# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S196
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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196 SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES

it will be necessary to observe in all the areas of life at the schoo} .
the important and valid distinction between the Law and the Gog.
pel. This distinction is particularly valuable in the special areas
of guidance counseling and in discipline. :

Spiritual Maturity Is Essential

It is the clear testimony of the Scriptures that God wants
those whom He calls to the work of the holy ministry to be sin. ’
gularly qualified for their supremely important task of teaching
and preaching the divine will. He expects them thoroughly to
know and sincerely to believe His revealed truths; to be able to
accurately distinguish divine truth from’ human error; and plainly
to manifest their Christian faith in an exemplary and highly spirit.
ual life. If we are to have the depth of personal conviction based
upon absolute faith, and if we are to achieve exceptional conse.
ccration to the divine will as well as spiritual vigor, vision, and
maturity, then it is only reasonable that we apply the God-given
means to these ends throughout the training of those who will
serve as ambassadors of the Lord.

It must be acknowledged, of course, that God has blessed our
Church with a host of consecrated ministers, but it must be ad-
mitted that marked spiritual growth has come to many only after
they have been repeatedly confronted with the evidence of the
power of the Word in the practical work of the ministry. All will
agree that much of our present effort to develop the students
spiritually leaves much to be desired in the effect achieved. In
order to attempt some improvement of these measures and results,
it is proposed that at the senior college level this almost complete
absence of a carefully prepared program for consciously and
methodically striving to achieve spiritual growth shall be supplied.

In conclusion, it should be said again that the successful com-
pletion of such a program will depend, of course, entirely upon
the blessing which God places upon the laborers involved and
the tasks performed. One need hardly add in this connection that
strenuous efforts must be made, throughout the program, to guard
against _pietism and pharisaism, so that the real Lutheran emphasis
on faith, justification, and sanctification as pure gifts of God may
not be violated.

We are aware also of the absolute need for the most careful
selection of administration and staff members for such an institu-
tion. In fact, it may well become necessary to set up brief special
training programs for staff members under the auspices of the
Board for Higher Education, and it may be necessary, further, to
inaugurate the entire senior college project under the direct super-
vision of the Board so that the basic spiritual objectives of the

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SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES 197

college may not be obscured. Certain it is that no real results may
be expected unless every professor and every member of the ad-
ministrational staff is in thorough and complete sympathy with
the view that the spiritual growth of the students is the primary
objective of the college. Technical educational competence of staff
members must, of course, be taken for granted, and for that reason
such qualities are not discussed here.

If the senior college can make a significant contribution toward
creating in our students an awareness of the complete. relevance
of the divine will to all aspects of the student’s life, a positive
attitude of cheerful obedience to the will of God as a normal and
necessary expression of Christian faith, and a feeling of need for
daily spiritual meditation and reflection as personal communica~
tion with his God, then all the labor and expense which the senior
college will entail will result, under the blessing of God, in in-
calculable benefits for the Kingdom of God on earth.

Accreditation

Our investigations show that an institution of this type would
not be handicapped in the matter of seeking accreditation merely
because it has only the two years of an accepted senior college. Nor
would the fact that this senior college might accept the majority
of its students from unaccredited junior colleges in itself be a
significant factor in the question of accreditation.

On the other hand, the fact that the institution would be very
largely professional might place it outside of the jurisdiction of
the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools
(the accrediting agency in the Middle West).

In March, 1949, the North Central Association resolved not to
accredit strictly professional schools, and, while it is not entirely
clear on its own ruling, it has interpreted this to mean that it
should examine all colleges and universities which are offering
a program which includes courses in all or most of the general
education fields, even though the institution itself might have a
highly specialized purpose.

We quote the following from a letter of Manning M. Pattillo
Jr., assistant secretary of the Commission on Colleges and Uni-
versities of the North Central Association of Colleges and Second-
ary Schools:

“The North Central Association does not hav i
governing the acceptance of credits for admission or bee eatigns
i ron secondary or higher institutions. This means that a member
sutution or an institution seeking membership in the Association
is nat required to accept students only from accredited institutions
lowe qnportant consideration is that the admissions policy of a col-
oh neg consistent with its purposes and the kind of curriculum

. © acceptance by a senior college of large numbers of

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