The Kuyper Collective: Learning In and Out of the Classroom

Driven by the question “How do we equip the church so that we can effectively serve?” several of Kuyper’s professors have banded together to create the Kuyper Collective podcast. Their goal is to inform the broader Kuyper community to serve the church more effectively by exploring topics that affect the church and society as a whole.

According to professor of Bible and theology, Dr. Branson Parler, the Kuyper Collective demonstrates that “What we do as a college is not just give people grades and degrees, but that we’re engaged with questions that we all wrestle with in life, culture, society and in our churches.” These podcasts, designed to be a platform to discuss these important issues, are available on Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify and Anchor podcasts.

Some episodes featured on the podcast include professor of Bible and theology, Dr. Dan Kroeze, discussing the Gospel of John; professor of youth ministry, Dr. Brian Telzerow, presenting on relational ministry; and Dr. Parler talking about polyamory and the Bible.

While some of these podcasts are formatted as question and answer interviews, others are recordings of lectures given at Faculty and Alumni Scholar Day, including one given by Kuyper alumna Betsy DeVries (2012) on preaching and eschatology.

The name “Kuyper Collective” intentionally points to the fact that Kuyper is a community of learning and teaching. According to Parler, “Kuyper is an academic community, a spiritual community, and a community that is engaged around both big ideas and questions of practical application—we are a praxis and service-focused ministry.” The Kuyper Collective seeks to reach students, professors, staff, alumni, church leaders, laypeople and anyone else connected to the church around issues that matter to them.

“There is a value to equipping and learning that goes far beyond getting a degree,” said Parler. “I would love for us to think about Kuyper as an equipping and educating institution first and a degree-granting institution second. The Kuyper Collective is just one very small step in that direction.”

Eventually, the Kuyper Collective would like to feature more alumni, current students, and other members of the Kuyper community. They are also open to topic requests.

As the Kuyper Collective continues to grow, their goals are to produce more content, engage more deeply with the community, and help the church to respond well to current issues. “Our hope is that this will be a tool God uses to further His kingdom. But for now,” said Parler with a smile, “we’re a podcast.