Intentionally Christian.
Christ is at the center of who we are, what we do, and the Kingdom-building work our students and graduates pursue. Today's world desperately needs Christians who are smart, brave, biblically rooted and world ready. Today's world needs you.
Our mission
Northwestern College is a Christian academic community engaging students in courageous and faithful learning and living that empowers them to follow Christ and pursue God's redeeming work in the world.
We care about serving and loving God and each other. Students are accepted here and equipped to become better people in God's image. Education doesn't stop after class is dismissed; it's a 24/7 experience as students learn, live and worship with friends and mentors.
We don't shy away from tough issues or questions "off limits" to some Christians, so students might be challenged by new ideas. Through that, their beliefs will become clearer to them—and more important. This is a safe place to explore, and students can trust that their professors are seeking God's truth.
At Northwestern, students learn about God's world and their call to help redeem it. We'll prepare them for a successful career, but we'll also get them ready for an even more important job: leading a faithful life. That will require intelligence, compassion and an education that teaches both mind and heart.
Our Christian identity
Northwestern is a Christian college that is Reformed in commitment, evangelical in engagement, and ecumenical in spirit. We view these Christian theological perspectives as complementary and draw from the strengths of each perspective in fulfilling our mission.
Northwestern College was founded by the Reformed Church in America. We accept the ultimate authority of God's written Word and are guided by the wisdom of the ecumenical creeds* and our historic Reformed confessions**. We proclaim the sovereignty and grace of God in every area of creation and human life, our sinfulness and natural inability to have faith in God, God's sovereign and gracious choosing of God's people in Christ based solely on God's good pleasure and will, the Holy Spirit's initiation of the new birth resulting in faith and repentance, the life-giving spiritual union between Christ and believers, and God's compassionate embrace that keeps believers from ever truly falling away from faith. We affirm God's broad redemptive purposes, and we embrace the Christian call to reform the church, reflect critically on worldviews that influence culture, and transform the world.
*The Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed
**The Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Belhar Confession
Our Vision for Learning
We intend Northwestern College graduates to be persons who:
Northwestern graduates understand learning is an act of worship. They trust that all truth is God's truth, which frees them to pursue any academic inquiry. They strive to love what God loves, valuing diverse people, cultures and ideas.
Our Vision for Diversity
Guided by the biblical narrative of creation, fall, redemption and restoration, Northwestern College strives to pursue God's redeeming work in the world by courageously and faithfully engaging the fullness of our similarities and differences in our learning and living together.
Valuing each person as created in the image of the triune God and thus intended for community; respecting the complexity of human identities; and recognizing human difference as central to an education that fosters critical thinking, empathy and dialogue.
