Does Accreditation Hinder Missionary Training?

==The missionary focus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SACS and ATS) disproves that person's statement. Sounds like an excuse for not seeking accreditation.

 

I am involved in the accreditation process but it is at the secondary level (not to be mislead in anyway ).

The only thing I can think of is that enough of their students have a hard time providing records of secondary education???

But my first thought was exactly what Martin expressed.

Accreditation is grueling and not every school is up for it. Self examination is terrifying. It is difficult to find all your warts (or think you have) only to face a visiting team that has found at least twice as many again. It is incredibly humbling. Talk about a trip to the brink of sanity. The first one is, of course, the most difficult. It is trying on relationships within the staff especially. I understand why a school might avoid it like the plague. BUT if a school wants to grow, accreditation is a sure fire way to make it happen, IMHO.

 

Sounds like an excuse to me.

 

When he says "training missionaries overseas," does he refer to distance learning? If so, does it really mean "we're running a mail-order diploma mill here and have no intention of making it rigorous"?

BTW, I affirm anyone's right to run a diploma mill so long as it is labeled honestly. But I believe that accreditation gets more obsequy than it deserves. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, and not in the recipe.

 

==Currently I am working at a university while I work on my second Masters. I work in the school of education, not history, and we are getting ready to go through accreditation (NCATE) this fall. So I am just starting to get a taste of what it is like. From what I hear it is a nightmare. We have to have all of our books in order. In fact I am going in tomorrow afternoon to help my supervisor download some files that they are going to need first thing Monday morning. My step-father worked on several SACS accreditation teams. He was even on a team that went to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Raleigh (he gave me a cup!!). Anyway it is tough and schools that are not "up to par" can't get through it. I suppose these type of schools respond in one of two ways. They get serious and make the needed changes and do the hard work to get accreditation or they invent nice sounded excuses as to why they are not accredited. And, if they are really dishonest or maybe just ignorant about accreditation, they get approval from an accreditation-mill and then claim they are accredited. It is a deception and NO Christian school should engage in such practices. However, and I say this with a heavy heart, many "Christian" schools are doing this very thing. Such "Christian" "schools" are a disgrace to the church, education, and to Jesus Christ Himself. As I have said in another thread: Seminary education should be the best education around. It should more demanding than medical school. Why? Medical school only deals with temporary bodies while the ministry deals with eternal souls. Seminary is the most important type of education out there. So whether you are earning a seminary degree on-campus or online you should be getting the best education possible. Many schools do that but these degree-mills, or even those schools that may not be degree-mills but are giving graduate degrees for undergraduate work, are not giving their students the best education possible. These type schools only appeal to lazy people who want a quick degree or to people who just don't know any better. Either way it is a disgrace.

Ok, I will get off my soapbox now...:laugh:

 

The assumption in this statement is that there is a correlation between high, rigorous academics and the salvation of souls. That is highly debatable, and it has been debated extensively. The debate was especially hot in the nineteenth century and a large body of literature was left as a record of those controversies.

 

==I was not "trying" to make that correlation. My point was that seminary, due to its very subject nature, is the most important subject of study. There is no room for substandard seminaries.

 

Our Christian school is not accredited because we do not want the government telling us what we can teach...

I certainly don't know what accreditation would have to do with the ability to be a missionary.

 

Okay, no argument there.

You did it again!

From your earlier post, you define "substandard" the way accrediting associations do; that is to say, you're inveighing against substandard recipes, and you equate such recipes with substandard pudding. But that is highly debatable.

Of course a graduate of a "better" school will be a better scholar, but you originally connected that with the salvation of souls, and those are two radically different things.

You'll be hard put to quantify such a claim. It wouldn't surprise me to see the products of diploma mills receiving greater rewards in heaven than those with accredited M.Divs. (Nor would the reverse.)

Go ahead and strive to excel in that recipe which you trust will produce the better pudding, but realize that others have a different opinion and are producing pudding according to a different recipe, not yours. And the proof of those puddings is in the tasting: which is more productive of the salvation of souls?

 

In my experience, I have not found non-accredited schools to be substandard to accredited schools.

I have even had colleges tell me they would rather have a student from a non-accredited school because they score higher and are better students overall.

Colleges are leaning more towards the score on the entrance exam instead of which school they attended.

And none of this has anything to do with being a 'good' soulwinner or missionary.

Some of the old time missionaries had little or no schooling...

 

Teaching is in a sense a missionary endeavor. As such the issue of accreditation in its effect has been risen. Read this article from 1995. Southwestern Seminary was put on probation because the trustees fired the president and according to ATS, violated academic freedom.

How can we trust the integrity of an accredited school when outside forces are gradually undermining our values in allowing trustees to do what they or the denomination wants them to do.. I was at Southern when ATS was considering probationary measures with the firing of Roy Honneycutt and other professors who did not adhere to the Abstract of Principles.

Many accredited schools are moving down a slippery slope to maintain the privilege of receiving Government funding.

The Idea of sub-standard seminaries is in the eye of the beholder. Whoever you talk to will defend their creditials. I have already seen this from SA earned degrees which are substandard to North American theological Education. North American Seminaries are substandard to European Theological Seminaries.

It seems those who throw the term "mail order" or "diploma Mills" are only seeing themselves as some kind of high and mighty person who has a certain level of Ed.
What have these Guys on these forums who hold "accredited" degrees actually done of significance. I have posted on another thread "accreditation or non-accreditation" those who have done something and do not have such high standard education (that is accredited).

These forums almost seem like a place for them to be viewed as someone of importance and an expert but remember they had a dissertation that dealt with a very narrow subject and they have probably not been involved in any real research or publication since.

Also, look at the ages of some of these people and you will see they are of a generation that placed more value in certificates and degrees than what one actually accomplishes. THIS IS THE BOOMER'S AND THEY ARE OUT OF TOUCH. There is a whole generation that has been home schooled and these kind of people see their graduation certificates as sub standard as well. These are actually people who really care about impressing others and get offended and begin to talk down on people when they challenge the importance of their degree.

Is there anyone on these forums that are Busters who hold a PhD . 40 and under?