"The call to live well amidst COVID is an invitation to take positive steps to create and nurture relationships and community across difference. As a Christ-centered University, we honour the authority and teaching of Scripture. Following God’s Word is our primary core value."
— President Mark Husbands
Dear TWU Community:
I respectfully offer you the following note of encouragement.
We are committed to doing all that we can to provide a safe, healthy, and supportive environment for all students, staff, and faculty. The enduring uncertainty of the global threat of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and the significant isolation that we have experienced over the past 18 months, have made it all the more challenging for people to exhibit charity, grace, and civility.
The call to live well amidst COVID is an invitation to take positive steps to create and nurture relationships and community across difference. As a Christ-centered University, we honour the authority and teaching of Scripture. Following God’s Word is our primary core value. As such, we are obligated by Christ to demonstrate a life of discipleship marked by the following moral commitments:
- to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matthew 22:39)
- to be respectful of and honour those in authority (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14)
- to ensure that our actions do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner (i.e., immigrant), or the poor (Zechariah 7:10)
- to exhibit true judgement and mercy (Zechariah 7:9)
- to use knowledge to inform and nurture, rather than hurt or damage, the conscience of others (1 Corinthians 8); and
- to use freedom, not for ourselves, but for the sake of others (1 Corinthians 9:19).
At a crucial point in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul states:
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all…To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
"I invite all who support the mission, vision, and work of Trinity Western University, to commit to loving our neighbours well."
Each of us is called to respect, honour, and love others. While I acknowledge how difficult this is, it is especially important for us to do so in a season of heightened political disunity, mistrust, anger, fear, and isolation.
We know that studying and teaching online during the pandemic was difficult for many, and we want to do all that we can to advance opportunities for in-person learning. Navigating the global pandemic well, maintaining bonds of affection, and demonstrating Christian love amidst difference, will require each of us to submit to the presence and leading of the Holy Spirit. As time with his disciples drew to a close, before being arrested and crucified, Jesus extended this prayer to our Heavenly Father:
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world… I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me.” (John 17:17-21).
Jesus knew that unity among Christians is absolutely vital. When unity is absent, the witness of the Gospel is threatened. Jesus prayed that we would be one, so the world would come to a saving knowledge of Christ.
When faced with opportunities to foster division and the temptation to marginalize or denigrate others, we must choose a better path. Yes, the way of the cross is both costly and challenging. I invite all who support the mission, vision, and work of Trinity Western University, to commit to loving our neighbours well. May each of us seek the grace to value others above ourselves, and not look to defend our own interests at the expense of others (Philippians 2:4), and may you experience the love and mercy of Christ.
Grace and peace,
President Mark Husbands
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier Christian liberal arts university dedicated to equipping students to establish meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. It is a fully accredited research institution offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four campuses: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. TWU emphasizes academic excellence, research, and student engagement in a vital faith community committed to forming leaders to have a transformational impact on culture. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.