The mission of Pacific Islands University

We've come to realize that it is no longer enough to simply teach people the Bible. If they are going to be effective disciples of Christ Jesus they also need to become experts in the cultures and contexts in which they will be applying the Bible.

PIBC is morphing into a Christian liberal arts school -- soon to be Pacific Islands University. President Dave is waxing on his blog about what all of this change means and what it means to be an accessible, excellent, and transformational school.

So, I thought I'd jump in and provide some back-up.

Here is the working version of the new mission and purpose statement -- still in process:

PIBC (PIU) exists to provide accessible, excellent, transformational Christian education and ministry training to the people of Micronesia, the Pacific Islands, and to the ends of the earth. As such, our mission is to prepare men and women with a biblical worldview for leadership and service in life, work, and ministry in the global community and the church.

Accessible -- Most of our students are islanders from Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, Palau, Hawaii, Guam, and the Marshalls. But there is representation from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, China, and the mainland US. For these people in the Western Pacific Guam is the most central location -- thus the location of the main campus. We also have sites in Palau, Yap, and Chuuk. We're also beginning to offer online distance education.

We're accessible cost-wise, too. Almost all of our students come from places which most of the world would consider impoverished so we work hard to make education affordable. We keep education accessible by relying on missionary staffing. We are perhaps the least expensive college with American accreditation.

Since most of our students also come from educationally challenged environments we have to do a lot of remedial work.

Excellent -- While the islands themselves are beautiful no one has ever established a pattern of "excellence" here. These are backwater places which much of the world has blown off as insignificant. So, expectations have always been pretty low -- whether it comes to education, health care, environmental stewardship, or economic development.

And we admit that PIBC has at times gone with that flow. But we are now determined that our students will get an education on par with what they would get in the mainland US or at any other college around the world. The days of missionary bush school standards are history.

Transformational -- We're not just about life change -- making disciples who walk closely with Christ -- who carry the gospel to the far corners. That IS an important part of what we do but we want to be transforming the island cultures, too. We see ourselves as an intentionally disruptive presence -- such is the nature of the kingdom of God.

The islands are rife with dysfunction -- nepotism, corruption, locally-generated pollution, addiction, incest, sexual violence -- a dark cloud of hopelessness -- a fog of fatalism. We want to raise up a generation of Christians who will lead their cultures through the difficult transformational changes that will be necessary if the people of the Pacific are going to live healthy lives in the globalized 21st century.

If the island cultures do not change people will continue to suffer and die because there is very limited health care. They will continue to live as victims of leaders who regularly rip-off their own people because there are not enough checks in the system -- or spine to stand up to them. The islands will become subservient to the rich and educated nations who will trick them out of their birth-rights.

PIU wants to have a part in shaping a generation of leaders who will as prophets and disciples rise up to challenge these injustices. We can't do this for them but perhaps God will use us to give them the tools that will set them along the path of transformation.