At CSU, Dockery advocates rebuilding community on Christian campuses

David Dockery, president of Trinity International University, was the speaker for the annual Lens conference at Charleston Southern University, hosted by the Whitfield Center for Christian Leadership.

Dockery, speaking on spiritual, theological and character formation, said one of the key issues facing Christian higher education is the need to rebuild community on campuses. We live in a world of rapid change, which is becoming increasingly more specialized. This has resulted in what Robert Putnam of Harvard calls “living as if we bowl alone.”

Romans 12:9-21 provides a framework for building community, according to Dockery. “It is believing the best about others, living and serving together in harmony, in a generous, hospitable, peaceful way,” he said.

Dockery used St. Augustine, who lived from A.D. 354 to 450 and was one of the church’s greatest theologians, as a role model. Augustine’s vision of Christlike community is not a collection of individuals but of men and women sharing life in God, confessing one faith, one Lord, one God.

Dockery said in addition to giving students an excellent education, Christian universities need to be training Luke 2:52 Christians: “Young men and women following the pattern of Jesus, who Himself increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.”

Christian higher education must move away from being isolated campuses to “engaging the culture as our calling, preparing men and women who can think, learn and serve in a Christian way,” he said.

Dockery said, “It begins by understanding the importance of worship as central to this kind of community. We need to rethink the role of chapel and the chaplain or campus minister and view them not as an auxiliary service but as essential. We’re talking about faith that permeates everything.”

Dockery said that this can be accomplished by moving beyond current assumptions and being creative in new ways.