Mission & Values

The Concept

Spring Arbor University is a community of learners distinguished by our lifelong involvement in the study and application of the liberal arts, total commitment to Jesus Christ as the perspective for learning, and critical participation in the contemporary world.

Core Values

  • We, at Spring Arbor University, are committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and affirm the importance of learning grounded in God’s Creation and in his uniquely authoritative revelation through Scripture.
  • We, at Spring Arbor University, are committed to a liberal arts education involving the pursuit of all truth as God’s truth, the development of Christian character and the living integration of faith and learning.
  • We, at Spring Arbor University, are committed to the value and potential of every human being as created in God’s image and thus accountable to him and responsible for effective, redemptive participation in society and culture.

Statement of Faith

We believe in one God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as revealed in the Christian scriptures known as the Holy Bible.

We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s incarnate Son who lived a perfect life on earth, proclaiming God’s reign and establishing a community of disciples; who sacrificially died on the cross for the sins of all people; who rose in triumph from death, accomplishing salvation for all who truly believe in him; who is now at the Father’s right hand interceding for us; and who will return to earth in victory, judging all people and establishing his everlasting Kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and authoritative Word of God. It bears unerring witness to Jesus Christ, the living Word. It is the trustworthy record of God’s revelation, completely, truthful in all it affirms, attested by the early church and subsequent councils, faithfully preserved and true in human experience.

We believe that human beings, men and women equally, are created in the image of God and are called to be his faithful stewards on earth. Although all people have become alienated from God and affected in every part because of sin, by God’s grace all who truly repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by faith and adopted into the church, the people of God.

We believe that repentance and belief in Christ are evidenced by commitment to a life of obedience to the authority and commandments of the Bible.

We believe that the value of human beings does not depend on their marital status, but that human families were established by God to perpetuate humankind and to provide a stable community for nurturing children in faith and righteous living. Marriage between one man and one woman is the instruction of the Bible for establishing families, and physical sexual expression is to be confined to the marriage relationship.

We believe that God not only counts believers as righteous, but that he makes them righteous; freeing them of sin’s dominion at conversion, purifying their hearts by faith and perfecting them in love by his Spirit, and providing for their growth in grace through God’s participation at every stage of their spiritual life, enabling them through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to live a victorious life of righteousness, justice and practical usefulness.

We believe God’s Kingdom promises to establish “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pt. 3:13 TNIV) and where resurrected believers will participate in God’s everlasting Kingdom.