Thursday, October 09, 2008

PIBC's Proposed New Vision Statement

We have been working on our Pacific Islands Bible College foundational statements lately to bring them in line with the changes we have made in the school's program - general education, minors, seminary, remedial English and study skills - and planned programs, including a teacher certification program and a liberal arts/Christian world view major. In fact, we are also working on changing the name to Pacific Islands University. We would retain the PIBC name for the Bible College part of the university.
With that in mind we have come up with this vision statement (still a work in progress):
"PIBC aspires to be a leader in providing accessible, transformational, quality, Christian-based higher education to the people of Micronesia, the Pacific Islands, and to the ends of the earth."

Here is the rationale....
Leader: We still are the only accredited Christian college in the Micronesian islands and on Guam. We believe that PIBC will have a major part to play in providing a Christian influence in the preparation of young men and women from the islands to serve their communities and churches.


Accessible: We provide affordable, local, culturally sensitive and relevant education to the peoples of the Pacific. We are committed to providing American style education within an island context. We are also committed to meeting the academic needs of students who come from academically deficient settings with remedial education. Our students do not have to completely leave behind their islands and cultures to get an American style education.

Quality: We believe that we do not need to sacrifice academic level to make our programs accessible. Our island students are as capable and talented as young people anywhere else in the world. While we try to meet our students needs "where they are" our goal is to produce graduates who are able to function on the same level as those from similar schools throughout the world and are capable of taking leadership in the global community and church.

Transformational: We are a Christian college, and thus, our desire is to see all our students be uniquely "conformed to the image of Christ." We nurture the spiritual life of our students and challenge them to embrace responsible and accountable lifestyles that reflect a passion for the kingdom of God.

Micronesia... to the ends of the earth: PIBC is committed to training Micronesians. other Pacific islanders and people from the many cultures that call the islands home to be part of the command of Jesus to "make disciples" of the peoples of all the earth. Our prayer and goal is that our graduates would make an impact for Christ in their homes and throughout the world.

3 comments:

Islander said...

Wow. PIBC has truly come a long way. Praise the Lord!! May I add a little suggestion (2 cents worth). Could we add a phrase somewhere in the lines that would show PIBC as being "Bible-based". It would really help prospective students or visitors to see it explicit in the foundational statements that PIBC is commited to the Bible as the Word of God.

I continue to pray for PIBC and am proud to be part of the MIBS/PIBC alumni family. May God bless you and the work that you do.

Islander

Dave Owen said...

Good point. Of course PIBC continues to be committed to the Bible as the Word of God. The following is one of the goal statements under our mission statement....

Working Knowledge of the Scriptures: Because the Bible is the final authority in all realms of life we are working to help students develop knowledge and understanding of scriptures. We do this by providing graduate and undergraduate degrees in biblical studies which require an in-depth study of the Bible, biblical studies minors for our students majoring in other areas, and in modeling the use of scripture in chapel, in our teaching, and in our lives.

Islander said...

Thanks for clarifying that. I guess I just did not see it in the statements on the blog. GO PIBC!!!

Islander