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2012-2013 Undergraduate Programs
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Completing a Degree
The Meaning of a Degree
Community expectation (evangelical or secular)
does not ultimately determine the meaning of a
degree from CIU. We are responsible to define our
own purpose and establish our own achievement
standards. All programs provide significant train-
ing for vocational Christian service. Criteria for
granting a degree are designed to reflect the stu-
dent’s character and the student’s competency in
both general and professional areas.
Because of the whole life training character of the
program and its basic objective, “To know Him
and to make Him known,” earning a degree at
CIU involves more than merely meeting academic
requirements. It also requires that a student reflect
adequate achievement of the CIU objectives
(including such non-academic areas as personal
moral character, positive interpersonal and family
relationships and local church involvement).
Although non-academic objectives may not be
measured with complete objectivity, we believe
valid and useful assessment is possible and ben-
eficial for student maturation.
To qualify for a degree doctrinally, a student must
demonstrate an understanding of basic biblical
doctrines and affirm the institution’s doctrinal
statement (with the exception of the final sen-
tence, which is not a mandatory requirement) as
an effective articulation of basic truths taught in
Scripture. Recognizing the centrality and impor-
tance of Scripture as our ultimate authority to
guide one through life, a student receiving a CIU
degree must also affirm the student’s belief in the
doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures.
Undergraduate Objectives
The objectives of our Undergraduate Programs
express specific ways in which we endeavor to
accomplish our mission through helping students
to develop in spiritual maturity, Bible knowledge,
ministry skills and general education. We take our
mission and objectives seriously and have taken
great care to state these objectives in terms that
facilitate assessment. We conduct specific
assessment activities each year and the results
guide the institutional planning process, enabling
us to make improvements that our evaluations
indicate we need.
Focused on Spiritual Formation*
Graduating students will demonstrate life change
and spiritual maturation through spiritual forma-
tion in the following terms:
•Graduating students should demonstrate a
growing intimacy in their relationship with God,
as evidenced in the areas of worship, prayerful-
ness and faith.
•Graduating students should demonstrate a bib-
lical understanding of themselves rooted in
Christ, as evidenced in the areas of confidence,
self-discipline and stability.
•Graduating students should demonstrate a
growing relationship with the body of Christ as
evidenced in the areas of community, unity and
submission.
•Graduating students should demonstrate a
growing maturity in personal relationships, as
evidenced in the areas of purity, faithfulness and
servanthood.
•Graduating students should demonstrate a
desire to serve God fully as they engage the
world, as evidenced in the areas of kingdom or
eternal perspective, conviction and persever-
ance.
*The faculty recognizes that spiritual formation
may be defined in various ways. After careful
consideration, in 2005, the faculty defined spiritu-
al formation as follows: “Spiritual formation is the
divinely ordained transformational process by
which the Holy Spirit leads believers to embrace
the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word of God
and by that relationship become progressively
more free from sin and more like Christ. The
Spirit’s formative work occurs in the context of a
vital engagement with a community of believers.”
Focused on Bible Knowledge
Graduating students must demonstrate a basic
knowledge of the Bible in the following terms:
• Graduating students will demonstrate basic
understanding of the content and composition
of the biblical revelation of God’s plan of salva-
tion and program of redemption, including a
basic grasp of the content, principles of inter-
pretation and theological teaching of the Bible.