Community college-local church relationships: the variables of interaction

In order to determine which variables appear to have an impact upon the relations of community colleges with local church congregations in their service areas, a case study was carried out within a single community college district.

Data were gathered from personal interviews with administrators from several levels within the college, and with local clergy whose churches are currently interacting with the college. Additional data were derived from a questionnaire sent to a random sample of churches within the college's service area. Thirteen categories of variables were identified.

The college was found to have three distinct patterns of interaction with local churches: it used church facilities to offer community-based continuing education classes, it worked directly with churches which wished to sponsor adult basic education, and it worked through other community service agencies which had already established programs in local churches.

Since the setting for this study was not entirely typical of all community college districts, the findings were examined from the perspective of general system theory in an attempt to improve their applicability to other settings.