Church of Christ teachers

There will always be rules that people don’t like, no matter where they go or what setting they are in. Students at Oklahoma Christian University complain about many things from the caf food to mandatory curfew to chapel. When we start to think about it from a different perspective, we can usually see the reason for these rules or why things are the way they are.

I have been here for three years now. I thought curfew was annoying; however, I understood why it was put in place for freshmen. Mandatory chapel may not be the highlight of my day, but I can see why the administration thinks it is important. There is a rule that I still don’t get, though. And that is the rule that all professors that work at Oklahoma Christian must be members of the Church of Christ.

As I know it, this excludes adjunct professors. Why single them out? They don’t work here full time so they don’t have as much influence on students? I can’t see that reasoning. Is it because you need them more so you are willing to be lenient? That doesn’t make sense.

Now, I can see why they put this rule in effect in the first place. A Church of Christ affiliated Christian college wants to present the right face to the public. I do understand wanting Bible teachers to be Church of Christ members. If you are teaching a Bible class at a Church of Christ affiliated school, it makes sense to have someone from that background teach the class. I have no problem with this. I appreciate it. But is it really necessary in all areas?

You don’t have to be Church of Christ to be good at teaching math. There are some math teachers out there who are great teachers and would be a fantastic asset to this school, but they are not Church of Christ, so we would never hire them. Our loss. There are professors who have a lot of experience and knowledge in their field, but they are not Church of Christ, so we don’t hire them. Our loss. There are plenty of people out there with the same beliefs, the same values and the same morals as we have who are also great professionals and teachers in their fields. We can still present the same values to our students and the public with people like that.

Jesus ate with the tax collectors. He even made one of them his apostle. Matthew wasn’t on the same track as Jesus at the time. He wasn’t living the same way as Jesus, but Jesus saw the good in him. Matthew got the chance to do something good and to help people. If Jesus had only chosen from those who were similar to him, he would not have the diverse group of followers he had. Each person in the group brought something special and something that only they could provide.

We are called to live like Jesus. Oklahoma Christian calls us to live like Jesus. We can’t do it only in the aspects of life that we want to. Similarly, the school shouldn’t pick and choose from only the people they think are “the right kind of people.” A person who is qualified in their field, shows a willingness to work with young people and has values that align with the schools’ should be given the exact same consideration for a position as someone who is a member of the Church of Christ.

In life, you can’t always be choosey about decisions. You have to take what you can get. We can’t be choosey when it comes to the future of our students. Pick the person who will most help them get to where they are going, not the person who is most like you.

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