Fuller Theological Seminary, embracing the Schools of Theology, Psychology, and Intercultural Studies, is an evangelical, multidenominational, international and multiethnic community dedicated to the equipping of men and women for the manifold ministries of Christ and his Church. Under the authority of Scripture it seeks to fulfill its commitment to ministry through graduate education, professional development and spiritual formation. In all of its activities, including instruction, nurture, worship, service, research and publication, Fuller Theological Seminary strives for excellence in the service of Jesus Christ, under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Father.

Beyond the immediate purpose of the nurture and training of students for the ministries of Christ, the faculty and Board of Trustees of Fuller Theological Seminary see a further mission. In 1983, they adopted a statement entitled "The Mission Beyond The Mission," which sets forth the vision that will give further direction to the seminary’s planning and priorities. The statement is organized around five imperatives:

• Imperative One: Go and make disciples
• Imperative Two: Call the church of Christ to renewal
• Imperative Three: Work for the moral health of society
• Imperative Four: Seek peace and justice in the world
• Imperative Five: Uphold the truth of God’s revelation

These imperatives form an important part of the seminary’s long-range planning process.

The Fuller Theological Seminary community– trustees, faculty, staff and students–believe that Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scripture and proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, is the only ground for a person’s reconciliation to God. The seminary assumes, then, a commitment to:

• An evangelical fervor which flows out of an emphasis on the character of God himself;
• The practice of evangelism in every culture of the world;
• A constant engagement with Scripture, testing all things by it;
• Engagement in responsible Christian community through corporate worship and mutual supporting love in the bonds of the grace of Christ;
• Godly living; Christlikeness in word and deed;
• Confidence in the unity of God’s truth in its application to the spiritual, psychological and cultural development of men and women.

Doctrinally the institution stands for the fundamentals of the faith as taught in Holy Scripture and handed down by the Church. Consistent with this purpose, the faculty and trustees of the seminary acknowledge the creeds of the early church and the confessions of the Protestant communions to which they severally belong, and, among recent evangelical statements, the Lausanne Covenant (1974).

Under God, and subject to biblical authority, the faculty, administrators, and trustees of the seminary bear concerted witness to the following articles, to which they subscribe, and which they hold to be essential to their ministry.

I. God has revealed himself to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all his ways; one in essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

II. God, who discloses himself through his creation, has savingly spoken in the words and events of redemptive history. This history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, who is made known to us by the Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture.

III. Scripture is an essential part and trustworthy record of this divine self-disclosure. All the books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, are the written word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They are to be interpreted according to their context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through them in living power.

IV. God, by his Word and for his glory, freely created the world of nothing. He made man and woman in his own image, as the crown of creation, that they might have fellowship with him. Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being estranged from their Maker, yet responsible to him, they became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved, and, apart from grace, incapable of returning to God.

V. The only Mediator between God and humankind is Christ Jesus our Lord, God’s eternal Son, who, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, fully shared and fulfilled our humanity in a life of perfect obedience. By his death in our stead, he revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day he rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all.

VI. The Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in divine mercy, whereby we are forgiven all our sins, justified by faith alone through the merit of Christ our Savior and granted the free gift of eternal life.

VII. God graciously adopts us into his family and enables us to call him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring so to live in the world that all may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

VIII. God, by his Word and Spirit, creates the one holy catholic and apostolic church, calling sinners out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ’s body. By the same Word and Spirit, he guides and preserves for eternity that new, redeemed humanity, which, being formed in every culture, is spiritually one with the people of God in all ages.

IX. The church is summoned by Christ to offer acceptable worship to God and to serve him by preaching the gospel and making disciples of all nations, by tending the flock through the ministry of the word and sacraments and through daily pastoral care, by striving for social justice and by relieving human distress and need.

X. God’s redemptive purpose will be consummated by the return of Christ to raise the dead, to judge all people according to the deeds done in the body and to establish his glorious kingdom. The wicked shall be separated from God’s presence, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with him forever. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new.

In the pursuit of truth before God, faculty members are free to express, in their writing, speaking, teaching, and activities, their individual positions. While free to develop, change, and accept any academic position, the unique task of the institution requires that the ultimate positions of faculty members not be at variance with the basic theological stance of the community as set forth in the Statement of Faith and other official statements derived from it and approved by vote of the faculty and board. Fuller recognizes that as its faculty members pursue their respective disciplines, scholarship will create a healthy and dynamic tension which Fuller must encourage.

Faculty members are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results within their fields of academic competence. Faculty members are entitled to freedom in their classrooms to address matters within the general subject area implied by the course title and description.

Faculty members are free as individuals and as citizens to speak and write about matters, whether or not the matters are directly related to theology. While Fuller will not limit individual expression in any respect, faculty members should avoid the impression that they are speaking for the seminary.

Faculty members have the freedom to entertain positions which stand in an uncertain relationship to our community’s Statement of Faith, but each member must realize that the faculty as a whole, and not its individual faculty members, has the task of interpreting the Statement of Faith.

If the community finds that a given position is consonant with the Statement of Faith, the community has a responsibility to protect the academic freedom of the individuals involved against any attacks from the public or from some segment of the seminary constituency.

If a faculty member believes that a peer has separated from the theological community at Fuller by publicly advocating a position clearly at variance with the Statement of Faith and Fuller’s unique academic task, the faculty member should first approach that colleague directly and privately for clarification. If this attempt is not successful, then the two faculty members should request the aid of their dean(s) within the community to attempt such clarification. If after faculty discussion a faculty member remains convinced that a position is correct, even though it is at variance with Fuller’s theological stance, that member has the right to attempt to change the Statement of Faith. The process of change must follow the procedures established for that purpose in the seminary’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.

If attempts for such changes do not receive the community’s support, however, Fuller expects that a faculty member will act with integrity and leave the community rather than act in opposition to the community’s confessional stance. Any faculty colleague, however, does have the right to a full hearing and investigation by the Board of Trustees, according to the procedures stated in the seminary’s bylaws and Faculty Handbook, with the understanding that the outcome of such a process may still require a severance of the relationship for the sake and interest of both parties.

Students are not required to subscribe to the Statement of Faith and are free to learn and to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in the Fuller community. In their public expressions students and student organizations should make clear that they speak only for themselves.

Faculty members are responsible for safeguarding the academic freedom of their students to learn by encouraging free inquiry into controversial issues, presenting alternative viewpoints, refraining from undue influence of the process of learning, taking dissenting student opinion seriously, and offering a forum for discussion.

Fuller Theological Seminary is committed to the admission and education of students without discrimination on the basis of gender. In welcoming women into all of its programs, the seminary thereby incurs an obligation to make all of its resources available to them as they pursue the professions and ministries–ordained or nonordained–to which the Lord has called them. The Fuller community is aware of the fact that the role of women is a matter of controversy in many denominations, churches, and parachurch movements. The seminary seeks to nurture its ties with the whole Body of Christ, including those Christian individuals and groups who presently hold alternative views on the role and ministries of women. While the seminary encourages discussion and study of this issue, under no conditions may the authority of the classroom be used to challenge the calling of any student on the basis of gender. The seminary expects all who teach in its programs to honor its commitment to this point.

The Joint Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary has adopted the following statement recommending the use of nondiscriminatory language by all members of the seminary community. Fuller has adopted the statement to be consistent with the seminary’s clear commitment to the full equality of women and men and to the training of women as equal partners with men for all areas of Christian ministry.

"As members of the Joint Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary, we are committed to the use of nondiscriminatory language in all areas of the community’s life. We recognize that many women and men no longer find ‘man,’ ‘men,’ and ‘mankind’ acceptable as generic terms. We understand that such exclusive language, though once normative in our speaking and writing, now tends increasingly to alienate a substantial group of people. We wish to challenge patterns of language that may be doing harm even when harm is inflicted unconsciously and without intention. As Christians desiring to support human equality, we intend to avoid exclusive language which might express or encourage discrimination within the church or society. We pledge ourselves as faculty and encourage students, staff members, and administrators to use language which includes women and men in all our teaching, writing, witness, and worship."

Fuller Theological Seminary’s unique contribution to the church is reflected in the union of its three faculties. In this union, psychology and intercultural studies join with theology to effect the biblical mandate of bringing persons throughout the world to maturity in Christ through every language and culture. As an educational arm of the church, Fuller’s three graduate schools seek to serve the body of Christ in its worldwide ministry, combining these emphases in the type of training they provide.

The trustees and faculty of Fuller are committed to achieving and maintaining the highest academic standards in teaching, research and writing. In the quest for academic quality, we assume that there will exist:

• A commitment to increase and strengthen the quality of teaching in the classroom
• through funding and supporting innovative programs
• through varied teaching models
• through careful evaluation and feedback;
• A rigorous program of research and writing to provide literary leadership for the church;
• Interaction with nonevangelical viewpoints;
• A commitment to maintain the highest possible standards of responsible academic freedom;
• A commitment to flexibility in curriculum design
• to allow room for innovation and growth
• to recognize individual needs and specialized ministries;
• A commitment to the best of theological traditions;
• An academic program which will encourage and foster the spiritual formation of the individual;
• Recognition by regional and professional accrediting agencies
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges
• Association of Theological Schools
• American Psychological Association

Fuller Seminary is committed to an academically and professionally qualified faculty whose appointments and advancements are dependent upon potential and acknowledged competence in teaching, writing and professional practice. These standards assume:

• A willingness to invest in the growth of persons both within the context of the seminary and outside its walls
• personally
• professionally
• spiritually;
• A commitment to relate productively with local congregations
• in support of local pastors by offering workshops and other services
• to enhance their ministry
• in a continued and expanded use of local churches for fieldwork experience
• in keeping local churches informed of Fuller’s ministries
• in listening to the local churches’ articulation of their ministry and needs;
• An ability to serve the church in the area of research
• by keeping abreast of the times
• by initiating new programs in order to meet present and future needs
• by coordinating efforts within the three schools to optimize the application of their unique resources;
• A commitment to provide professional training of the highest quality for the varied ministries within the church
• incorporating practical "in-ministry" experience
• stressing the importance of preaching and other means of communication
• recognizing the effect of culture on the ministry of the church;
• A concern for the highest standards of professional competence for men and women engaged in ministry outside of the organized church
• in the healing ministry of clinical psychology
• in the caring ministry of social agencies
• in the teaching ministry of educational institutions.

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary are pledged to serve the entire church of Jesus Christ in its various expressions whether congregational, denominational or multidenom-inational. While maintaining a multideno-minational structure, Fuller encourages its students to work within existing church organizations. In reflecting this approach, Fuller Seminary assumes the following:

• Strong denominational participation by individual trustees and faculty members;
• Encouragement for students to serve the church organization that nurtured them;
• The preparation of men and women for ministry in their own church organizations, recognizing the distinctives of each denomination or organization;
• A commitment to be ecumenical in church relationships;
• An emphasis on preaching, evangelism, Christian nurture and church discipline through which unity is expressed.

In order to meet the demands of the church today, the trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary take seriously the apostolic description of the church’s nature–one body, many members. For this reason, the programs of the three schools and the continuing education programs are designed to provide training for a wide range of Christian service. This attitude toward diversity assumes the following:

• A diversity of gifts and ministries to be exercised with awareness of the unity of the body and dependence upon the head, Jesus Christ;
• A variety of programs designed to prepare men and women for the general and specialized ministries identified by the church
• pastors
• staff ministers
• missionaries
• clinical psychologists
• youth ministers
• administrators
• research psychologists
• professors
• chaplains
• campus ministers
• Christian educators
• counselors
• evangelists
• marriage and family therapists
• social workers;
• A correspondence between the enrollment in each program and placement opportunities
• responding to the church’s request for ministers with specifically defined training (e.g., preaching, Christian education, family ministries, administration)
• observing the growing need for mission training, particularly at the professional level
• addressing the continued need for Christian clinical psychologists and marriage and family therapists;
• The offering of extension courses in theological education to allow laypersons, many of whom are already involved in vocational service, to strengthen skills in Christian ministry;
• The opportunity for in-service training which provides both academic stimulus and spiritual growth.
• The offering of distance education that is not limited by timing, pace, or venue.

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary believe that the church of Christ must minister to the whole person. Emotional healing in Christian perspective is the particular goal of the School of Psychology, but the aim is shared by the two other faculties as well. The ultimate objective is that every Fuller graduate be equipped to model as well as foster in others a personal maturity which is demonstrated by loving service to others and responsible Christian discipleship. In developing and nurturing spiritual and emotional maturity, we assume there will exist:

• An investment by the seminary in the personal, the professional and the spiritual development of each of its members
• in time and availability
• in resources
• in services provided
• in participatory governance;
• The opportunity for all students to participate in supportive community
• for social development
• for ministry formation
• for spiritual formation;
• Easy accessibility to the counseling services offered on campus;
• A commitment to strengthen marriage and family life while affirming the value of those who are single.

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary have a deep-seated concern to demonstrate and to evoke a quality of discipleship which applies the biblical norms of love and justice in all human relationships. This regard for social justice assumes that the following will be evident:

• A biblically shaped perspective in the question of the relationship among evangelism, social concern and the Christian’s mission in the world;
• Course offerings which encompass cross-cultural studies, problems of church and state, and aspects of social ethics, as well as social work, family guidance and mental health services;
• Opportunities in internships and field education that confront students with the massive problems thrust upon them by our urban society;
• A reflection in all areas of seminary organization of a significant minority involvement
• in the African-American and Hispanic Church Studies programs within the School of Theology

Fuller reflects the multiethnic and cultural richness of the body of Christ. Through its setting in Southern California and its international student constituency, Fuller Seminary is faced with the challenges and opportunities of multicultural ministry in a badly divided and broken world. This situation assumes for a theological seminary that:

• Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that separates people and races (Ephesians 2:14). But redemption does not efface the created cultural differences of people, but rather enables God’s people to enter more deeply into a fellowship of mutual understanding and love.
• Since each culture group has unique gifts to offer the church and its life, each one must be given a place where it can feel safe in the academic community and empowered to make its contribution to the upbuilding of the body of Christ.
• Through a broad ranging discussion of all parts of the community, programs will be developed that welcome and affirm the cultural diversity of its students both in providing faculty and staff models and a curriculum that develops a multicultural perspective on theology and ministry.

The Fuller Seminary community is dedicated to the task of proclaiming the gospel both in its local setting in Pasadena and throughout the world. This commitment assumes that there exists:

• A need for an evangelical, multidenom-inational seminary on the West Coast
• with a continued location in Pasadena
• ministering in the changing multicultural population of Southern California;
• A concern not only to share the gospel with those outside the seminary but also to implant a missionary vision within the life of every Fuller student;
• A dedication to the growth of the church in every culture of the world confronted with rapid change and unrest.

The faculty of Fuller is committed to an integration of ideas, research and programming in the areas of theology, missiology and psychology. The faculty assumes that there will be:

• A need to strengthen the theological foundations of such an integration to give it an enduring viability;
• A need to strengthen the social science foundation upon which integration rests to give it greater scientific credibility;
• A growing recognition that the resources of psychology and theology may, if combined, provide new and more effective remedies for many human problems that exist;
• A commitment to the integration of theological and social science insights in the development of missiology;
• A need for academic, professional and personal preparation for training in these new disciplines;
• A requirement for an academic community in which scholars from all three disciplines can generate, through research and theorizing, a growing body of literature to promote integration.

The Fuller community is committed to a responsible stewardship of its intraorganizational processes, facilities and financial resources. This assumes that there will be:

• An endeavor toward development into an organization that accomplishes its mission while it fulfills the lives of its members;
• Continued leadership training by the seminary to meet the needs of the church;
• A periodic reconsideration and refining of the seminary’s intraorganizational processes to ensure greater efficiency and fulfillment of its goals;
• A recognition that all planning for facilities should take into consideration that
• our needs will change
• the scale of our operations will change
• the situation in which we work and live will change
• we will change
• there will be an intermingling of user functions on campus.

In addition to sharing in and contributing to these characteristics, each school has its own distinctives which describe the specific nature of its ministry:

• Preparing men and women academically, vocationally and spiritually for the lay and ordained ministries of the church;
• Supporting the development of faithful scholarship and preparing future teachers of the church;.
• Engaging in the reflection, research and publication essential to the increase of theological insight.

• Training Christian men and women to serve in the areas of teaching, research, clinical practice, and family therapy;
• Exploring the interrelationship between theology and psychology;
• Pursuing and publishing research in the areas of clinical, general and experimental psychology, the psychology of religion, and family therapy.

Equipping servant leaders who serve as international church leaders, midcareer professionals, and emerging intercultural workers, thus furthering their development in commitment and competence to relevant areas of service, research, and communication concerning the purpose of God, with special emphasis on:

• Encouraging a deeper commitment to the biblical basis, authority, and norms of intercultural ministry;
• Developing professional commitment and competency in intercultural service;
• Communicating the gospel appropriately in every cultural context;
• Planting and developing churches among every people;
• Equipping others for intercultural ministry;
• Expanding the awareness of the life and ministry of the global church.