Our Core Values

Cores Values of the Graduate Christian Fellowship at the University of Arizona

We value shared leadership and service and thus encourage our members to work cooperatively in the various roles and responsibilities necessary to provide for effective ministry through GCF. (Romans 12:1-8)

We value transparency by leaders as well as direct and specific communication in all aspects of decision-making. (2 Corinthians 1:12-14)

We value humility and teachability and are thus open to mentorship and guidance from GCF student leaders, staff advisors and other mature Christians. (Proverbs 10:17; Philippians 4:8-9)

We value having a diversity of people and perspectives among Christians in our fellowship as this encourages us to critically evaluate our own views and learn to respect other people. (Romans 14:13-23)

We value and welcome people with religious and philosophical beliefs that differ from our own and are willing to respectfully listen to, engage in conversation with, and love them. (Matthew 10:16; Colossians 4:5-6)

We value Christian community as an opportunity to extend God’s grace through genuine love and service toward one another. (1 John 4:7-12)

We value the intentional pursuit of God evidenced by regular time in the Holy Scripture, prayer and other spiritual disciplines. (2 Timothy 2:1-7; 2 Peter 1:3-7)

We value truth and the pursuit of truth through respectful discussion and dialogue for the purpose of growing in understanding of truth in all aspects of life and academic study. (Proverbs 4:1-9; 27:17)

We value serving the Lord Jesus in all aspects of our lives as his disciples with diligence and integrity. (Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 12:9-13)

We value Scripture as God’s Word and thus seek, in community with other believers, to conform our thinking and practice of life to what it affirms. (Psalm 119:9-16; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Peter 2:19)

We value all people as equally bearing the image and likeness of God and thus having inherent dignity, worth and sanctity from conception to death. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 8; Proverbs 14:31; James 3:9-10)

We value God’s gift of relationships, intimacy and sexuality and the responsibility we have to care for and encourage one another to honor God with our bodies and lives, including through sexual purity. (Malachi 2:10-16; Thessalonians 4:1-8)

We value and affirm marriage as a covenantal union of one man and one woman, intended for life, and sexual intimacy as reserved for this marital union. (Malachi 2:10-16; Matthew 19:1-12; 1 Corinthians 7:1-10)

We value and affirm humans created as female and male, equally bearing God’s image, each being an intrinsic gift of God that constitutes part of personal identity. (Genesis 1:26-27; Galatians 3:25-29)

We value ethnic and linguistic diversity among people and thus strive together to foster an environment that represents and respects diverse cultural traditions, heritages and backgrounds. (Isaiah 19:18-25; Acts 2:1-12)

We value God’s call on the Church to stand with oppressed people and thus affirm working for justice on behalf of our neighbors in the University and in society. (Deuteronomy 16:18-20; Proverbs 24:10-12, 23-26; Micah 6:8)

We value God’s creation and God’s charge to be stewards of the natural world and all God’s creatures. (Genesis 1:26-31; Psalm 8)

We value the mission of the church: To love and serve God as faithful witnesses of Jesus our Lord, seeking to be agents of reconciliation between God and people through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21)