Our Mission

The mission of Trinity Christian College is to provide Biblically informed liberal arts education in the Reformed tradition. Our heritage is the historic Christian faith as it was reshaped in the Reformation, and our fundamental basis of governance and instruction is the infallible Word of God as interpreted by the Reformed standards. The Reformed world view affirms the Biblical truths that creation is the work of God, that our world has fallen into sin, and that redemption is possible only through the gracious work of Christ. From these beliefs arise the convictions that those who teach and learn are called to be coworkers with Christ in subjecting all cultural activities to the reign of God, and that genuine education must involve the whole person as a thinking, feeling, and believing creature.

In all programs, including the liberal arts and sciences, professional and preprofessional preparation, we strive to offer the highest quality of instruction to prepare students for excellence in further study and careers beyond Trinity. We seek to graduate students who are well equipped to bring the discipline of rigorous academic work into their chosen vocations and the practice of Christ-like service toward others into their personal and public lives. All programs are grounded on a core of foundational studies that address the enduring issues and questions of human experience and teach students to explore and apply the implications of a Reformed world-and-life view to all areas of learning, living, and working. Students are encouraged to evaluate their lives in relationship to God, to others, and to all of creation. Since we view vocation as a divine calling, we offer in addition to traditional liberal arts and sciences a variety of professional majors, and all professional programs include experiential application in off-campus field education or internships. We actively encourage students to take advantage of the cultural and professional opportunities of the Chicago area and to gain a better understanding of contemporary urban issues.

Our focus is upon those students whose needs, strengths, and goals correlate with our strengths as an independent Christian liberal arts college of Reformed character. Our principal student population will be those of traditional college age, with a large proportion living on campus. A secondary population will be served by programs designed for non-traditional adult learners and graduate students. Although we expect to grow in numbers, we also seek growth in pursuit of academic quality and not simply growth for its own sake.

In keeping with a philosophy of education that is based on these principles, all members of the academic community — faculty, staff, and students — endeavor to provide an educational environment of Christian integrity and love that enhances and supports the entire learning experience. We seek committed Christian faculty members who strive to grow continuously in their faith and Christian perspective on learning, who demonstrate effective teaching skills, who commit themselves to foster the total development of students as individuals, and who practice scholarship as a contribution to the education of a larger constituency.

Because our mission in Christian higher education is not limited by ethnic or cultural differences, we consciously seek to develop a multiethnic, multinational, and multi-denominational student body. The major criteria for admission are academic potential, an explicit desire to participate in the unique Trinity experience, and a readiness to be an active member of a community based on the Biblical requirements of justice, humility, and love.

At Trinity Christian College, our very name celebrates the triune nature of God. Diversity is ultimately ground in Him—one being, three persons, submitting to one another in love. Because our mission in Christian higher education is not limited by ethnic or cultural differences, we consciously seek to develop a multiethnic, multinational, and multi-denominational student body. We affirm our commitment to work toward greater diversity not only in regard to our racial, ethnic, and cultural demographic but also in regard to acceptance, appreciation, honor, and equality within our campus climate. We welcome, encourage, and support all those who wish to contribute to and benefit from this commitment as members of a community that is rooted in a Reformed worldview and that affirms these Biblical truths:

• God created humans in his image to represent him on earth. These diverse humans were created to live in loving community with him.
• We grieve that the fall into sin distorts each person and results in broken communities within a broken world.
• Christ’s redemptive ministry breaks the barriers that isolate men from women, rich from poor, Jews from non-Jews, persons from one culture from all those from every other culture. He calls his people to be peacemakers and to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3) For Christ “himself is our peace… and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” among people. (Eph. 2: 14.15)
• The vision of the new creation is that of “… a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9).
• We educate in the hope of the final restoration of all things. The scene from Revelation 7 shapes our community, teaching, research, and influence. Trinity Christian College seeks diversity to reflect God’s creation, to demonstrate his reign, and to anticipate his new creation.

In fulfilling our mission and in preparing people to live in a radically diverse world, Trinity Christian College actively seeks to recruit and include a variety of people in all aspects of our life together: the board of trustees, the administration, the faculty and staff, and the student body.

A Shared Posture for Faculty, Staff, and Students at Trinity Christian College 

The mission statement of Trinity Christian College, which serves as an interpretive framework for this document, paints a comprehensive portrait of “Biblically informed liberal arts education in the Reformed tradition.”  The mission articulates the expectation that this education will lead to the formation of whole persons as “thinking, feeling, and believing creatures” and will encourage human formation in a way that asks students to “evaluate their lives in relationship to God, to others, and to all of creation.”  The vision for Christian higher education at Trinity thus resists traditional dichotomies between the life of the mind and the active life of service, acknowledging both active and contemplative expressions of learning as essential for fully Christian education and truly human life.  In the biblical field of vision, this integration of mind and body, thought and deed, reflection and action, is often characterized as wisdom.  The pursuit of this formational vision of Christian wisdom addresses the entire campus community, recognizing the role of “faculty, staff and students” as full “members of the academic community.”  This document seeks to articulate four key postures that unite our Christian community of learners in the pursuit of our mission.  These postures contribute to what the mission statement refers to as “the unique Trinity experience.”  They draw deeply on the Reformed tradition, and they are intended both to name and call forth the dispositions required of us as we seek faithfully to worship God as a Christian community of learners.

As a Christian liberal arts college, the Christian community of learners at Trinity Christian College inhabits the world (1) as participants in the shared vocation of teaching, learning, and scholarship, (2) as participants in the people of God, and (3) as participants in God’s good creation.  The faithful pursuit of our institutional mission requires that these three dimensions always remain integrally interconnected.  The Christian pursuit of academic learning is simultaneously an act of love for God, whose glory is revealed in all creation, and an act of love for the world, for whose sake God has called his people into being.  Because we can never step outside of our identity as members of God’s family sent into the world as a sign of God’s rule, our love for God and neighbor – expressed here as our active pursuit of learning – occurs in every area of our shared life as a Christian community.  Whether in the classroom, at the work station, in the residence hall, or at the athletic fields we understand that our entire shared life is directed toward developing a Christian community of learners that actively loves God and the world and so participates in God’s work of cosmic redemption.

We pursue teaching, learning, service, and scholarship as a Christian community of learners in service to God’s world.  Our participation in this mission of God calls us to the following postures that characterize and inform every aspect of our shared life.

Because God has invited us to share in his life by initiating relationship with God’s people, we – as faculty, staff, and students – are responsive to God by directing our scholarly, communal, and public activities toward worship.

Because the shared life of Christian communities anticipates the flourishing of all creation that accompanies God’s reign, we – as faculty, staff, and students – recognize that we are formed by the Spirit as bearers of God’s image through participation in teaching, learning, and scholarship, through participation in the Christian community of learners at Trinity, and through participation in God’s mission for all creation.

Because God’s life is most clearly revealed in the self-giving love defined by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection we – as faculty, staff, and students – welcome one another with deeply Christian hospitality characterized by Christ-like self-giving love.

Because God is sovereign and is graciously working to redeem every aspect of creation, we – as faculty, staff, and students – intentionally explore the integral connection between God’s redemptive work and every academic and co-curricular context, every member of the community, and every context within God’s world.