For the past six years, Union University, under the vision and leadership of President David S. Dockery, has focused on this task. Administration, faculty, staff, and students alike have embraced the idea that Christianity is not just for the chapel or a missions trip – it is a worldview that can be applied to every area of life. By offering a grace-filled community that encourages value-based thinking, students are being given a firm foundation and a strong Christian worldview that is equipping them for whatever field or occupation they want to enter.

Addressing Union’s identity and mission this year during Fall Convocation, Dockery explained that while the university has wonderful relationships with churches and a growing missions program, Union is still primarily and distinctively an academic institution.

“I believe it can be said that Union, along with other Christian colleges and universities, represents the academic division of the Kingdom enterprise,” said Dockery. “We want to see students take what they are learning and apply it in the world in the spirit of Christian servanthood.”

Dockery stressed that while Union remains denominationally loyal, outreach is continually being expanded to other Christian groups who share similar visions and values.

“This commitment to academic excellence and to the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ shapes our identity and understanding of what it means to be an institution that is Baptist by tradition and evangelical by conviction,” said Dockery.

Part of that identity is to maintain the grace-filled community of learning that those on Union’s campus are pursuing with a passion, says Todd Brady, minister to the university, giving as an example, the philosophy behind Union’s Campus Ministries.

“We have a different approach than a lot of other Christian colleges,” admits Brady. “Our desire is to partner with the other members and departments of the university. Ministry is not something that only the Office of Campus Ministries does at Union, it’s something that we all do together.”

Brady explains that at Union, there is not one specific organization of ministry that a student belongs to – rather his office acts as a facilitator in the lives of all students. By partnering with staff and faculty, the university as a whole is responsible for encouraging each student in his or her individual walk with God.

“Our staff and faculty, especially, seem to have such a desire to get involved with students not just in the classroom, but outside of it and in the community,” says Kevin Ward, a senior from Plant City, Fla. “They’re not just professors, they’re people who are really making a difference in the lives of others, and part of what Union is all about is staying people-focused – and that’s what’s happening – you can see it all over campus.”

“Union University serves the church and society because we believe that God is sovereign over church and society and that Christians belong to both spheres,” said Dockery. “We are not called to rule over the world, at least in this age, but to relate to it and seek to influence it for good within the framework of a Christian worldview.

“As a result, we can and should gladly encourage students to pursue any and all morally upright secular vocations, if indeed that is their calling from God – not as a second-rate vocation – but as a work where they can serve God and others.”

Supporting the university’s philosophy of a grace-filled community is a new mission and identity statement that was recently unanimously adopted by the Board of Trustees at their annual fall meeting. For more than 18 months, a committee made up of administration, staff and faculty had worked on a revision of the previous statement, updating it so that the purpose of Union University would be communicated clearly to the students and faculty.

The statement reads, in part, that the university is “an academic community, affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, equipping persons to think Christianly and serve faithfully in ways consistent with its core values of being Christ-centered, people-focused, excellence-driven, and future-directed.” The mission of Union University is to provide “Christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to Church and society.”

“We maintain that one of the primary goals of a liberal arts based education, formed by faith, is the development of a coherent Christian worldview,” stated Dockery, who added that the reality is that everyone has some kind of a worldview, though not everyone’s is coherent. “A Christian worldview is not just one’s personal faith expression, not just a theory. It is an all-consuming way of life, applicable to all spheres of life. The worldview foundations of academic disciplines and professional practice are therefore critical.”

Dockery said that our purpose as Christians is to not rule the world, but relate to it in such a way that we seek to influence it for good, within a framework of a Christian worldview.

“Thus we can and should gladly encourage students to pursue any and all morally upright secular vocations, if indeed that is their calling from God—not as a second-rate vocation—but as a work where they can serve God and others,” said Dockery. “This can happen not by escaping culture nor identifying with it, but by engaging it through Christian thinking and Christ-like service with the goal of influencing it ultimately for God’s glory.”