Our Purpose

The College of the PCA

Covenant College is a Christ-centered institution of higher education, emphasizing liberal arts, operated by a Board of Trustees elected by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and exists to provide post-secondary educational services to the denomination and the wider public.

Christian Liberal Arts Education from the Reformed Perspective

The College is committed to the Bible as the Word of God written, and accepts as its most adequate and comprehensive interpretation the summary contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.

The focus of Covenant College is found in its motto, based on Colossians 1:18, "In all things Christ preeminent." Acknowledging Christ preeminent as the creator of all things, as the redeemer of people fallen into sin, as the touchstone of all truth, and as the sovereign ruler over all areas of life, the College strives to discern and to unfold the implications of His preeminence in all things. To serve this end, we seek to appropriate the mind of Christ as the biblical perspective from which we characterize and respond to reality. In attempting to make such a biblically-grounded frame of reference explicit and operative, we are committed to excellence in academic inquiry, and we seek to define all areas of the College's structure and program according to this understanding of our purpose.

We seek to implement our purpose in view of our belief that all human beings are created in the image of God and are, therefore, spiritual, moral, social beings who think, act, value, and exercise dominion. Because we are called to reflect in finite ways what God is infinitely, we attempt to institute programs designed to offer all students the opportunity to discover and give expression to their potential in each facet of their redeemed humanness.

Life Together in Christian Community

With these commitments in mind, we seek to work together as a college community, responsibly striving, corporately and personally, to accomplish the following general aims in every area of life:

to see creation as the handiwork of God and to study it with wonder and respect;
to acknowledge the fallen nature of ourselves and of the rest of creation and to respond, in view of the renewal that begins with Christ's redemption, by seeking to bring every thought and act into obedience to Him;
to reclaim the creation for God and to redirect it to the service of God and humankind, receiving the many valuable insights into the structure of reality provided by the good hand of God through thinkers in every age, and seeking to interpret and re-form such insights according to the Scriptures;
to see learning as a continuous process and vocation;
to endeavor to think scripturally about culture so as to glorify God and promote true human advancement.

As an educational institution, Covenant College specifically seeks to provide educational services from a Reformed perspective to the students who enroll. While the traditional undergraduate, on-campus programs remain the primary focus of the College, we recognize that the College has a significant role to fulfill in the education of students in non-traditional categories.

Students

Students are expected to become active participants in fulfilling the general aims just outlined. It is the College's purpose to help these students make significant progress toward maturity in the following areas:

Identity in Christ

A Covenant student should be a person who is united with Christ and committed to Him. This union and commitment should lead to an understanding both of one's sin and of one's significance as a person redeemed by Christ, resulting in a growing awareness of purpose. This awareness of purpose should facilitate the development of goals, priorities, and practices that foster spiritual effectiveness and well-being, including the emotional, social, physical, and intellectual aspects of the individual students.

Biblical Frame of Reference

Students should be acquiring the ability to orient their lives by a perspective based on scriptural revelation. For realization of this goal the following are important:

Scriptural knowledge
Students should be acquiring a working knowledge of the Scriptures, rejoicing in their promises and allowing them to direct their thoughts and actions in every area of life.

Academic inquiry
Students should be acquiring a broad appreciation of the various aspects of creation, becoming familiar with valid methods of inquiry into each area of study. Each student should be acquiring some depth in one or two academic disciplines.

Analytical skills
Students should be acquiring the capacity for incisive, critical and logical thinking.

Communication skills
Students should be acquiring the ability to communicate ideas clearly in both speaking and writing.

Service that is Christ-like

Students should be assuming responsibilities within a local congregation as well as in the community of all believers. This implies demonstrating a positive influence on others while at the same time accepting their loving concern.
Students should be assuming responsibilities in society as servants of God. This involves a total life-calling to fulfill one's covenantal responsibilities as succinctly summarized in Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:18-20, including not only the student's specific vocation, but all other activities as well.