Our Vision and Purpose

The Center for Worldview and Culture exists to support Southwest Baptist University’s commitment to holistic Christian education. At SBU, we seek more than vocational preparation. We aim to form whole persons—shaping the hearts, minds, and character of our students so they are equipped to make a Christ-exalting impact in the world.

Our mission captures this calling: We prepare students to practice their Christian faith with courage and confidence in a confused world.

Preparing Students for Faithful Engagement

We believe a university is not merely a place for academic enrichment; it is a training ground where habits of head and heart are intentionally cultivated. While we recognize that not every student will graduate as a believer, we desire all students to understand what it means to practice the Christian faith—not simply to profess it. Scripture calls followers of Christ to “walk worthy of the gospel” (Eph. 4:1–3) and to live as he lived (1 John 2:6). Our aim is to help form students whose faith is integrated into the whole of life, shaping their convictions, their moral imagination, and their daily practices for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Living faithfully today requires both courage and confidence. Christianity is often pushed to the cultural margins, and students must be prepared to stand firm with conviction, grounded in the truthfulness of Scripture and the reliability of the Christian story. As Francis Schaeffer described it, the Christian faith offers “true truth”—a comprehensive vision of reality that speaks meaningfully to contemporary questions of identity, morality, politics, gender, and culture.

Christian Worldview Formation

One way to describe our work is through the lens of Christian worldview formation. A worldview, as Nancy Pearcey explains, is “a biblically informed perspective on all reality… a mental map that tells us how to navigate the world effectively” (Total Truth, 23). Every student brings a worldview with them—whether consciously or unconsciously. Our goal is to help them see the world through the “spectacles of Scripture,” in John Calvin’s phrase (Institutes I.vi.1), so that they can interpret life’s complexities through a distinctly Christian lens.

This does not mean forcing simplistic answers onto complex problems. Rather, it means grounding students in the biblical categories that address humanity’s most enduring questions: Who are we? What is wrong with the world? How can it be made right? And where is history heading? A biblical worldview provides the framework necessary to engage these questions with wisdom and integrity.

Transforming Minds and Lives

For many Christians—including our own faculty and staff—coming to faith involves a profound reorientation. Before encountering Christ, we viewed identity, morality, relationships, and purpose in one way; after the gospel shines into our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6), we see the world differently. As we read Scripture and walk by the Spirit, our understanding of reality is shaped by the voices of Moses and the prophets, the teachings of Christ, and the witness of the apostles. This is the kind of transformation we hope to foster in our students.

Thinking Christianly

Ultimately, the Center aims to help students think Christianly about every area of life. Pearcey summarizes this well: “Thinking Christianly means understanding that Christianity gives the truth about the whole of reality, a perspective for interpreting every subject matter” (34). If Christian institutions are serious about discipleship, they must equip students to live for God not only in the classroom or chapel, but throughout their lives and vocations (cf. Pearcey, 66).

This is our commitment at the Center for Worldview and Culture: to prepare students to live as courageous, confident, and faithful Christians in a complex and confused world.