Welcome to Summit Theological Seminary
"Teaching God's Word to God's World"
2766 Airport Road, Peru, Indiana 46970, (765) 472-4111
College Catalog Changes
"Accreditation"
George L. Faull
It
was brought to our attention that our catalog said that “95% of our Instructors have taught or are currently teaching at other
colleges”. We want to correct this
error.
We
have had six of our instructors or lecturers pass away since that was
printed. If you will remember this is
why we stopped offering a Doctorate program at Summit Theological Seminary in
2004. Currently, only one of our
instructors has not taught at other institutions of higher learning. Please forgive the oversight of this error
in our catalog.
Remember,
too, we are not accredited by any accrediting association. You might wonder why we are uninterested in
accreditation. What is the advantage of
accreditation and is the price of accreditation too high of a price to pay?
Let
me illustrate accreditation.
Accreditation
is like “We use genuine GM parts.” Yes,
but NAPA Auto parts are cheaper and will do the same thing.
How
about “Phideaux is a registered puppy and costs $800.00”? Yes, but “Fido” was only $10.00 and still a
lovable little puppy.
How
about “We are an authorized Sharp dealer”.
Yes, but Dave’s Business Machines has kept my Sharp machines running for
25 years for a lot less money.
You
will hear Insurance men say, “This company has an A+ rating with A.M.
Best”. Yes, but William Penn
Association has paid millions in death claims and the premium is a lot less.
Ever
hear, “This restaurant is approved by Duncan Hines?” Yes, but you can get a good nourishing meal at Jake’s Diner.
Do
you get the point?
Accreditation
is all right for those who want it and are willing to pay a high price for it,
but it is totally unnecessary if an organized plan of acquiring knowledge is
all you want. When a Christian College
seeks accreditation they want the world to approve their methods of preparing
men for ministry.
We
are not convinced that the world knows what’s needed for training the
ministry. Should they have the right
and authority to tell the Church how to do it?
They often make schools change their professors, curriculum, tuition and
methods. We cater to those who do not have the need to have the world’s ok.
We
have no quarrel with those who want to put themselves in such a yoke. We prefer the freedom to educate, as we
think best. To us, the only
accreditation we need is the brotherhoods acceptance and use of our students
when they graduate. They also do not
owe a cent to anyone because there are no student loans. They are not $32,000.00 in debt at
graduation.
Until
the last few years, only a couple of our schools were regionally accredited and
they turned out some great preachers without accreditation! By the time I earned my Doctorate, Indiana
Christian University was the only school of the six that I attended that even
had “candidate status” with a regional accreditation association. Later three of them became accredited.
I
am concerned what our schools are going to do to keep their accreditation once
the acceptance of homosexuals and lesbians as faculty and students is mandated
for all accredited schools. That’s a
battle we will not have to face. It
seems to me that it would be better not to have ever had it, than to have had
it and lost it.
So,
which is it, “Phideaux” or “Fido”?
They’re both dogs and Fido is not as uppity and he doesn’t cost near as
much.