Taylor University Shows How Christian Colleges Can Grow
Taylor University in rural Indiana is showing how small Christian colleges can thrive even at a time of declining enrollment. The interdenominational Christian school has more than doubled its enrollment since 2021, growing from about 1,700 students to about 3,500.
“I think that the Lord has taken a series of providential circumstances at a particular moment and has galvanized energy and excitement for the university,” President Michael Lindsay told CBN News.
Part of that energy is a $100 million effort called the Mainstreet Mile Initiative, whose mission: to revitalize both the university and the town of Upland.
“We were seeing Taylor really thriving and growing,” said Andrea Masvero, executive director of 1846 Enterprises. “And then we had this town that was struggling and not necessarily thriving. Businesses were closing and leaving town. There wasn’t enough housing. And we really saw this as a strategic opportunity to be a good neighbor and to enhance Upland”.
Lindsay said the university’s approach is rooted in scripture.
“All of this is really trying to take seriously the admonition in Jeremiah 29, where the faithful are told, ‘Seek the peace and the prosperity of the place where God has called you. If it prospers, you, too, will prosper,'” he said.
Students and faculty are bound by Taylor’s so-called “Life Together Covenant,” which requires them to sign a list of spiritual commitments.
“We welcome students from a wide variety of Christian traditions,” Lindsay said. “Everything from Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic to Charismatic and Pentecostal. What we try to do is to build an environment where community worship is one that focuses on the essentials, the centrality of the word, the vibrancy of student-led worship and to help fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
Lindsay believes this clarity may be part of the reason for Taylor’s growth.
“We saw this in the Ivy League, in recent years, where they just aren’t willing to sort of make a clear statement,” he said. “Those institutions are struggling on the enrollment front. Those of us who have chosen to be clear and compelling, we’re thriving.”
Although students are starting the fall semester with plenty of changes and new experiences, one thing remains the same: a promise to keep Jesus at the center.
“I hope five years from now, people would say that Taylor is more faithful to the Lord and has more spiritual vitality and energy among its students and its graduates,” Lindsay said.
“I also hope that we are in a position of leadership among faith-based universities, helping to show it’s possible to be a university that’s grounded in Christian convictions and is willing to take courageous stands even when higher education is waffling on many of the big questions of life.”
–Alan Goforth
