Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School’s commitment to biblical integration in its curriculum throughout every major is illustrated through a faculty-led, faculty-written Academic Vision—a clear statement of what we believe God has called us to as an academic community. As we innovate, grow and expand into new areas, we recognize the ever-present danger of “mission drift,” of becoming untethered to our founding purpose and historical values.

Recognizing this danger, faculty members and college administrators convened a working group to capture and articulate “what makes us LBC | Capital.” Our goal was first to create a set of guardrails that would keep us on mission as an academic community and, second, to cast a clear vision for how we grow and innovate for a new generation of students.

We believe that our Academic Vision Statement anchors the work of LBC | Capital firmly in the mission of God and in the historical purpose of the college. We believe that God’s mission is to redeem every nation and to bring all creation back under His Lordship. Historically, many Christian colleges have focused only on one part of God’s mission. On one hand, traditional Bible colleges have prepared young men and women as pastors, ministry leaders and missionaries with the primary purpose of reaching a lost world for Christ (Great Commission). On the other hand, Christian liberal arts colleges have prepared Christians for the marketplace, sending them to live out biblical values in the context of a “secular profession” (cultural mandate).

LBC | Capital is deeply committed to doing both. As a Bible college, we remain unashamedly committed to the study of the Word of God and to equipping God’s people to know it, love it and proclaim it. At the same time, we recognize that many of our students also pursue a professional area of study such as business, social work, education or criminal justice. As a result, we are also committed to preparing students to love God and their neighbors in whatever vocation God calls them to serve (the Great Commandments).

We recognize that any vision is not lived out on paper but in the multitude of large and small decisions we make every day as an institution. Knowing that, our Academic Vision commits us to living out three basic commitments in our daily decisions as a community: a commitment to a biblical education, a commitment to a formational experience and a commitment to a missional purpose.

1. Biblical Education

Our school’s seal is inscribed with Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever” (NIV). LBC | Capital’s Academic Vision unequivocally affirms the importance of a biblical education stating, “The Bible will remain a major course of study that faculty commit to synthesize with every academic discipline, program and course.”

However, our goal for biblical education will fall short if we only succeed in instilling biblical knowledge in our students. We also commit to presenting Scripture in such a way that we proclaim the Lordship of Christ and our responsibility to bring our lives and vocations into alignment with the truth of His Word. The purpose of a biblical education is to “teach students to interpret and analyze the Scriptures rightly so that they can enact its truths in their social, historical and cultural contexts, and in every vocation to which God calls them.”

2. A Formational Experience

We also believe that who we are becoming as a community is every bit as important as what we are teaching and learning. Like Paul, we pray that “Christ would be formed” in our students as they journey with us at LBC | Capital (Galatians 4:19). We want to see formation happening spiritually, morally and intellectually as we journey with students. Graduating students often point to the personal influence of professors and other LBC mentors on their lives as they studied. As we grow and expand, particularly into the online space, we want to retain the personal connection that has characterized an LBC | Capital experience and to continue to “serve as godly role models who aid students in becoming Christ’s disciples.”

3. Missional Purpose

We serve a God who is on mission to redeem humanity and to restore every area of his kingdom. As an interdenominational arm of the church, LBC | Capital remains unswervingly on mission with God as we move forward. Our heart is to see our students understand their life’s calling in light of God’s overarching story—a story where He is taking all that has been lost and broken by sin and redeeming it for His kingdom purposes.

Because God is at work to redeem humanity, we desire to see students equipped and committed to proclaiming the good news of Christ’s redemption.

Because God is at work to restore shalom in every aspect of his creation, we desire to equip students to pursue excellence in their field of study, recognizing that God is glorified when His people think well and contribute to His Kingdom purposes through their discipline.

In this ever-changing educational realm, we explore new ways to do what we have always done—“to equip Christian students to think and live a biblical worldview and to proclaim Christ by serving Him in the Church and society.” Lancaster Bible College’s Academic Vision is a tangible commitment to pursue that calling biblically, formationally and missionally.