Showing Compassion

“The Bible says that everything you do should be done to the glory of God,” says Ruth Chastain, associate professor of nursing. “Nurses take care of people when they are most vulnerable and they need someone to show compassion, which is what we try to teach to our students.”

Chastain says that nursing is a caring discipline, a profession that requires many levels of understanding – physically, spiritually and emotionally.

“When a person truly cares about someone, they desire to be as competent as possible,” says Chastain. It’s a trait that points to the importance of what integrating faith and learning can really do.

Dr. Susan Jacob, dean of Union’s School of Nursing, says that nurses have had a long history of being attuned to the spiritual needs of their patients.

“Nurses have played a key role in bridging the gulf between physicians and clergy by suggesting that they talk with each other about the needs of the patients whom they have in common,” explains Jacob.

Chastain agrees. “I was talking to a friend of mine several years ago and we both agreed that nursing is faith-based,” says Chastain. “I think it would be harder for a non-Christian to be a caring nurse. They can take care of the physical needs, but they’re missing that faith foundation to care for the spiritual.”

For years that spiritual element of healing took a back seat to the scientific. Quite recently, however, scientific studies have supported the role of faith within the healing process, and all evidence indicates that religious activities like prayer and church attendance help recovery and even prevent illness.

“As far as utilizing a Christian worldview with nursing, it’s the same worldview that I have in my person life,” says Chastain. “I go back to the two greatest commandments – love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Both of these commandments include relationships, and I think that all throughout the Bible we learn that we have responsibility and accountability in all relationships, which can relate back to nursing. We have a relationship with those we care for.”

Shaping Minds

In classrooms all across the nation, students are quietly learning and studying – preparing to be the leaders of our nation’s future. From preschool through college, the role that faith should play in these classrooms has been the subject of great debate in secular communities – yet, many Christian experts and scholars, however, believe faith is a natural component for training future teachers.

“Integration of faith and learning and living is the one thing that keeps you steady because you never have to stop and ask ‘how am I going to approach this?’ because it comes from the heart,” says Dr. Ralph Leverett, professor of special education and director of the Center for Educational Practice at Union.

“America’s founding fathers saw education and morality intertwined as one,” says Dr. Tom Rosebrough, dean of the School of Education and Human Studies. “They followed the model of Aristotle who advocated that knowledge and character development was vital in the education of citizens. Without an educated citizenry to elect leaders, our democracy could not survive.”

Rosebrough adds that the university has an enormous responsibility to teach the whole person.

“While our worldviews over time do grow and become more refined and sophisticated, Christians know that some elements of their worldview do not change as society changes,” explains Rosebrough. “The future is very bright for those Christian universities, like Union, that continue to focus on character formation because society needs them – we are just now realizing that life as we know it could become disastrous when people don’t know how to live.

“Christian higher education must focus on the model of Christ, who taught His disciples how to truly live,” says Rosebrough.

Changing Perceptions

Since the 1980s, greed and a cutthroat mentality that often ignores Christian ethics have characterized the business profession. By learning how to incorporate their faith into what they learn, Union students are receiving strong academic preparation for becoming leaders in their chosen professions. Those same future leaders, however, are also being shaped to become leaders with a different spirit and Christ-like attitude.

“We strive to teach students good work ethic, to be diligent and continue with character formation as they work through developing their own Christian worldview,” says Dr. P Walton Padelford, professor of economics and interim dean of the School of Business Administration. The key, Padelford, says is basic Christian doctrine.

“It’s the Christian doctrines of the creation and fall of man,” explains Padelford. “The fall has impacted all of life and naturally makes our relationships difficult. Students need to know that when they go into the workplace they will have problems, which primarily exist because of sin. On the positive side, though, we need to learn to walk with Christ so we are able to respond correctly to those situations.”

A response which is sure to guarantee success in any occupation.