At their winter Board meeting during the last week of February, Warner University’s trustees voted to update the institution’s mission statement. While the core of the mission remains the same, the strategic planning process in which the university’s leadership has been engaged all year prompted discussions about a mission statement that would help further distinguish Warner University from other colleges and universities and also help clarify and solidify institutional identity. The university’s new mission statement is as follows: “Warner University exists to provide an academically challenging, biblically faithful, culturally courageous education that equips students to serve Christ and excel professionally.”
President Sutton says of the change, “While our former mission of ‘guiding individuals toward Christ-like character and intellectual maturing while equipping them to serve’ was an honorable one, we felt that we needed phraseology to better highlight Warner’s distinctive purposes and ethos. Unlike many Christian universities that have drifted theologically in the last few decades, Warner has remained committed to biblical orthodoxy. Moreover, we wanted to highlight our understanding of the important cultural role we play when we send graduates who have successfully navigated a rigorous educational experience out into communities to serve and lead with biblical wisdom.”
The strategic planning committee considered nine mission statements, narrowed those to four, and then sought feedback from employees about those four.
A number of realities stood out in the process. First, internal constituents liked the idea of repeating the university’s new motto—“academically challenging, biblically faithful, and culturally courageous”—in the mission statement. Known as “the ABCs” of Warner, the motto elements caught on quickly around campus and have been enthusiastically embraced. Many employees and future graduates have already memorized and internalized them.
Second, service was clearly important to constituents. Unlike the service component in the former mission statement, however, the service element in the new statement makes explicitly clear why we serve and for whom. We serve Christ, we serve because of Christ, and Warner wants to instill the idea of service for and because of Christ in all of its future graduates.
Third, faculty and staff believed strongly that the new mission statement needed to communicate the university’s role in preparing students to be professionally excellent. This sentiment helped shape the final version of the mission statement toward the end of the revision process.
President Sutton adds, “I love that the new statement starts with why we exist, and I love that it communicates both institutional identity and student outcomes. Some university mission statements communicate only one or the other, but I believe the best mission statements convey what students will do upon graduation and in what type of environment they will learn.”
