An Arm of the Church
by Jack Connell '83
For three generations, my family's life has been profoundly shaped by two institutions. The first is the church. My grandfather gave his life to Christ at a small, Wesleyan Methodist church in western Pennsylvania; my grandmother at a Baptist church in the western New York village of Angelica (just down the road "a piece" from Houghton). They met, married and served together as pastor and pastor's wife for 50 years. Their seven children all grew up in the church and serve the Lord faithfully today (three of them in some form of pastoral ministry). My mother, the oldest of the seven, met and married a pastor, so I also grew up in a parsonage and had a childhood centered around participation in the church. And, in spite of all my youthful insistence that I would be anything but a pastor, I have just completed 20 years of pastoral service. We have been a church-saturated family for three generations, with my children comprising the fourth.
The second institution that has shaped my family for these
generations is Houghton College. The college where the young man
from western Pennsylvania went to receive a ministerial education
and ended up meeting the comely Baptist girl from Angelica?
Houghton. The college where they sent all seven of their children?
Houghton. The college where I attended and also met and married a
pretty Baptist girl? Houghton. The college where I will be sending
all four of my children? Houghton. (Some of them don't know this
yet, so please don't tell them.)
Of all the ways God has showered his grace into my life and the life of my family, these two institutions—the church and Houghton College—are central. So perhaps you can imagine the joy I have now as I serve in a position that allows me to strengthen the connections between the two institutions. As executive director of church relations, my role is to facilitate the development of sustained relationships between Houghton College and church communities—both inside and outside the Wesleyan denomination—for the mutual benefit of the college and the church.
This is not a new emphasis here. From its founding, Houghton has been deeply committed to its identity as a church-sponsored institution. We view ourselves as an arm of the church and desire to do everything we can to partner with the church in our shared desire to advance God's kingdom. Of course, the primary way Houghton serves the church is by equipping the next generation of leaders—young men and women who will be well-prepared to serve Christ and his church in all walks of life all around the world. And never has the world needed the kind of people Houghton produces more than it needs them today!
Beyond that central task, Houghton also desires to serve and to
provide resources to the church in other ways. We want to provide
seminars and workshops for pastors and church leaders that will
equip them for effective 21st -century ministry. We want to make our
faculty available to speak in local churches about timely topics and
issues in a way that will model "thinking Christianly" about
important matters. We want our campus to be a place where church
leaders can come for a day of solitude, or bring their church
leadership team for a planning retreat. We want our amazing students
to be available to serve in churches through music, sports, drama
and youth ministry. Put simply, we want all of the resources God has
so graciously given Houghton to be available to serve and strengthen
His church.
Houghton has a long record of doing this kind of thing. My first real exposure to Houghton came through a student ministry team called "Youth in One Accord" that came to our church for a weekend and made a deep impression on this junior high boy. I wanted to be like those Houghton students! Various church and denominational groups have used the Houghton campus often, for many types of events. Houghton faculty members have traveled to countless churches to teach Sunday school classes, fill the pulpit and offer seminars. I remember both my grandfather and my father coming to Houghton for "Minister's Conference" so that they could learn from world class pastors and theologians.
Houghton's heart has always been with the church. We have a unique role in the kingdom that will help the body of Christ flourish and prevail, and I am honored to be one small part of that ongoing partnership. May that partnership continue to be strengthened…for the sake of many future generations.
Jack Connell '83 is executive director of church relations and serves on the president's staff.
