Our Mission: Be Like Jesus
By Brent Davis, Campus Ministry Coordinator
As a Christian university, our mission is not just to make students who achieve certain academic and professional outcomes, but also to remain in Christ so as to bear much fruit (John 15: 4). To remain in Christ, we must become His disciples. We become disciples by keeping His commandments, including repenting (Mark 1: 15), loving (John 13: 34-35; Matthew 22: 37-40), serving (Mark 10: 43-45), and making disciples (Matthew 28: 18-20). When we repent, we must put our trust in Him because we are saved by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2: 8-9). In other words, we cannot keep His commands without His grace. We must still act in faith, with a desire to change (repentance). You can’t be a disciple and stay the way you are, and you can’t change through self-effort without God’s grace. Although not necessary for salvation, we are also commanded to be baptized as a sign of becoming a disciple (Acts 2: 38).
Upon repentance, we enter into the Kingdom of God and become holy (a state of purity and order marked by dedication to God). Maintaining holiness does require some effort, yet with the help of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 13-25; 1 Thessalonians 4: 3). As also noted in Galatians 5, we must love and serve one another (Galatians 5: 13-14).
Love and service go together because we must show our love by our deeds (James 2: 8-18; 1 John 3:16–18). Love that serves requires development, which requires remaining in Christ. The steps in development from faith to love are outlined in 2 Peter 1: 5-8:
Faith
Goodness (virtue)
Knowledge
Self-control
Perseverance
Godliness
Brotherly affection
Love
(Note: this is a sequence of qualities to cultivate, not necessarily rigid stages of development)
Remaining in Christ requires prayer and remaining in His word. There are many needs in this world that require our service. We need to find out which ones God is calling us to (Ephesians 2: 10).
Finally, disciples make disciples by teaching others to obey Christ and remain in Him until the end of this age. This is our mission.
