbers for the C of C are better than reported under that standard definition and perhaps C of C looks more like evangelical Christianity in general in that the numbers are holding somewhat. It's interesting you're working and having ministry success in Philly - I think that's near or where NCJC was, a Church of Christ school that merged with OVU as it was closing back in the day and before my time.
A state-level committee in the state of WV may revoke OVU’s ability to confer degrees. Read more: christianchronicle.org/breaking-news-ohio-valley-university-faces-possible-shutdown/
Very little recruitment for different cultures.
I think one problem that OVU has is that they didn't ride the recent wave of inter denominational cooperation in our generation. The restorationist ethic is PERFECT for this...especially if the COC would adopt the ethos of their forerunners and acknowledge that some things, like the denial of spiritual gifts in mainline churches of Christ, are not rooted in Biblical truth. Rather, they are the dirty leftovers of a legalistic Presbyterian church of 2 centuries ago.
It’s okay to be exclusive (for marketing purposes of, say, a college affiliated with a religion) but an organization has to be exclusive enough that people are fiercely loyal to it. CoC isn’t, for the most part, like that anymore, and like you said they didn’t go more open. And their growth strategy seemed to rely on athletics which isn’t why many went there back in the day. Just some. We (me and those like me) went there for Church of Christ reasons. But I was there 2001-2004. Good thoughts - thank you for the comment.
I see what youre saying. On a personal note,, I went because God made me go there. I told him it was the one University that I would not go to, because of it being in the COC. God pushed me, opened the doors, and provided for me. It became clear why this happened in short order. Their dedication in the Bible department to orthodox Christian principles is incredible. They let me form my own thoughts and encouraged me to go back to scripture even though it ultimately led to conclusions that didn't agree with what they thought. They helped me pick apart the word in ways that are radically transforming lives in the greater Philadelphia area. Three days ago a former drug dealer and his son gave their lives to the Lord. People have been miraculously saved from gang violence. We've also seen multiple addicts enter recovery. The way they taught me to pick apart the Bible 2014-2018 led to this. I think they had and perhaps still have the chance to impact others in this way, but they need to find world changers to come study to make an impact. They don't need a bunch of athletes.
Thank you for sharing. I’m glad they’re such wonderful things happening in Philadelphia. May I ask what your denominational background was before OVU and what you identify as now?
Before I was essentially bapticostal. After OVU I would consider myself a restorationist. Many would say the same. We don't fit in with the mainline churches of christ, but there is an appeal to restoring primitive Christianity in its pure form. Technically speaking I do work within the churches of christ.
@@alecb3332 Gotcha. My own journey was I was raised mainline C of C and converted to Catholicism about 4 years ago. In part because of the ingrained drive/feeling to find the original church, I think in retrospect. I thought I was rare but I found a lot of other C of C folks had become Catholic also. It makes me wonder if being raised C of C with its focus on the original church was part of the influence in my conversion. I think it probably was, although at the time I was going through the process I don't think I realized it. What you just mentioned also brings up another interesting point - there may be a lot of folks like you who are sort of aligned with the restoration-type thinking but aren't aligned directly with C of C (I guess you may not fit in that context since you work under that structure, but many others might not formally work under that structure) and it may be that the numerical decline in the C of C may not account for these folks who are sort of aligned but not formally. If that's the case we can probably expect numbers for the C of C are better than reported under that standard definition and perhaps C of C looks more like evangelical Christianity in general in that the numbers are holding somewhat. It's interesting you're working and having ministry success in Philly - I think that's near or where NCJC was, a Church of Christ school that merged with OVU as it was closing back in the day and before my time.