“Is your school safe?” Over the past two to three years, the number of times I get asked this question seems to grow more and more in conversations with prospective students and their families. As I share with these families about our mission, about our academics, about our athletics, about student ministry, and so on, inevitably, the student or one of the parents will ask me, “Is Williams Baptist University safe for my child?” or “Will I be safe at Williams?”
The first few times I was asked this question, I thought the student or parent wanted to know about campus safety, campus security personnel, emergency procedures, Title IX protocols – something along these lines. When I would attempt to answer their question in this way, they would thank me for my response and then clarify, “No, what I am asking, is Williams really a Christian school?”
I have learned that, behind the safe question, are numerous other questions. Is Williams really committed to the teachings of the Bible? Is Williams really committed to the deity of Jesus Christ? Does Williams teach about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Does Williams stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way for forgiveness of sin and as the only way to have a relationship with God? Does Williams teach that salvation is by grace through faith? Does Williams teach the need for every person to be born again? Does Williams teach about a literal Heaven and a literal hell?
In other words, is WBU a Christian institution of higher education committed to historic Christian orthodoxy? Is Williams evangelical in its understanding on the authority of the Bible and the nature of salvation in Jesus Christ? Is Williams truly Baptist in its beliefs on the nature of the church, evangelism, and mission?
These families understand that many universities were at one time distinctively committed to the Christian faith but have long ago abandoned and rejected Christianity. These families want to know if WBU is on this type of trajectory. Is Christianity just a marketing slogan? Is Christianity just an historical legacy? Is Christianity just a way to describe some type of connection with a church or denomination?
When this conversation about “being safe” comes up in this way, I assure these families and students that we are absolutely serious about our commitment to the Christian faith. WBU is unapologetically and unashamedly Christian – no reservations, no qualifications, no equivocations – we are a biblically grounded, Christ-centered, gospel driven university. We do our best to live, teach, mentor – to do everything we know to do – to believe and practice our faith to the glory of God, committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ and the Bible as the written revelation of the living God.
I understand that many colleges and universities use the word Christian simply as a branding or marketing slogan or use the word Christian to refer to their heritage. I understand that most of the colleges and universities that started as distinctively Christian are no longer Christian in any sense of the word. I understand the number of distinctively Christian colleges and universities continues to decline each year.
But I also know we are not one of those schools. Since our founding, Williams has been a distinctively Christian university in all facets of its mission. We always have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be. When understood this way, WBU is safe.
Another factor behind the “is your school safe” question is the concern about human sexuality, gender identity, and marriage. The person asking the “is your school safe” question is wanting to know if we stand for a traditional understanding about sex and marriage. The person asking the question wants to know what our school teaches about gender. What do we teach about what defines a woman? What do we teach about what defines a man? Does our institution teach a biblical understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman? Does our institution teach that sex is a gift from God to be expressed between one man with one woman in holy matrimony?
These are legitimate questions and, sadly, reflective of the times in which we live. These issues are front and center in the minds of families as they seek a school in which their son or daughter will be immersed for four years in the most formative years of his or her life. These families understand what is at stake, and they want to know that what we are teaching aligns with their beliefs and faith commitments. These families want to know, when it comes to human sexuality, gender, and marriage, “is your school safe?”
These families have a deep concern and desire that the things they have taught their children in their homes and churches about God, about human sexuality and gender identity, about sex and marriage, will be strengthened and encouraged, not ridiculed, belittled, or outright denied.
Again, this is a legitimate concern. The college or university their grandparents attended or, for that matter, that their parents attended, more often than not no longer affirms traditional understandings about the Christian faith, human identity, or human sexuality.
Not only do the vast majority of institutions of higher education disavow Christian beliefs and practices, these institutions actively, aggressively, and intentionally oppose all facets of the Christian faith. These universities and colleges are hostile and antagonistic to every Christian teaching and practice, and they proudly and openly embrace a worldview that opposes Christianity. And they are unashamed in their efforts to recruit and teach their unbiblical, ungodly worldview to as many students as they possibly can. This is a major part of their educational mission. In this regard, these schools are “not safe.”
My understanding of Christian higher education is that schools like Williams exist to build up and nurture the Christian beliefs of our students. We are an extension of the disciple-making mission of ABSC churches. We are partners with Christian families in nurturing students in the truths of the faith. We exist to build up, not tear down. We exist to equip, not dismantle. We exist to mobilize for Christian service.
WBU is a fantastically great university. We provide our students an exceptional, Christ-centered education. We train our students to serve the Lord in their callings, in their families, and in their work. We work incredibly hard to ensure that a Christ-centered education is financially attainable through our Williams Works program to any student who desires to attend a Christian college but believes he or she cannot afford to go to school.
I do want to be honest to those reading this – we are not a perfect school. As surely as the serpent slithered into the Garden, he finds his way on our campus, as he often does in our families and churches. And, if a student is determined to misbehave or to embrace a worldview contrary to the faith commitments of the parents or Williams, he or she may well find a way. When this happens, it is in spite of our university’s beliefs and practices, not because of them.
Williams Baptist University was founded on the belief that a distinctively Christian education is not only desirable but is essential and desperately needed. Our mission is to cultivate Christ-centered leaders who make a difference through their life work. Our world needs Christian universities that are truly and genuinely committed to the Lord and to His word. As our founder often remarked, our school is a Campus of Christian Purpose – genuinely, truly, authentically!
Send us your students. Let our faculty, coaches, administrators, and staff invest in the lives of your students. Williams Baptist University is a Christian university. We are safe!