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All students are welcome, whether or not you identify as a Christian! We are a Christian community that creates space for other religions and beliefs through programming and active dialogue in and out of the classroom. Part of our mission as a Christian institution is to work toward creating a more trustworthy world for everyone, and your unique experiences and beliefs are a part of that. We hope that together we grow as a community through better understanding and connection with one another and the beliefs we share.
Below is our theological framework:
We worship a trinitarian God (that is, a God who exists in community as Father, Son, and Spirit; a God who is, in God’s very being, diverse persons in relationship). Thus, a leading measure of the Christian faith is the capacity to live in community with others. Christian community is not experienced as “sameness,” where association is formed around being alike. Instead, God creates humanity – in all our particularity and diversity – in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 139:13-17). Humanity’s diversity is necessary in order to reflect the image of and participate in the nature of (2 Peter 1:3-4) our trinitarian God. This means that all persons are worthy of respect and love, and that Christian community is characterized by unity and love among diverse persons.
In addition, the coming kingdom of God is one in which “rich variety” will be united in God, and humanity will be reconciled fully to God and to each other (Ephesians 3:9-10; Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Therefore, Christians are urged on by the love of God to participate in the reconciling mission of God (2 Corinthians 5:14-21) and to be people who seek to bring God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Though we embrace the beauty of particularity (1 Corinthians 12:4-26), we do not distinguish between persons based on that particularity (Joel 2:28-29; Galatians 3:28). Rather, we welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us (Romans 15:7; see also Exodus 22:21; Deuteronomy 10:19; Leviticus 19:34; Hebrews 13:2).
Therefore, we believe that diversity is a gift to be sought and encouraged, because a community in which diverse persons can live, love, and work together reflects the nature of our trinitarian God and anticipates the fullness of reconciliation in the kingdom of God. Though our efforts toward being welcoming are always partial and insufficient, as we come to know God more fully, we seek to reflect more fully the love of God that never ends (1 Corinthians 13:8-12) as part of our ongoing process of being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:2).