Working from the theoretical approach of the scholarly personal narrative, the author critically reflects on the challenges and joys of teaching writing to underprepared and unprepared urban college students in biblical higher education. In this paper, she critiques curriculum content that primarily reinforces the hegemonic discourse and ideals of the dominant culture while ignoring diversity and/or negating the culture and context of individual learners. Conversant with thinkers and writers in the discipline of writing and rhetoric, her own evolution, insights, and experiences are circumscribed by her delineation of the efficacy of a learner-centered approach to the pedagogy of writing.

It is perhaps uncontroversial to suggest that the higher education sector of the United Kingdom is rapidly being re-conceptualised and reorganised along business lines. The trappings of the business world now figure prominently (if still a little uneasily) in the day to day life of the academy: ‘the language of efficiency, utility, inputs, outputs and project; the dominance of the mass over the individual; the rise of so-called ‘spreadsheet economics’; and the rejection of an alternative language of tutelage, efficacy and students’ (Preston, 2001, p. 353).2 The stark ascendance of this business symbolism masks the complexity of the cultural changes it announces. With fewer and fewer qualms, indeed hardly noticing, we now happily configure students as ‘consumers of educational output’ (Vanderstraeten, 2004, p. 195) and teachers as product providers; knowledge comes in packages and we are the retailers.

The challenges of communicating a Christian worldview in higher education are considerable. Many faculty passionately believe in the call to integrate faith and learning, yet they find it difficult to know whether they are actually doing it, and, more importantly, whether they have succeeded. As an indication of how difficult it can be, authors Walsh and Middleton (1984, p. 105), in The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview, ask just how is our worldview transformed? If our worldview determines the way we interpret the very agents of transformation, how do we break free from the hermeneutical circle? Their answer is, “Usually we don’t. It sometimes takes a worldview crisis.”

Worldviews are comprised of beliefs, values, assumptions, and commitments that provide the rationale for how people understand and order their lives. The influence of a person’s worldview is associated with educational issues such as identity formation, approaches to ethics and problem-solving, understanding systemic relationships, and citizenship (Jordan, Bawden, & Bergmann, 2008; Matthews, 2009). The concept has significant importance in Christian education to the point where several institutions claim its formation and guiding assumptions are central to their purpose.

It is generally assumed that formational outcomes in professional education result from an integrated approach to education. This qualitative study examined course feedback forms as well as the results of a follow-up survey administered 9 to 33 months post-course to determine which pedagogical methods and practices students evaluated as contributing to their professional formation as pastoral counselors. Professional formation was operationalized in terms of the development of participants’ theoretical knowledge of counseling, integrated knowledge of theology and psychology, and practice skills. The use of integrative exercises (i.e., in-class demonstrations, verbatim assignments), opportunities to observe and interact with the professor, and the number of direct contact hours, were identified as having a constructive effect on formational outcomes.

ABHE accreditation standards require colleges to demonstrate how all programs support the development of a biblical worldview. This requirement necessitates a search for teaching and assessment approaches that can best serve this essential goal. In this article, the author reports on qualitative research with ABHE schools and offers a pedagogical theory for supporting students’ lifelong development of worldview. This theory shows how college teachers can clarify their goals, set relevant objectives, employ effective teaching strategies, and use helpful assessment methods.

Experiential, mission-focused learning provided undergraduate college students the opportunity to apply practical understanding and cultural intelligence to historical awareness. This was accomplished through text-based content, cross-cultural pedagogy, and missional engagement with native populations to consider modern sociocultural and faith perspectives. The Dublin Experience provided 12 undergraduate students from Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the opportunity to engage Irish culture and study its unique history, while participating with a local inner-city mission, bringing faith, culture, and a personal human element to course learning.