'Pain, grief, with a sense of joy and unity': Lincoln Christian University says goodbye

Brian Messner plunks down on his desk a manila envelope full of notes from his former students telling him what a difference he made in their lives.

A 29-year teaching veteran in Lincoln Christian University's history department, Messner admitted his favorite came from a student working at a state agency. She thanked him for making her write shorter papers.

"I never thought anybody would thank me for (that), but those kinds of things are meaningful," Messner said.

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The 80-year-old university in Lincoln, Ill., announced in October that it would be closing at the end of the academic year.

Now the time is here.

While many see the May 4 commencement as the public end of the university, the Lincoln name will live on.

In an unusual move, Lincoln Christian University is transferring its seminary to Missouri-based Ozark Christian College.

Recently, President Silas McCormick announced Lincoln Christian Institute, the non-credit arm of Lincoln Christian University, would continue to operate as an educational resource for churches.

As the clock ticks down, McCormick, who's been with the university since 2012, said "we've tried really hard to end well."

Jeremiah Maurer, a graduating senior from Dansville, Michigan, said he imagined a mix of emotions at commencement.

"It's going to be pain," Maurer said. "It's going to be grief, all stirred together with a sense of joy and unity."

Why is the school closing?

Enrollment at Lincoln Christian University was around 200 students in the fall, while it had close to 1,000 a little more than a decade ago.

In 2022 the school announced that it was eliminating all of its non-ministry degree programs, making it a predominantly online institution focused on bible theology and ministry. It cut staff, trimmed its athletic program and shuttered its residence halls.

While reducing debt and other expenses, there was one thing it couldn't get past.

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"(Prospective students) were convinced we weren't going to be able to make it and that sort of became a self-fulfilling prophecy," McCormick said.

A little more than a month after the university's announcement, cross-town Lincoln College announced it was closing.

A lot of people even in town confused the two schools, McCormick said, and suddenly "the oxygen out of the room."

'A herd-thinning stage'

McCormick doesn't think the university's closing is a unique situation.

"I think this is a downstate Illinois thing and that's replicated in other Midwest rural communities," he said. "If you drive from southern Illinois to northern Illinois, you see a lot of empty grade schools."

Besides demographics, there is also changing public opinion, Messner said, about going to college and a workforce industry that doesn't necessarily require college degrees.

McCormick believes higher education is at "a herd-thinning stage."

"Higher education is a political target from all political sides right now," he said. "Our culture is skeptical right now of institutions, authority and expertise in a way it hasn't been in a long time and higher ed is all of that."

Like losing family

John Lamb, a senior from Peoria, said he is moving to Joplin, Missouri, to finish his preaching degree at Ozark Christian College.

He applauded the university for securing transfer agreements to make sure all students who weren't graduating had places to go.

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Still, it's like losing family in a way, Lamb admitted.

"This has been like a place of stability and safety for a lot of people, and it's sad to see them suddenly thrust out of that," he said.

'Next life'

In March, the university reached an agreement to sell the remaining campus, including the administration building, to Open Arms Christian Fellowship for $800,000.

The church, which has a robust outreach program, already owned other buildings that made up the campus, including Hargrove Chapel and Laughlin Athletic Center.

McCormick admitted there was a fair amount of anger and hostility, especially from alumni, when cuts were made in 2022.

This time around, "I've been pleasantly surprised by how gracious and kind people have been to me and to us and I think a huge part of that was how hard we worked to try to make the best from what we've got here in our next life," he said.

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An endowment is going with the seminary to Missouri and LCU will whittle down its debt to under $500,000 by June 1. The school's archives have gone to Abilene Christian University and a shipping container of 30,000 books is bound for a Christian institute in Ukraine.

McCormick suspected this commencement will be sadder because "it's the last day it's going to feel like a university.

"I think we're probably all going to get hit different ways," he said.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com /@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: 80-year-old university near Springfield, Illinois set to close