Why WCBC Does Not Seek State Accreditation

By Dr. Paul Chappell, President

Establishing a Church

God called my family and me to the Antelope Valley in 1986 to pastor the Lancaster Baptist Church. Although the church had just a handful of people, it was obvious to us that God had great things in store. We committed ourselves to prayer, preaching, and soulwinning with a vision to saturate and reach our area with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was our firm conviction that a local church could still be old-fashioned in its doctrine and practice and yet reach a lost and dying world with the timeless message of the Word of God. The Lord blessed that conviction; and over these years, He has allowed us to see thousands of people saved, baptized, and added to the church. We want God to receive all the glory for what He has done, for He alone is worthy.

As the church grew, it became evident that a Bible college was needed in the western region of the United States to help train the young people who were being reached. God laid a burden upon us, because there was not a Bible college under the authority of a local church on the West Coast. Our young people were being forced to travel great distances to go to school to receive Bible training. Local secular colleges were not viable options.

The Bible plainly says in Jeremiah 10:2 that we are to “learn not the way of the heathen.” The Psalmist states in chapter one and verse one: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” As a pastor, I felt it was difficult, with these clear teachings in mind, to send teenagers off to humanistic state universities to have their faith challenged and ridiculed by unbelievers. Although some of our students have stayed at home and remained involved in the local church while attending a local secular college, the needs of those called to ministry were especially compelling.

At the same time, my heart was increasingly burdened for the West Coast. Hundreds of cities here and across our great nation were without a solid, soulwinning, Baptist church. I thought, “If God is allowing us to reach people here in Lancaster, why couldn’t He do that in cities just like ours here in the western region of the country?” The more I contemplated that, the more I realized that there was a great need to train more laborers in the environment of a local church for the harvest fields all over the world.

Quite frankly, our ministry was growing in such a way that adding another ministry such as a Bible college was an intimidating thought. With the daily needs of our people and a growing Christian day school, continual building programs were already a necessity. As a pastor, one feels those pressures “24/7,” and it would have been easy to throttle back into a comfort zone of ministry. But God kept taking me back to the one thing that Jesus asked us to pray for – laborers! (Matthew 9: 8) I also knew that God has chosen the local church as His vehicle of ministry today, that He has empowered it, and has promised His protection. (Matthew 16:18)

It became clear to me that if God were going to use a Bible college to have an impact on the West Coast and on the regions beyond, it would need to be founded under the authority of a local, New Testament, Bible-centered, soulwinning Baptist church. Jesus Christ purchased the church with His own blood and has ordained it as the institution that can bring world change and revival.

The College as a Church Ministry

Thus, after much prayer and counsel from other godly men, the Lancaster Baptist Church birthed, by a unanimous vote, West Coast Baptist College in the fall of 1990. We vowed to God at that time that we would “keep the main thing the main thing.” That is, our first and foremost work was to keep the local church strong in its convictions, pure in its practice, and fervent in its vision for the lost souls of men. How could we possibly have a future training place for men and women of God if we were not practicing what we were preaching? It had become our responsibility as a local church to provide a model of ministry for the students to learn from and to be involved in while receiving their education.

West Coast Baptist College was not started to compete with other Bible colleges or Christian universities, nor was it intended to be a test of loyalty among fundamental Baptist brethren. We thank God for every Christian school that is endeavoring to train people for God’s work, and have enjoyed good fellowship with the presidents of these fine schools. We value their counsel and have tried to glean from their experiences. I rejoice that there are presently thousands of young people training in the godly atmosphere of a Christian college.

God laid it upon my heart, however, to define the mission of West Coast Baptist College within the scope of the local church ministry. While there is a need for Christian doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and the like, our purpose is solely to train young people for full-time ministry. All of our students take a Bible major, because it has been our distinctive as Baptists to make God’s Word the sole rule of faith and practice. For God to bless our graduates with His kind of success, they would have to be firmly grounded in the Bible. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”(Joshua 1:8) The Bible major here at West Coast is not just a sampling of Bible classes but consists of nearly half of the credit hours required in the four-year program.

Complementing that classroom study is our constant attempt to keep our church and chapel pulpit “hot” with compassionate, Bible-based, practical preaching. There is honestly not a day on our campus, including Saturday in our prayer meetings and soulwinning rallies, when someone is not standing before our students with an open Bible preaching God’s truths.

Along with the students’ intense study of God’s Word, the general courses of English grammar, composition, speech, history, computer skills, etc. are taught. These classes are vital to everyone’s training, but particularly to those who are preparing to communicate the greatest message on earth! Every student chooses a second major in a particular field of ministry. Pastoral studies, evangelism, missions, church ministries, music, Christian education, youth ministry, and secretarial studies comprise those fields of study. Thus, each student can focus his training in the direction that God has called him to labor.

From the outset, one of my greatest concerns was assembling not only a capable and experienced faculty, but also men and women who were godly and committed to the Great Commission given to the local church. My goal was not simply to bring in educators, but to create a team which would serve as models and mentors to the next generation of servant-leaders. All of our faculty have bachelor’s degrees, our department heads have master’s degrees, and our administrators have earned doctorate degrees. And while we facilitate continued education for all of our faculty and staff, I am thrilled that every instructor is a soulwinner and involved in the ministry on a daily basis of the Lancaster Baptist Church. No one here at West Coast “just” teaches—each one lives and leads in the ministry he is teaching. Learning must take place not only in the “head,” but also in the “heart” and the “life.” No one on our staff considers his “job” done when the class period ends, but endeavors to be a continuous example of what is being taught. I often say, “Things are better caught than taught,” and our faculty and administration live that truth daily.

When the Apostle Paul was instructing young Timothy for the ministry to which God had called him, he said: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine.” (I Timothy :16) I believe that for someone to be fully trained for the ministry, he must be taught sound living as well as sound doctrine.

Our students are not perfect; but I am thankful that at West Coast Baptist College they are in an environment of training that fosters godly living and a passion for soulwinning.

What About Accreditation?

As I travel, I am often asked by sincere people if we are pursuing accreditation at West Coast. While there are some fine colleges that have taken that route and I respect their decision, it is not our intention to do so. There are several reasons for this decision, not the least of which is my belief that the local church should have no approving agency over its ministry. I believe this position to be consistent with the Scriptures and with our Baptist distinctives. I suppose it would be less of an issue for a para-church organization or college to consider and agree to such oversight. In our situation, West Coast is clearly a ministry of a local church.

Recently, we took our students to a Dodgers game in Los Angeles. When a fight broke out near them in the bleachers, nearly 600 of our students stood to their feet and began to sing “Victory in Jesus,” much to the amazement of the crowd. Just across the way was a group of several hundred students from a near-by accredited Christian university, who, with their dress (or should I say, lack of it), their language, and dancing to music between innings, were far from the mission that school had been founded on years ago.

I do not blame the lack of standards on accreditation. My concern is not about accreditation, per se. Accreditation is only a reflection of one’s values, as in the example of someone who desires accreditation so he can become a highly-compensated engineer. I’m not willing to change the core purpose of West Coast to accommodate this particular set of values. If a college is driven to accreditation for monetary purposes, the Scriptures are clear respecting the future of such institutions.

Now how do colleges like these get off track? A study of history would reveal that educational institutions begin to waver when they become more interested in what the world thinks of them than what God insists upon. The world was shocked at the scriptural insight and wisdom of the disciples, who were labeled as ignorant and unlearned men. These disciples had not gone to “their” schools, but had “been with Jesus.” It is quite obvious that they did not need an “approved” education to turn the world upside down with the Gospel!

Many students today are being told that if they want to be successful and compete with the world, they must have an accredited education. I’m sorry, but I don’t find that principle in the Word of God. In fact, for students training to be preachers of God’s Word, there are clear qualifications in the Scriptures. (I Timothy , Titus 1) Graduating from an accredited institution is not a requirement. This is not stated to downplay academics. We must be honest, that there are many men who have been greatly used of God whose training came from local church-based ministries. Here on the West Coast, many of our good pastors are Bible college graduates from “nonaccredited” colleges.

I am not “glorying” in our non-accreditation. I believe it is wrong for any college to glory in accreditation or in non-accreditation. We must glory in the Lord. We are not to “think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think,” or “compare ourselves one with another,” but to “glory in the Lord” and make sure that we receive His, “Well done.”

For the accredited college, the approval of an accrediting agency becomes its “life’s blood.” In fact, one college accreditation officer recently stated, “Accreditation is the life blood of the campus. We can’t function without it.”¹

Frankly, it is my firm conviction that the “life blood”of a Christian college should be nothing other than the living Word of God itself. “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Today at West Coast Baptist College, our enrollment continues to climb because many pastors and parents across the country want their young people to be trained under the ministry of a sound, New Testament, local church Bible college. They, like us, believe that the local church is God’s institution for evangelism, education, and spiritual renewal.

The following excerpt from the life of Oswald Chambers reminds us that the greatest need in the lives of Christians today is a fresh outpouring of God’s power.

Oswald Chambers wrote one of Christianity’s greatest books, but he never knew it.

He had early displayed the gifts of an artist, and his future seemed assured by a scholarship to the leading art centers of Europe. But, being won to Christ by Charles Spurgeon, he declined the scholarship and enrolled in Dunoon Bible Training College.

He told his family, “Do not be sorry that I cannot go for a university curriculum, maybe I shall be best without it. I will to the limit of my power educate myself for His sake.”

He further explained in his diary: “From my childhood the persuasion has been that of a work strange and great, an experience deep and peculiar.”

While at Dunoon, Chambers heard Dr. F. B. Meyer speak about the Holy Spirit. He returned to his room feeling he knew nothing of spiritual power, and he was miserable. “Nothing but the grace of God and the kindness of friends kept me out of an asylum,” he said. “I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud.”

Then he found a verse of Scripture— Luke 11:1 , “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

“I claimed the gift of the Spirit in dogged committal on Luke 11:1 ,” he said. “I had no vision of heaven or angels. I was dry and empty as ever, no power or realization of God. Then I was asked to speak at a meeting, and forty souls came to the front.” Chambers had found a power and peace in ministry that impacted the world both during and after his life.²

Truly, the need in this hour is the power of God!

Arguments for Accreditation

Christian colleges that are accredited will say that such status is harmless and greatly benefits the student. These benefits, they say, are embodied in three primary areas. The first is in the realm of credibility. The accrediting agency ensures a student that the institution is doing what its mission statement says it should do.

The agency guarantees that no fraudulent degrees are awarded. While this is a noble goal, it is certainly not the only way to assure the credibility of education. West Coast Baptist College is recognized by the Bureau of Private Post-Secondary Education in the State of California as a college that operates under the guidelines of such an institution that only grants degrees in line with our status as a Bible college. Again, as a ministry under the authority of a Baptist church, I believe our utmost credibility is found in being faithful stewards of God’s Word. This assures the student that the curriculum will be true to the Bible and that our faculty and staff will be godly in character and committed to the purpose God has given all Christians—that of carrying out the Great Commission. When the standards for curriculum and faculty are truly biblically-based, it hardly seems possible that such education could be called fraudulent.

The second area cited as an advantage to accreditation is in the area of financial assistance. As the cost of education continues to rise, the need to offset this burden for the student is great. Very few young people today can afford to put themselves through college without help from somewhere. Accreditation makes available government monies through grants, scholarships, and benefits in various amounts. Students can also take advantage of low-interest loans such as the Stafford loans and Plus loans. While some good schools choose to accept the government scrutiny that comes with this money, it has been our practice to teach our students to rely upon God to meet their needs. Where God guides—He provides. That level of trust and faith is one of the most important lessons a Bible college student can learn. Our students certainly do not expect the government to pay their salary upon graduation, nor do they anticipate having the kind of salary that would enable them to pay back large debt incurred through federal loans. They are headed toward ministry where prayer, hard work, and sacrifice will be the norm. We have met many students recently graduated from accredited colleges with a tremendous burden of debt on their shoulders from student loans.

A third argument for an accredited degree is the ease in which these credits can be transferred to another institution of higher learning. This is particularly cited in cases of education majors who wish to teach in the public schools. While this may be the goal of some of our Christian young people, I wonder if it is advisable to throw out the principle of “not sitting in the seat of the scornful” just because it now involves a master’s degree or doctoral program? It would seem more consistent for those Christian colleges who are accredited to establish their own accredited graduate programs rather than force students to give up a Christian atmosphere to pursue so-called “quality programs.” Additionally, it is my belief that if a student feels called to teach in a secular school, it is of utmost importance that he be firmly planted in a solid Bible-preaching church while he pursues that degree so as not to compromise his beliefs and convictions. If God is calling someone to teach in the public schools, then He is putting him there to be a light. Contradictory then, to that purpose, would be the dimming of that light by secular humanistic training. Furthermore, there are some accredited Christian colleges who will accept the credits from a non-accredited Bible college, should the student and his pastor feel the student would be best served by transferring to such a school.

We must also ask how much scrutiny and how many approving processes are we willing as Christians to follow in theses days? For example, the Board of Regents of California is currently refusing to accept high school diplomas from schools that teach creationism. Thus, a diploma granted by a Christian school will not allow students to enter the U.C. system because of the bias against creationism. According to the Office of the President of the California Board of Regents,

In establishing and implementing the ‘a-g’ subject area requirements, U.C. faculty’s main interest is that students entering the University are well-prepared to be successful at U.C. The content of the course outlines submitted for approval is not consistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the scientific community. As such, students who take these courses may not be well-prepared for success if/when they enter science course/programs at U.C.³

The state educators did not attack private school curriculum in the area of academic excellence. They are aware that our students consistently test higher than public schools. Their bias is against biblical creation in particular.

It is unthinkable to consider that Christian high schools would alter their biblical position to gain favor with the state; but strange trends are abundant in America today, and I, for one, believe it is time to draw a line in the sand on the issue of seeking the acceptance of this world’s system and philosophy.

It is not my purpose to criticize Christian leaders who choose to offer liberal arts courses or who seek accreditation for their programs. It is obviously the preference of some to seek accreditation, even though it is not a government requirement for a Bible college. At the same time, I never tolerate or excuse low quality academics at West Coast Baptist College. James 4:17 teaches us that it is a grievous sin to do less than our best for Jesus Christ. But through the centuries our forefathers have fought, and, in some cases, given their lives for the freedom to make God’s Word their sole pattern and authority for ministry.

The Need for God’s Power

As Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church, I refuse to pattern our ministry after the “seeker-sensitive” mentality of the modern church-growth teachers. Nor will I lead, as President, our college in the “market-driven” philosophy of modern-day educators. It is our desire to be Saviour-sensitive and Bible-driven in all of our decisions for our church, college, and Christian day school. Furthermore, I do not want to place myself in a position where I would ever be tempted to minimize the importance of an academically-qualified and spiritually-growing faculty. For example, one danger I see is that since accredited Christian colleges must have a certain number of professors with earned doctorates to maintain accreditation, there would be a temptation to maintain a professor who was not obedient in an area of the Christian life such as soulwinning, or even church attendance, to keep the status with the accreditation agency, and subsequent cash flow. We would rather not place ourselves in that position.

I may be old-fashioned (I can live with that criticism), but I remain convinced that if a student is properly trained by godly and qualified teachers in both spiritual and academic areas, hears Spirit-anointed preaching on a daily basis, keeps his heart hot by serving in the ministry of a local church, and has the power of God upon his life upon graduation, God will use that student to impact the world regardless of the cultural expectations. It is that kind of graduate whom God has used in the past and the world is waiting to hear from today!

Endnotes
1. Quote from Dorothy Williams, Accreditation Supervisor. Accreditation Team to Visit, Review A.V. College. Antelope Valley Press, January 26, 2004.

2. Morgan, Robert J., On This Day, Nashville,
Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.

3. Quote from the Christian Law Association Legal Alert,
January 1 , 2004.