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The Mission of Christ College

Christ College provides an affordable, faithful education in the Christian intellectual tradition that equips students with wisdom, eloquence, and virtue to pursue professional excellence in the service of Christ and the common good.

 

Statement of Faith

GOD

There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence and obedience.

TRINITY

We believe in one, true and living God, infinite in being and holy perfection, immutable, eternal, and incomprehensible. In Him is all life, glory, and goodness for He alone is in Himself all-sufficient. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

HOLY SCRIPTURE

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

CREATION

Not of any necessity, but of His own pleasure, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. All things were created out of nothing, all very good. We believe that science and theology are compatible disciplines that both must operate under the authority of the Holy Scriptures.

FALL

God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin; but, Adam, our federal head, fell from original righteousness by disobeying God, and sin entered the whole world. In choosing rebellion and lawless separation from God, our first parents became dead in sin, and their original sin is passed on to all humankind who inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and his law. Humankind now stands under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.

INCARNATION

Christ, the Son of God, is of one substance and equal with the Father. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and took on flesh yet without sin, being in two whole, perfect and distinct natures, one person, fully God and fully man.

SALVATION

Our loving and merciful Father has called a numberless elect out of spiritual death in Adam into eternal salvation and life in Christ. Those whom He effectually called are united to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection by no work of their own but by God’s free gift.

COVENANT

God’s elect, united in Christ, are His children, and He is a gracious, loving Father. God’s children, moved by the proclamation of the gospel, are gathered together as the visible and invisible catholic Church.

ESCHATOLOGY

As Christ bore God’s love to the world, so Christ’s Church bears the gospel unto the farthest corners of the world. God works through the Church to preach and to embody the gospel, and we long for the day that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge and glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

Theological Perspective

Christ College exists to glorify our Triune God and enjoy communion with Him forever. We believe that God has spoken supremely in our Lord Jesus Christ and in Holy Scripture teaching us to trust in the sovereign, eternal, just, and merciful decrees of the Father, the atoning life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit as our ongoing Counselor, Guide, Equipper and Friend. These fundamental Trinitarian truths define us first and foremost as mere Christians.

Moreover, we are orthodox Christians. We are grateful heirs of the historic Christian Church and of the pioneers and patriarchs of faith who gave us the creeds and the early Church councils: The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon. Thus, we continue to be linked with the orthodox Christian tradition as it has continued, uninterrupted, across the centuries.

Within this tradition, Christ College believes in the confessions of faith consistent with the Protestant Reformation. We believe that these confessions best articulate orthodox Christian doctrine revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Christ College stands in this rich confessional Protestant tradition manifested through a living faith. Because sound theology is inseparable from holiness, we believe that the fruits of the Spirit, and service in word and deed are essential marks of true theology. Indeed, these outworkings of faith are more than the result of our theological perspective, they are essential to our theological perspective. 

All faculty, part-time and full-time, and the board of trustees must pledge in writing their commitment to uphold the statement of faith above. Students are not required to pledge their assent to these doctrines.

 

Organization and Affiliation

Christ College is an independent, self-sustaining, non-profit college governed by the Christ College board of trustees.

Board of Trustees

Christ College is governed by an independent board of trustees that oversees the philosophy, mission, objectives, policies, programs and personnel of the college. Members of the board are listed at the end of this catalog.

The local church

Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Christ College disciples students through the liberal arts for wisdom, eloquence, virtue and professional excellence. Because our mission is in service of Christ’s kingdom, the local church in Melbourne is essential to Christ College, and the collegiate experience is incomplete without the close ties with local church bodies. We encourage our students to attend and participate in a local church.

Institutional Priorities

Christian Intellectual Tradition | Christ College unapologetically stands in the great intellectual tradition of Christianity that incorporates the best of the intellectual tradition of classical antiquity and its expression in Christian antiquity. Each succeeding generation contributes to the tradition as it submits all learning, all knowledge to the Lordship of Christ. Being part of the current expression of the tradition, Christ College promotes the living tradition in our students by analyzing all human knowledge through the framework of the Word of God and humbling ourselves before the Word.

Wisdom, Eloquence, Virtue | Christ College seeks to foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual formation in students, teaching them to think well, love orderly, and speak winsomely. Through a vibrant, well-ordered intellectual life that is rooted in the liberal arts, sustained by academic rigor, and focused on practical relevance, Christ College promotes whole-life discipleship—educating the heart, soul, and mind for growth and maturity in faith and understanding.

Professional Excellence | Christ College believes that meaningful work is a significant element of God’s good creation. From the beginning work was designed for the good of the world and the good of the worker, promoting flourishing in the natural world and human nature. We believe that entrepreneurial activity in particular promotes whole life development as it incorporates the whole person in contributing to the good of others. Human dignity is affirmed and cultivated as persons daily offer their labor to the Lord of creation as a pleasing sacrifice

Service to Christ and the common good | Christ College seeks to develop within students a commitment to loving God with all they are and their neighbors as themselves. Toward that, human excellence–professionally and personally–is never an end in itself. Excellence is seen as a service, first to Christ, then to the common good of the community. The collegiate community desires and practices honoring God and of living out in service what is learned in the classroom as fruitful members of a local church and community. Students begin in Christ College the practice of Christian service, embracing their various roles and vocations for a lifetime of service here, at home, and unto the ends of the earth.

Intentionally Relational

Christ College approaches the task of education relationally. Foundationally, loving God with all we are and from there, learning to live into that reality as we grow together as a community of learners.

Understanding the beginning of wisdom as a relationship with God, Christ College approaches education relationally; as a community of learners, growing together, serving, and providing accountability. From faculty to students, we are all learners. As we grow in grace and labor in learning, we experience the joy of life together Coram Deo [before God] and learn to live the reality of Psalm 37:3: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend [pursue/cultivate] faithfulness. As learners in a community, we have a responsibility to regard each other as brothers and sisters, supporting one another in doing good and encouraging one another as we dwell together pursuing faithfulness. Each student is fearfully and wonderfully made and, in their uniqueness, each contributes much to the community. Under the providential guidance of God, each student is received as a gift to be stewarded well before God. Further, each student is known and treated with dignity and promise as befits one created in the image of God.

Classical

 

Committedly Traditional

Christ College unapologetically stands in the great intellectual tradition of Christianity that incorporates the best of the intellectual tradition of classical antiquity and its realization in Christian antiquity.

Christ College unapologetically stands in the great intellectual tradition of Christianity that incorporates the best of the intellectual tradition of classical antiquity and its expression in Christian antiquity. The Christian intellectual tradition is not separable from Scripture, but an “instrumental vehicle of Scripture which brings the contents of Holy Scripture to life in a constant dialogue.” Each succeeding generation contributes to the tradition as it submits all learning, all knowledge to the Lordship of Christ. Being part of the current expression of the tradition, Christ College promotes the living tradition in our students by analyzing all human knowledge through the framework of the Word of God and humbling ourselves before the Word.

 

 

Christian

 

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