Following Christ as a faculty member
or post-doc at the U of I is both a wonderful privilege and
opportunity to grow in Christ, as well as a responsibility to serve
Christ and the university.
Connecting with other Christians on campus is very
helpful to grow in Christ where God has called us, and that is the
university world. Since we spend so much of our lives at the
university, we think God intends this to be a key place to love God
and our neighbors.
Here are some important questions we seek to address in various
ways in community together.
• What does it mean to integrate
our faith, learning and practice? What does this look like in
practice? How can we help one another do this in our
scholarship, writing, presenting, and
teaching?
• What role does Christian
community on campus play in our spiritual formation, the
integration of faith and academic calling, and on our outreach to
those around us?
• How best can we be salt and
light here at the U of I? How can we help our colleagues and
friends discover or re-discover the Lord Jesus Christ and enter
into his kingship? How can we serve the university in ways
that express the love of Christ?
• How is it that we can put
Christ and his kingship first in our lives? What are the
practices and disciplines that help us keep focused on Christ and
grow deeply in him? How can we help one another also not lose an
outward focus?
These and other questions must constantly be revisited as
Christians at the university. What better place to address
these questions than with Christian colleagues on
campus!
Toward that end we seek to provide opportunities, or create spaces
to explore answers to these essential questions. We bring in a
speakers (both within and without the U of I) to speak on a variety
of issues, providing some smaller group opportunities to share,
pray, and read and discuss papers and books on pertinent topics.
Being a faculty member or post-doc or staff member is not all
important, but it is important. Together this year let us
work to grow deeper in Christ and serve Christ and the
university.