BJU Expands Mission Statement

BJU has expanded its mission statement, and Dr. Stephen Jones has recorded a video describing the update.

Here’s the new mission statement, starting with the old:

Within the cultural and academic soil of liberal arts higher education, Bob Jones University exists to grow Christlike character that is scripturally disciplined, others-serving, God-loving, Christ-proclaiming and focused above.

As a Christian liberal arts higher education institution we:

• educate regenerate men and women of varying educational backgrounds and proficiencies from across the nation and around the world.
• educate the whole person through a biblically-integrated liberal arts curriculum.
• equip individuals with a biblical worldview and with the ability to defend that worldview.
• offer programs leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees in a range of disciplines in a residential environment supplemented by distance learning and professional development opportunities.
• foster spiritual, intellectual, social and physical development and cultural expansion of the individual.
• are committed to excellence in teaching by a godly, competent and professional faculty who are dedicated to furthering the University’s mission.

As a Christian higher education institution committed to helping Christian students grow in Christlikeness we:

• emphasize excellence and hold students accountable to pursue it for the purpose of developing character.
• teach individuals to apply the Scriptures to practical Christian living.
• seek to develop individuals who are committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, who are engaged in service and leadership in a biblically faithful local church, and who have a compelling concern for reaching the unconverted with the Gospel.
• are steadfastly committed to remaining faithful to the biblical doctrine and principles in our founding charter.
• develop a constituency of regenerated students who have adequate preparation to profit from a Christian college education.

I’m in that last bullet. My job is to produce Bible textbooks that help high school students to be ready to come to BJU—or, in God’s providence, to another good Christian college. I’m well aware that many of “my” students will attend secular universities, some in God’s good will and some out of it. I try to prepare them, too, for what they’ll face. I want them to be able to live out a biblical worldview wherever they are.

Beyond the—non-negotiable, for me—Christian character of the school, it was the spirit of excellence that really attracted me to BJU (way back in what historians call the “1990s”). The liberal arts and cultural enrichment opportunities were also attractive, and I still can’t think of a better way for the average Christian young person to be well-rounded than such a course of study.