Life Together Under God at WLC
The Basis For Our Life Together
Christian college education means “taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) It is a way of looking at life that integrates God’s revealed truth with every area of learning and makes sense out of our experience. It is a source of strength and comfort. It is a moral compass. It is our way of life. The beating heart of our life together is the grace of God, the love that led Jesus to die in our place in order to make us God’s people forever. The foundation for our life together is the Bible, God’s timeless Word to his people. The essence of our life together is mutual support and encouragement, as well as honest accountability to each other. Together we discover the opportunities to serve and to lead that give our lives purpose. The Christian faith and Lutheran heritage are taught in the classroom, expressed in campus ministry, and lived in the WLC culture.
What You Can Expect From WLC
The staff and faculty of the College are committed to meeting your needs in Christian love to the degree possible. You can expect excellence in teaching and professors that are available to you outside the classroom. You can expect a rich variety of opportunities to develop your spiritual life and to express that life in roles of service and leadership. You can seek out a value-added dimension of higher education in research, internships, and experiential learning. You can expect to be treated with respect, with fairness, with honesty, and with caring.
What WLC Will Expect From You
You will be expected to give your best effort, with a cooperative spirit, in your classes and in extra-curricular areas such as athletics, music, drama, and student governance. Academic integrity means that you will not cheat on exams or plagiarize in papers.
You will be expected to respect the theology of the College and those who lead and teach here, even if you do not believe exactly as the College teaches. You will be expected not to controvert the teaching of the College or live in blatant disregard for the moral principles of the College.
You will be expected to conform your life to the values of God’s Word. Specifically:
- God’s Word reserves sexual intercourse for the marriage of one man
and one woman, as his gift and for the sake of families. The Bible condemns as
sin premarital sex and the trivializing of God’s gift of sex in pornography,
sexually suggestive behavior, or sexual harassment, as well as in homosexual
acts.
- God’s Word describes the human body as a temple. We honor God by
how we use our bodies and how we live our earthly lives. The underage use of
alcohol and the use of illegal drugs is a violation of civil law as well as
God’s law. The College strictly prohibits student use or possession of alcohol
on campus and at College sponsored events. WLC promotes physical as well as
spiritual wellness.
- God’s Word protects people’s well-being. Bullying and violence
(physical, verbal, or cyber), theft or destruction of property, gossip, and
slander are a rejection of God’s will and damaging to the harmony of life
together under God.
- God’s Word encourages a life of integrity, and of
honesty in relationships as well as in the management of financial resources.
Lying and high-stakes gambling erode integrity and damage the life we enjoy
together at this College.
Christian Discipline
The College recognizes that students have a sinful
human nature and, therefore, may fail to live out God’s moral will consistently.
Christianity is about forgiveness and restoration. WLC approaches discipline,
above all, as a matter of sin and forgiveness. From the dean of students to the
campus pastors, the goal is for students to acknowledge their wrong and seek
the forgiveness of those who have been wronged, as well as the forgiveness of
God. For Jesus’ sake, forgiveness is freely given.
Vital to Christian discipline is accountability.
Students will see themselves accountable to God, to civil authority, and to the
College’s administration in accord with this statement of understanding. More
important, students will see themselves as accountable to each other. In this
Christian community people both give and receive correction as well as
encouragement in a spirit of Christian love.
The student handbook spells out sanctions for
violations of College policy, for the good of the entire community and for the
personal growth of violators. Sanctions, too, are issued out of Christian
concern for students. An appeals process is spelled out in the student handbook.
Students may be encouraged to transfer to another
college if it becomes apparent that their convictions and lifestyle are
significantly at odds with the beliefs and values of WLC. Students may be
dismissed from the College when there is a blatant unwillingness to live under
the will of God and this statement of understanding. The College happily works
with students who may be wrestling with their beliefs and moral values.
However, when a student’s position hardens in opposition to the College’s
mission and convictions, honesty and love dictate that they discontinue their
enrollment at WLC.
What WLC Desires For You
The College sincerely desires that students develop their gifts and
abilities, broaden their appreciation for the wonders of God in the sciences
and arts, prepare for meaningful careers and lives of servant leadership, and
grow to maturity in mind and spirit. WLC does not require attendance at daily
chapel or vespers or Sunday worship, because worship is a freely given response
to God’s grace. Still, the College unabashedly encourages students to attend
worship and Bible studies in order to appreciate how fully God’s truth impacts
life and to experience the authentic community of shared faith. The College
will repeatedly offer opportunities for students to get beyond themselves and
discover the fulfillment there is in doing things for others.
College Statement on Sexuality
The College holds to the unchanging truth of the Bible that sexual
intercourse is reserved for the marriage of one man and one woman as his gift
and for the sake of families. The Bible condemns as sin premarital sex and the
trivializing of God’s gift of sex in pornography, sexually suggestive behavior,
or sexual harassment, as well as in homosexual acts.