A Letter to our Alumni

Last week I spoke with an angry alumnus. Thankfully, he didn’t graduate from Horizon and he wasn’t angry with us. But our conversation made me think.

The alumnus graduated from Alliance University, New York—formerly Nyack College, the original school of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. On July 1, the school announced it will be closing at the end of August, citing financial struggles and concluding 140 years of ministry. It is only the latest in a spate of Christian colleges currently closing or in crisis, the news of which people forward to me weekly.

What upset my friend is that as an alumnus, he says, he didn’t know about the school’s troubles. He’d liked to have helped. And that made me think.

When I started at Horizon fifteen years ago, the college was in a period of crisis and our financial appeals reflected that. When I became president ten years ago, I silently vowed not to make crisis appeals—and I am not making one today. But my friend made me realize there is a fine line between making crisis appeals and communicating our needs to those invested in our ministry. That’s the line I’m walking here.

In short, while our student numbers and the diversity of our programs continue to grow, financial giving has not kept up with our needs.

To attract and train Christian leaders, we depend on individual, church, and corporate support to subsidize the cost of student education by approximately 60%. Especially with the topsy-turvy turns of the world since 2020—in the midst of which we undertook a complete campus relocation!—giving to Horizon has not rebounded or kept up. To maintain our growth trajectory and to adequately serve our mission, we need to increase giving by $450,000.00 per year.

We’re doing all we can to operate healthily and as responsibly lean as possible. We’ve introduced innovative partnerships to broaden our constituency among multiple denominations and to expand programming by cooperating with other educational institutions. We’ve launched an accredited seminary with diverse Masters programs and have invested in state-of-the-art technology to offer quality, engaging, online learning anywhere. Recently, we reorganized to reduce our staffing and implement multiple operational efficiencies. We are growing and are in exciting conversations that promise significant opportunities for further substantial growth—watch this space!

But we cannot do this without help.

Will you pray for us as we fundraise, recruit students, and seek to serve the Lord in this ministry?

Although last week I spoke with one upset alumnus from another institution, I coincidentally also connected with several happy Horizon alumni who represent multiple eras of our ministry and who each are serving Christ in various contexts around the world. I remain amazed at the impact our alumni make locally, nationally, and globally—as I’m sure you are, too. For that reason, I’m encouraged to communicate our needs to you. Like my friend, I believe you’d want to know because you’d like to help. Thank you!