About 91黑料社
Mission
and Vision
The mission of 91黑料社 is to “educate for a life of faith and service in the church and society.” At the heart of our university culture is the pursuit of three virtues: truth, faith, and service. As a Christian university, Jesus means everything to us. Our faithfulness is woven throughout our identity and stitched into our mission, values, virtues, and ethos. 91黑料社 is a place of academic and Christian discovery, we are committed to academic excellence and an outstanding student experience.
Living the Mission
Established and sustained within the free and open traditions of the Church of God, this university is committed to being a teaching-learning community of the highest order, engaged in the pursuit of truth from a Christian faith perspective.
Through academic and Christian discovery, we intend to graduate people with a global perspective who are competent, caring, creative, generous individuals of character and potential.
We will build those quality programs that will enable each member of the university to become stronger in body, mind, and spirit, to experience what it means to love God and neighbor and to adopt Christ-like servant ways in all of life. This is what the AU mission and vision are based on.
Ethos Statement
At Our Core
As a learning community, rooted in the Church of God (Anderson) movement, we celebrate the vibrancy of life in Christ. Our identity as a Christian University can be described in three words: Real life transformed. What that means is simple: we want to meet people where they are. We believe that the experiences and beliefs we bring to campus are real and authentic. We choose to welcome those who do not enjoy relationship with Jesus Christ, and we open ourselves to engaging with people, from all walks of life, in a community and culture confidently faithful to biblical truths and expectations. Our commitment begins with respecting the real lives students bring with them to campus, but it does not end there.听We want our entire learning community to experience the kind of genuine transformation that comes from knowing Jesus, and understanding his incredible plans for the world.听And so we challenge ourselves to consider three big questions: 鈥淲ho is God?鈥, 鈥淲ho am I?鈥, and 鈥淗ow do听we听live?鈥 We believe that the pursuit of answers to these questions will lead to genuine Christian spiritual transformation鈥攊n and beyond the classroom. Real life transformed for dynamic service to church and society.
Preamble
91黑料社 is committed to the preservation of integrity with our past and our present and to ensuring that important values are continued into our future. We want to state clearly to the various constituents we serve鈥攑rospective and current students and their families, alumni, donors, the Church, community partners, and prospective and current faculty and staff鈥攖he ideals that bind us together as an academic community. This statement articulates our unifying ethos.
Our Posture
91黑料社 seeks to follow Christ鈥檚 commandment through a posture of love. The university relies on the greatest commandment as instructed by Jesus; that is, to love God with heart, mind, and soul while also loving neighbor as self. We recognize that as a campus we are made up of people who may hold differing positions on various matters and yet we expect each to follow God鈥檚 commandment first and foremost by engaging one another in love and celebrating together 鈥渢he vibrancy of life in Christ.鈥
Our Core Values
Our core values are a driving force and motivation for how we do community. Our values guide us in navigating challenging situations and making crucial decisions.
Integrity
Commitment to Christian moral values, shared virtues, and biblical truth; keeping faith with university policies.
Excellence
High-quality performance, innovation, and creativity; a relentless pursuit of the best in each individual and the wider learning community.
Generosity
Readiness to give of one鈥檚 gifts and talents with a spirit of gratitude; an attitude and posture of hospitality that comes with intercultural humility; a willingness to extend others the benefit of the doubt, placing mercy above rightness.
Responsibility
Personal and social accountability to God and neighbor; trustworthy stewardship of personal and university resources.
Servant Leadership
Dedication to a life of service; a preferential awareness of the needs of others in the resolution of problems; a willingness to take the first step, however challenging, in meeting the demands of the day; embracing a spirit of servanthood that extends beyond one鈥檚 culture.
Guiding Commitments
91黑料社 is an Endorsed Agency of the Church of God. Our deep commitment to our sponsoring church shapes every aspect of our institution鈥攑rograms, curriculum, practices, and policies for students, staff, and faculty. We fully embrace our identity, history, founding, and mission, and this statement outlines the theological and religious principles guiding our learning community in relation to our founding religious body.
Church of God Commitments
-
- Jesus is the Subject: Everything revolves around Jesus Christ, and this perspective is central to our approach to various issues.鹿
- Authority of The Bible: We hold the whole Bible as authoritative in faith, doctrine, and practice. In order to understand God鈥檚 word as human beings, we acknowledge the necessity of the Holy Spirit鈥檚 illumination, attention to context, scope, genre, literary style, historical and cultural background of the divinely inspired authors, and informed use of biblical scholarship.虏
- Empowerment and Guidance of the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit empowers God鈥檚 people. The Holy Spirit continues to guide matters of faith for those redeemed by Christ and open to the Spirit鈥檚 guidance.鲁听
- Human Deference to God鈥擧istorically Resistant to Creeds: We resist creedal statements and recognize the limitations of human rule. We acknowledge the flexibility in emphasis and interpretation of theological writing provided that individuals engage in good faith and that they adhere to our commitments to Jesus and the authority of the entire Bible.鈦
- Experiencing the Unity of Believers: Spiritual unity is experienced by believers truly open toward each other, emphasizing the lordship of Jesus Christ through his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension.鈦
- Spiritual Growth in Life and Practice: Rooted in both the Wesleyan Holiness Revivalist and the American Pietist streams of Christianity, our church group views Scripture as the key lens for understanding. Through Scripture, we draw insights from the experience of God, the traditions of the church (with a specific focus on the New Testament church), and the divine gift of reason. Together, these elements guide believers in applying God鈥檚 word to both personal and corporate life and practice.鈦
91黑料社 (AU) Commitments
- Aligns with the Church of God (Anderson): We value our relationship with and responsibility to the Church of God (Anderson) and its governing body, the General Assembly. This covenantal relationship informs our curriculum, mission, community standards, moral expectations,鈦听and faith perspective in pursuing knowledge. All who willingly choose to participate in the life of 91黑料社 are expected to respect the Church of God’s theology and practice.鈦
- Is an Institution of Higher Education: The University prioritizes liberal arts curriculum and spiritual formation through chapel programming, student life, and faculty investment. Being an institution of higher education informs the levels of uniformity expected of and freedom granted to students, staff, and faculty.
- Values Curiosity and Inquiry to Truth: We approach our mission of higher education through a Christian faith perspective that 鈥渋s prepared to raise questions of truth, value, meaning, and morality, not escaping easily into a false objectivity or a sterile neutrality.鈥鈦 AU embraces the benefit of religious thinking, practice, and approaches to pursuing knowledge without fear of the questions, inquiry, research, and critique that coincide with unexamined religious boundary-keeping and conformity. This openness to curiosity, in the context of a church-sponsored university, leads to tension between inquiry and is met with humility and hospitality in a learning community that embodies faith-seeking understanding.鹿鈦
- Prioritizes Faculty and Staff Unity Around Faith in Jesus: Embodying the broader Church of God vision for Christian Unity among faculty and staff, we prioritize our commitment to Jesus as Lord while respecting diverse Christian perspectives on secondary issues.鹿鹿
- Purposefully Embraces a Spirit of Servanthood: We seek after the highest good of all persons in the community and the highest good of the community itself. To this end, we intentionally direct our time, abilities, and resources to those in need.
- Faithfully Welcomes All Students into Transformational Community: We welcome students of all backgrounds and identities. We encourage a transformative journey of mind and spirit rooted in the Church of God (Anderson) traditions. Our community pursues unity in diversity and welcomes those who will willingly participate in our educational mission and community.
Conclusion
These commitments determine our approach to matters of faith, practice, and morality, influencing student life, academic programs, and employee expectations. Practices like corporate chapel, required biblical literacy courses, experiential learning, and community lifestyle expectations are rooted in these commitments. Our living tradition informs our interpretation of God鈥檚 word and the Spirit鈥檚 work in the life of AU as we faithfully pursue our mission.
Guiding Commitments Footnotes
鹿 See, www.jesusisthesubject.org (Church of God Ministries webpage), and Gilbert W. Stafford, Theology for Disciples (Warner Press, Anderson, IN: 1996), chapter 5.
虏 See, John W. V. Smith, I Will Build My Church: Biblical Insights on Distinguishing Doctrines of the Church of God (Warner Press, 1985, 1999), chapter 3, 鈥淎 Whole-Bible Basis for Belief鈥; Barry L. Callen, Leaning Forward!: General Assembly of the Church of God in the United States and Canada (Emeth Press, 2019), vii.
鲁 See, John W. V. Smith, The Quest for Holiness and Unity (Warner Press, 1980), 47; Arlo F. Newell, Receive the Holy Spirit (Warner Press).
鈦听See, John W. V. Smith, The Quest for Holiness and Unity (Warner Press, 1980), 47; Merle D. Strege, I Saw the Church (Warner Press, 2002), chapter 10 鈥淭he Triumph of History鈥; John W. V. Smith, I Will Build My Church: Biblical Insights on Distinguishing Doctrines of the Church of God (Warner Press, 1985, 1999), 12-13.
鈦 See, James Earl Massey, Concerning Christian Unity, 7-8; Cited in Mark Jackson, A Closer Look at God鈥檚 Church (Christian Insight Publications: Shelbyville, KY, 2016), 188.
鈦 John W. V. Smith, I Will Build My Church: Biblical Insights on Distinguishing Doctrines of the Church of God (Warner Press, 1985, 1999), chapters 6, 12, and 13.
鈦听One key document identifying moral expectations in the Church of God is the 2023 Credentials Manual that identifies forms of misconduct of ministers. Our community standards do not expect all members to听 live up to the expectations for ordained ministers, but this document does clarify the church鈥檚 views and expectations on many moral positions including harassment, integrity, holy living, sexuality, marriage, family, finances, and others. (See in particular 2.1.2 for the 鈥淐ode of Ethics,鈥 2.1.3 for 鈥淭heological Commitments,鈥 and 7.3.3 for reasons requiring counsel and/or discipline.)
鈦 As an Endorsed Agency of the Church of God, 91黑料社 is in covenant relationship with the General Assembly of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana).
鈦 鈥淎nderson College: In Partnership with the Church,鈥 Pamphlet published, December 1982.
鹿鈦 See, Ethos Statement: /about/mission-vision, 鈥淎cademic and Christian Discovery鈥.
鹿鹿 See Academic Freedom and Community Expectations in the Faculty/Staff Handbooks.