The Working Class

Welcome

  Greetings from North Park University, and welcome to our newly redesigned website. 

Whether you are a prospective or current student, a graduate, parent, or friend, we hope this site will give you a new way to see the face and hear the voice of our university. You can explore academic programs, apply for admission, keep up with news and events from our campus and community, and cheer on the Viking athletic teams. You can even read about the experiences of people on campus through our new North Park Voices section, which features blogs from students and employees, podcasts, musical productions, and more.

North Park University is a Christian academic community open to all who seek to learn. We are urban in our context and outlook, and we are multicultural in our embrace of people from throughout the city, across the country, and around the world. Our task is to continually renew our commitment to this mission and identity as we seek to more effectively engage audiences in the years to come.

We view our new website as a significant step in that direction, and we hope you will enjoy taking a closer look. 

–Dr. David Parkyn, President

   

The world awaits a Josiah transformation

Recently I preached a sermon at North Park University on the life of Josiah.  The story of his life is summarized by the prophetic author of the Bible in the following words, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” (2 Kings 23:25). I was struck by the fact that Josiah was just 8 years old when he began seeking God. He was 26 years old when he initiated and oversaw a nationwide turning towards God. It was an amazing societal transformation, which touched every aspect of the life the society- religion, sociology, economics, etc.

 

 In the history of the Church, revivals and societal transformations have always been centered around young people. This is true of the history of the USA.  Noble prizewinning economist, Robert Fogel, asserts in his profound study of the history of economics in the USA entitled The Fourth Great Awakening that there have been three Great Awakenings in the USA.  The First Great Awakening in the mid-1700’s resulted in the birth of a new nation. The second Great Awakening in the mid-1800s resulted in the emancipation of slaves. The third Great Awakening in the beginning of the 20^th century initiated, the launched the What Would Jesus Do movement, which resulted in the freedom of poor and working class America. Each of these movements began as a spiritual movement within the Church, was initiated by young people, and resulted in huge complex transformations.

 

Fogel claims that the USA and the world are awaiting a Fourth Great Awakening. Two things stem clear to me. One, this awakening will also begin with young people, and Two, this awakening will be a global one. It will have to be initiated by Josiahs or our time- High School students, college students, 20-something young people. These Josiahs will come from different parts of the world, and will initiate a worldwide transformation.

 

 This is the reason I teach at a university like North Park University. 

–R. Boaz Johnson

Does God lurk?

“My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God’s lurking places, to attend all the oratorios and the operas in nature.”    Henry David Thoreau

 My favorite line from this Thoreau quote is “…to know God’s lurking places…” 

Does God lurk? 

Does God hide behind a tree, wait for me to walk by and shout “SURPRISE!”?  

I need to be watchful and alert if I’m going to find God’s lurking places.  I caught one last week when a shower of gold fell out from behind the clouds as the sun set.  God was lurking under the waves too when we saw whales playing in the Pacific.  Maybe the times I’m most surprised is when I find God lurking in my office.  God shows up when I’m talking to people, when we’re trying to figure out where God is at and what God is doing.  And then I catch just a glimpse as he runs behind the next tree and yells, “SURPRISE!”

Where have you seen God lurking?

 

Sue Braun, University Ministries-Small Group Coordinator