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September 8, 2005
PROPAGATION: DEVELOPMENT AND SPREAD
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:3-9)
The first Charter purpose of the Academy of the New Church is the propagation of the Heavenly Doctrines and, by means of that, helping the Lord establish His kingdom on earth as the New Church. Propagation means to sow or spread seeds with the intention of producing a crop that brings value to those who need it. It implies both development and spread.
Every student who comes to the Academy is here primarily to learn the truths of the Word and to learn all subjects in light of those truths with the goal of regeneration by putting those truths into useful service to the Lord and to the neighbor from a love for them. It is the responsibility of New Church education to plant the seeds of truth in each student's mind, for seeds correspond to truths planted in a mind. If a student receives the truths with affection, and with the determination of applying them to her life, then she becomes spiritually productive. Such a student can become spiritual to a certain extent, or to a greater extent, or to an even greater extent. This is the meaning of the hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold. How productive she becomes is up to her. What is up to educators is to sow the truths in such a way that she is inspired to learn them, to love them and to live them.
Traditionally we have relied on the children of General Church parents to attend the Academy, and for that we are grateful. The Academy has for decades been successful in planting truths in their minds for the benefit of the Church and of society. But propagation also means to spread. This suggests that a sower who wants a good crop will sow his seeds wherever there is good ground to which he has access. How many students are there in the world whose minds are ready and eager to receive the truths of the Word as revealed in all three revelations given to the New Church? We in the Academy have the responsibility of teaching truths to all potential students who would benefit from their experience at the Academy and who would bring benefit to the Academy and so to the Church.
The Academy will maintain its current admissions policies to determine what students from outside the General Church might be the "good ground." But notice that the Sower of the parable is the Lord who teaches His truths to all people who seem receptive, not just to those who are the "good ground," who are those who will receive the truths and produce the goodness of life. He teaches people pictured as the "wayside," the "stony ground," and the "thorny places." These three types of people receive His truths, but do not produce goodness for one of three reasons: insufficient preparation, lack of sufficient interest, and the worries of life.
The New Jerusalem, symbol for the New Church on earth and pictured in the Book of Revelation, has two important features that the Church should tend to in its effort to grow. It has high walls and it has twelve gates. The high walls are to protect the Church from those who would harm it. The people depicted in the four types of ground in the Parable of the Sower are not among those who would harm the Church. They more belong to the idea of the twelve gates, for the gate allows people into the city. And a city with twelve gates (when most had only four gates in the ancient world) is built to be receptive to people coming into it. A person from outside the Church enters it by means of knowing what it teaches (the spiritual meaning of "twelve" and "gates"), especially about the Lord (the correspondence of a pearl, of which each gate was made). Whether or not that person stays in the Church and dwells there depends on to what extent she makes those teachings her own and strives to live according to them. If she is "good ground," she will dwell in the New Jerusalem
The Academy's current effort to plan strategically is to address both concepts of propagation: development and spread. We at the Academy want to provide the best possible education in all fields of study, and so ensure the best possible inspiration of our students to see the truths available to them in such a way that they are stimulated by them intellectually and emotionally. How might we improve the programs we have? How might we add important and beneficial programs? How might we support those programs through personnel, facilities, and services? This is the idea of development. At the same time, we firmly believe that programs can be maintained, developed and added to only if the Academy can recruit more students. This successful recruitment also addresses the second concept of propagation, that of spread.
In conclusion, the strategic plan provides for three major goals. It arises primarily from and focuses mainly on the Academy's first Charter purpose: the propagation of the Heavenly Doctrines. At the same time, it looks to the educational improvement of the Academy in terms of strengthening current programs and in terms of adding needed and desired programs. This addresses the Charter's second purpose: to promote education in all its various forms. For an illustration from the College, consider this. The quality of each of its current majors would improve with an increased enrollment of students who interact in the classes. Also, more students would allow each major to add courses to improve the choices of courses a student could make. More students would also lead to the creation of new majors that would be infilled by the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines, such as psychology or business. The Secondary Schools would be able to add programs that enrich the educational experience of the students, such as a full music program, or other sports that allow students greater choice in each season. Finally, the plan also provides for the Academy's financial security. The plan looks to making the Academy a more vital institution with an increasingly vital role to play in the world.
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