Some Churches Consider Pepperdine Too Liberal

Of the 700 Churches of Christ in California, more than 100 show little or no interest in Pepperdine University’s annual Bible lectures because of the school’s perceived liberal direction, according to a campus administrator.

Jerry Rushford of Agoura Hills, director of the Malibu university’s church relations, said that most of the conservative congregations that are critical of Pepperdine are also termed “noninstitutional” churches, which oppose passing on members’ financial donations to church agencies, colleges, media ministries or other institutions.

They also tend to be smaller in membership and “out of the mainstream,” Rushford said.

One of those congregations, the Canoga Park Church of Christ, which is actually in Winnetka, does send money to church workers in Florida and Vietnam. “But the money does not go through a missionary organization,” said Pastor Dennis Kilgo, whose congregation averages about 85 people on Sunday mornings.

As for who is in the mainstream, Kilgo said he would characterize three other universities related to the Churches of Christ that way--Abilene Christian in Texas, David Lipscomb University in Nashville and Harding University in Searcy, Ark.--while Pepperdine “is more liberal or modernist in direction.”

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Pastor Stan Mitchell of the Glendale Church of Christ--not a noninstitutional church--believes that some noninstitutional churches “become paranoid” about the notion that giving church money to other church-related organizations puts them at risk of being controlled by those organizations.

But Mitchell conceded that in general, Churches of Christ “hold on to their independence fiercely.” His congregation, which averages 190 people on Sundays, does not contribute part of its budget to Pepperdine but does have a women’s group that raises money for scholarships to Pepperdine for students who are church members, he said.

The Glendale congregation also has a 70-member Korean fellowship meeting at its church. Likewise, the Van Nuys and Woodland Hills Churches of Christ, both of which have about 170 members, accommodate Spanish-speaking fellowships on their grounds.

One of the largest San Fernando Valley-area churches is the 300-member Pacoima Church of Christ, a predominantly African American congregation.

Rushford said that the hundreds of church members who are faculty, administrators and staff at Pepperdine mostly attend either the Malibu church on campus, the Culver-Palms church in Culver City or one of four churches north of the Santa Monica Mountains--in Woodland Hills, the Conejo Valley, Simi Valley and Camarillo.