Foundation and Values

The Christian worldview is a comprehensive outlook on all parts of life based on the Holy Scriptures – the Bible. We the people of Cornerstone University commit ourselves to The Cornerstone Christian worldview as our comprehensive outlook on all parts of life and as our guide for living and understanding the world.

* Affirmed by Cornerstone University Board of Trustees on September 21, 2022.

The Christian Worldview Statement

1. Purpose Statement: A worldview is a comprehensive outlook on all parts of life that a person uses as a guide for living and understanding the world. The Christian worldview is a comprehensive outlook on all parts of life based on the Holy Scriptures – the Bible. The Christian worldview clarifies our life in this world. It helps us to understand who we are, how we and the world have been harmed, what is the solution, and where we are going. It tells us the meaning of life, what is real, what is right and wrong, and what is truth and how we can discover it. We the people of Cornerstone University commit ourselves to The Cornerstone Christian worldview as our comprehensive outlook on all parts of life and as our guide for living and understanding the world.

2. The Christian worldview helps us to understand God and His world and holistically respond—in intellect, will, affections and body—to God’s gracious revelation of Himself.

3. The Christian worldview rises from the Bible and its major moments and movements: God’s good creation of all that exists, the fall of humanity, the redemption of humanity and creation through Christ, and the future and ultimate realization of God’s kingdom and all His purposes. God created all that exists. He uniquely and directly created Adam and Eve in His own image and likeness. But Adam and Eve sinned and rejected God’s purpose for them. Though still maintaining clear marks of God’s creative handiwork, His good creation was badly damaged by Adam’s rebellion, which corrupted the human race with the guilt and pollution of original sin and ravaged society, the earth, all living things, and our desires and abilities to appropriately respond to God. God declared all things would eventually be set right. God’s promises of redemption to Adam were sketched in the figures, lives, and actions of and revelation to the ancient Jewish people. From them arose the Messiah, Jesus the Son of God, fully God and fully man. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not, so that His righteous life might count for us. He then offered His life in our place. He bore our sins, guilt and shame on the cross, enduring His Father’s wrath. He then rose triumphantly over sin, death and Satan. He ascended to heaven, where He reigns at the Father’s right hand, and He will return to establish His kingdom and live with us on the new earth. In the meantime, His Holy Spirit enables us to respond to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations, the Cultural Mandate given to Adam and Eve for all generations to create a God-honoring world and to all of God’s other good commands. His children have been enabled to bring glory to God and enjoy Him, humanity’s chief end.

4. The Christian worldview motivates and directs the academic vision and the daily pursuits of the people of Cornerstone University. We commit ourselves to examine and be shaped by how the Bible and the biblical truth of creation, fall, redemption and the ultimate realization of God’s kingdom speak about reality (metaphysics), about truth and knowledge (epistemology), about what is good (ethics) and about what is beautiful (aesthetics). We do this so we might better love and praise our God with our whole selves, through our academic disciplines and through our vocations as members of our university.

5. What is Real? Our sovereign, triune God is Ultimate Reality. He exists apart from, is beyond and is entirely different than His dependent creation. Yet He is also fully present with us and in all of creation. Our holy and loving God created a world whose reality surpasses all merely social, linguistic or personal perspectives. And He created humanity in His image to responsibly steward this world on His behalf. A Christian liberal arts education empowers us to flourish as God’s image bearers: loving Him, serving neighbors, developing and influencing culture, and periodically resting even within a marred creation that maintains some of its inherent goodness.

6. What is Truth and Knowledge? Our sovereign, triune God is Truth, Wisdom and Knowledge. He provides human beings with access to these through His general revelation and, especially, His special revelation, as embodied in His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, and His authoritative, inspired and inerrant Scriptures. Any belief, claim or statement is true when it corresponds to God, His mind and His knowledge as communicated through His revelation. While we are finite and deeply harmed due to our sinful nature and condition, God has graciously and adequately equipped us to describe the world as it is. God’s Word at work within us through the Holy Spirit corrects our sinful suppression of His truth, instructs us how to interpret His broken world and renews our minds to better understand God and His purposes.

7. What is Good? Our sovereign, triune God is Good. He is the Ultimate Good and is the source of all that is good. Any goodness we encounter in the world is a reflection of Him. His holy nature grounds ethics, and His holy Bible reveals to us His moral principles, rules and defines the good life. All human beings are inclined to look to themselves and their communities as the standard of what is right and good, but God has not left us to ourselves. He has given us the Spirit who empowers us to live faithfully and judge morality and goodness by the standards of Scripture.

8. What is Beauty? Our sovereign, triune God is Beauty. He is the source of beauty and all that is beautiful. We seek to experience and reflect His truth, goodness and beauty through our own cultural endeavors in a fallen world. As such, these endeavors give voice to our sorrows and joys, pointing to what was, what is, what should be and what will be when our Savior returns to restore all things.

9. The Christian worldview asserts the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation, points to the inestimable worth and graciousness of the gospel, and calls for the true and proper worship of our triune God. In the context of Christian higher education, the framework it provides enables the people of Cornerstone University to be better agents of God’s truth and reconciliation as we submit to Christ and influence the world for Him.

The Cornerstone Academic Vision articulates the principles that we the people of Cornerstone University commit to embodying so that we, together and in unity, can educate our students to be influencers in our world for Jesus Christ.

*Affirmed by Cornerstone University Board of Trustees on September 21, 2022.

The Academic Vision Statement

1. Purpose Statement: The Cornerstone Academic Vision articulates the principles that we the people of Cornerstone University commit to embodying so that we, together and in unity, can educate our students to be influencers in our world for Jesus Christ.

2. The men and women of Cornerstone University seek to advance the university’s mission through teaching, mentoring, collaborating, researching and performing all the operations that support this institution. It is our goal to help our students conform to the image of Christ through the many ways we influence them. It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit makes us increasingly effective at carrying out the university’s mission as each member of the CU community grows in faithfulness to Christ through God’s grace, the Word and active participation in his or her own local church community. We desire both to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ and to serve as a witness for Him through all the university’s activities. As a Christian university, we are committed to the Biblical evaluation of all ideas, theories, technologies and other cultural products. We will evaluate the claims of truth, goodness and beauty of any cultural product on the basis of the Christian worldview and the following Biblically grounded and historically accurate realities: God’s good creation of all that exists, the fall of humanity, the redemption of humanity and creation through Christ and the future and ultimate realization of God’s kingdom and His purposes. We rely on the Holy Spirit, His work and His Word as we organize our Academic Vision in the following areas, connecting each with a fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5.

3. Teaching: Teaching is the central method of developing students holistically in the image of Christ. This is emphatically the role of Cornerstone University professors and all other employees who help convey their expertise to students from the Christian worldview. Moreover, teaching is not isolated to the classroom. All university spaces – classrooms, athletic fields, dining tables, residence halls, walkways – are places where teaching can occur to bring about Christ-centered formation. Teaching is closely related to love, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

4. Scholarship and Research: We value the discerning engagement with the theory and practice of our academic disciplines through the lens of the Christian worldview. Good scholars and researchers carefully explore facts and theories, with a curious but discerning eye. They use sound scholarship and research to cultivate new knowledge, better teach and mentor in the classroom and convey more winsome expressions of truths to a cynical world. All of this is most closely related to patience, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

5. Academic Freedom and Responsibility: Freedom and opportunity for scholars and teachers to speak, collaborate, research, write and debate within and across their disciplinary boundaries is a central value in Cornerstone’s Academic Vision. All of this must be performed responsibly: done subordinate to Scripture and within the bounds of our theological confession and Christian worldview. The products of our labor are closely associated with joy, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

6. Collegiality and Constructive Disagreement: Collaboration and disagreement are inevitable parts of our mutual search for and affirmation of truth. We commit ourselves to respecting and loving each other in our collaboration and disagreement within and between disciplines and departments. This ties closely to gentleness, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

7. Diversity: The Lord God made everything with variety and difference. Because of the fall, these differences have often been the targets of bias, misunderstanding, hostility and apathy. We seek to engage any continuing tensions proactively, charitably and truthfully. We will do this by encouraging and embracing Christ-centered and Biblically faithful conversations about actual and perceived differences as well as historical and sinful realities that have led to the wounding, exclusion and hurt of any human being. In so doing, we hope to build a beautiful Christian community rooted in God’s redemptive vision of a diverse and holy people unified in Christ. We associate this with kindness, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

8. Justice: Though we are all deserving of God’s judgment because of sin, He has poured out His grace and mercy on us through the saving work of Christ. Now, as servants of God’s kingdom, we proclaim the gospel and do works of mercy and righteousness in the power of the Spirit. God’s kingdom vision of shalom, revealed in Scripture, compels us to care for the spiritually and physically poor, hurt, oppressed and abandoned. We will challenge our students to proclaim the news of everlasting salvation to the world and, also, to tend to the hurt and weary. Together we can wisely pursue Biblical justice in the world, knowing that its completion and perfection will not fully occur until Christ’s return and the enemy of our LORD is finally defeated. Justice is closely associated with peace, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

9. Centrality of Ideas: We seek to make this university a place where ideas are discussed, explored and evaluated from the Christian worldview. Ideas have consequences. We will help students to think and affirm what is true, beautiful and good from the Christian worldview. At the same time, we will maintain the most charitable understanding of the ideas of scholars. This disposition involves self-control, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

10. Rhythms of Work and Rest: We value the opportunity for work and labor in the educational calling we share, but we also value Sabbath rest as an essential component of our humanity and vocational labors. This is closely associated with goodness, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

11. Holistic Formation: The work of the Christian university needs to be deliberately holistic. Every area of our university—from the classroom and the chapel to the gym and the dining hall—should aspire to be holistically formative. This holistic approach has affinities with the fruit of faithfulness, a fruit of the Spirit that we desire and for which we pray.

12. As members of Cornerstone University, we commit ourselves to The Cornerstone Academic Vision. This commitment compels us to articulate a unified vision of God’s world, grounded in the Scriptures and in dialogue with the disciplines we are cultivating and redirecting to the glory of God. We strive to walk in the fear of the LORD and love Him with our whole being, glorifying the holy Trinity through our labor, rest, relationships, gospel proclamation and service for His kingdom.

A beautiful Christian community is one that reflects the beauty of God – as perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ – through the working of the Word and the Holy Spirit. We the people of Cornerstone University are committed to being this kind of community.

* Affirmed by Cornerstone University Board of Trustees on September 21, 2022.

The Beautiful Christian Community Statement

1. Our Commitment to Being a Beautiful Christian Community: A beautiful Christian community is one that reflects the beauty of God – as perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ – through the working of the Word and the Holy Spirit. We the people of Cornerstone University are committed to being this kind of community, one that loves God and one another, by continual reflection of Jesus Christ through the greatest Christian virtue – love. As a beautiful Christian community characterized by the beauty of divine love, the employees of Cornerstone University will love everyone regardless of distinctions of color, sex, race, ethnicity, ability and socioeconomic status because God first loved us and because God has so loved the world. The dynamic of human diversity that reflects the beauty of God and His creative design provides the men and women of Cornerstone University with the opportunities to enrich one another with cross-cultural experiences and to rise above traditional barriers by developing unity and exercising Christ-centered love as a testimony to His transforming presence where we live and work. It is our hope that all who in good faith become part of the Cornerstone community will experience the welcoming, redemptive and transforming love of Christ in their interactions with its fellow members.

Theological Foundations

2. Foundational Faith Commitments: Human beings were created in God’s image and intended to glorify Him. We the people of Cornerstone University are committed to glorifying God in all things and submitting to God’s voice in Scripture, including the Great Commission, Cultural Mandate, and participation and service in our local churches. We have been given a great salvation. We are committed to respecting the image of God in all people whether redeemed or not and regardless of color, sex, race, ethnicity, ability, political views, socioeconomic positions, religion, whether born or unborn, and whether near or far. We are also dedicated to challenge ourselves and our students to be conformed to the image of Christ, through the working of the Word and the Holy Spirit, and demonstrate that Christ, His Spirit and the Bible are the most important bonds of true believers.

3. Unity in Diversity in the Old Testament: The Lord God created a diverse world of plant, animals, humans and more. His intention for humans was for them to create God glorifying cultures as they filled the earth. But through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, they fell. Thereafter, fallen humanity’s prideful attempt to build a reputation and kingdom without God culminated in God’s actions at the Tower of Babel, where He confused humanity’s language, causing them to scatter. Later, God set apart Abraham, Sarah and their descendants to bring about a “holy” people – Israel – in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God loved Israel. And God also loved the whole world. Old Testament Israel was to be a light to other nations and to welcome all those willing to surrender to God’s ways.

4. Unity in Diversity in the New Testament: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – the Son of God and the Son of Man – loved His fellow Israelites and all others whom He healed, preached to, admonished, exhorted and served during His earthly ministry. The New Testament Church has been called out by God to be a chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation composed of a diverse group of peoples from every nation, tribe, people and language unified within their diversity to bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ. Diversity of race, culture, socioeconomic position, and spiritual giftedness have been at times viewed as challenges, even problems, instead of gifts and opportunities through which to show the love of Christ to one another and the world, and opportunities to work as one, beautiful community who share one LORD, one faith, one baptism and one God. In addition, we see God’s concern for the different nations in the miracle at the Day of Pentecost, a momentary reversal of the forced separation through language at Babel. And in John’s Revelation, we witness people from all nations, tribes and languages worshipping Christ together. God’s evident desire and design for unity in diversity reflects His Trinitarian nature: one God, three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit— who are each fully God. Our God is the Beautiful Community.

5. Unity in Diversity Through Christ: In our fallen world, difference may be accompanied by misunderstanding, bias, unfairness and injustice. This happens even in the church and Christian institutions. There is no reconciliation that will completely heal and rectify any relationship unless reconciliation of the broken relationship between the Creator and the created first occurs through the saving power of the gospel. True relational reconciliation among people cannot fully occur without true reconciliation between people and God. Both can only occur through Christ, and the fruits of both are mutually reinforcing.

Comments and Commitments Regarding a Biblical Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

6. Diversity: There are wonderful kinds of diversity that are by God’s good design and intention and that are honoring to Him. We are committed to championing and celebrating God’s good design and intended diversity, enriching one another’s walk with the LORD.

7. Equity: We all deserve love, respect and dignity from each other as we each bear the image of God within us and as God has commanded that we love each other. As Christ followers, we will strive, in humility, to imitate Christ in every effort to bless others in need and to rectify unjust disparities.

8. Inclusion: We will be unified in our love of Christ and of each other. We will only celebrate and be inclusive of diversity that honors Jesus Christ; is faithful to the Scriptures; and embodies the calling of God upon us to be a chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation that is composed of peoples from every nation, tribe, people and language. We wish to include all into God’s kingdom. Therefore, we proclaim and share the good news of Christ’s work and the opportunity God has afforded for faith and repentance. In Christ there are no distinctions that separate. With our diversity of gifts, we are committed to working together as one body and putting forth the fruit of the Spirit for God’s glory and one another’s benefit.

Overall Implications

9. Imaging God: We are committed to pursuing a beautiful Christian community and reflecting our God, who is the Beautiful Community. We commit ourselves to serving together in ways that will bear witness to His reign in our midst. We will seek to reflect His will and His ways through our words, actions and attitudes so that our community will both express and experience the kingdom blessings of righteousness, peace and joy. We commit ourselves to learning and talking with one another.

10. Distinct but Not Separate: We will pursue peace by honoring one another regardless of our differences. In personal relationships, knowing that we ourselves are undeserving, we will extend gifts of grace, mercy and forgiveness. We will believe the best of others. We will speak of each other and treat one another in ways that Christ’s love and peace will characterize our relationships.

11. We Are One in the LORD: We will contribute to a spirit of joy on our campus by blessing one another with acts of mutual service and sacrifice and by extending love and consideration to all regardless of position or rank, so that we may flourish personally and professionally and that His joy may be full in our midst.

One of the realities of the North American higher education system is the diversity of its institutions, including diversity in their moral values. Most colleges and universities in the U.S. espouse and promote the dominant cultural value of individualism—namely, that individuals have the right and the responsibility to determine their own life path intellectually, spiritually and morally. Some historic Christian universities, however, advance the belief that we flourish as individuals not by charting our own course in life but conforming to God’s will as revealed in the Bible.

Such a distinctive approach to education has profound implications regarding one of the major cultural issues of our day: human sexuality. Cornerstone University stands with historic Christianity in affirming that the Bible contains clear teachings in the areas of sexuality and gender, as articulated in recent documents by mainstream evangelical organizations.¹ These teachings include:

1. Sex differences are not simply culturally constructed but are woven into our creation as a divine gift. The complementary nature of the human race as male and female, rooted in the relational nature of the Trinity, reflects the created order established by God when He created humans to carry out the cultural mandate.
2. Sexual intimacy reflects and celebrates this divine ordering of creation. Concerning human sexuality, therefore, Scripture mandates sexual faithfulness as expressed in two life-enhancing options that are essential to human flourishing: sexual celibacy or monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.
3. Marriage is a lifelong, sacred covenant instituted by God and intended to express the “one flesh” union of a man and a woman. The marriage union reflects the unity of our triune God and uniquely models the relationship between Christ and the church.

As summarized in our foundational doctrinal statement: “Adam and Eve’s union as man and woman models God’s design for marriage and perpetually stands as God’s loving and righteous will for all sexual intimacy.” These beliefs have important implications for a Christian university in three areas.

¹ See, for example, Transsexuality: A Report by the Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission (London: Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission/Paternoster; 2000), and “A Church Statement on Human Sexuality: Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage,” by the Evangelical Free Church of America (2013). Relevant biblical texts on the subject are summarized in the Evangelical Free Church statement, pages 2-­3.

What began as an evening Bible seminar blossomed into Cornerstone University as we know it over the course of eight decades. Our commitment to thorough biblical training for each student, well-rounded education, and uncompromising values began when 221 students enrolled in the Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids. Here, laypersons could study and strive to become effective ministry leaders. What began as an evening Bible study became two to three-year programs designed to cultivate these leaders further.

In 1963, the Bible Institute became a four-year Bible college and seminary. This included pre-seminary courses with 15 to 20-hour concentrations in the liberal arts. In 1964, Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College and Seminary moved to a 64-acre campus which has since expanded to 132 acres. In 1972, the college was approved by the State of Michigan as a degree-granting college of arts and sciences.

Over its rich history, Cornerstone has influenced students and graduates of all walks of life to be the light in a chaotic world. By doing so, we have cultivated generations of Christ followers who have laid foundations for churches, ministries, families and more. Not only that, but our graduates have reached the ends of the earth through their missions and careers.

BAPTIST BIBLE INSTITUTE OF GRAND RAPIDS TO CU

What is now Cornerstone University began on Jan. 7, 1941, in Wealthy Street Baptist Church. The evening Bible studies would become daytime classes, which then evolved into degree programs. Today, Cornerstone is an institution designed to provide whole-person liberal arts education to each student who walks through its doors. After 80 years of rich history, Cornerstone continues to influence the world for Christ in everything we do.