Faith and Spiritual Development

Transcript

Beyond its beautiful location, one of the most special things about Pepperdine is its faith related mission. Katai, senior communications major, is here today to talk about spiritual life on campus.  Christian values, rooted in a Church of Christ heritage, are at the heart of Pepperdine’s transformative experience both inside and outside the classroom, where students are challenged and supported academically, intellectually, and spiritually. 

Thanks Alex, hello everyone! As a prospective international student from Lusaka, Zambia, who highly valued my Christian faith, I hoped to find an environment that would challenge me academically AND encourage me to cultivate my faith.I found what I was looking for right here in Malibu! Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values, where students’ lives are strengthened for purpose, service, and leadership – that’s our mission statement. This mission is represented  across campus, including in classes and within student life. In the classroom, faculty often invite students into sincere conversations about how faith and academia or the class material intertwine. Outside the classroom, Pepperdine hosts a variety of spiritual life activities, including small group gatherings, surf convo, and our annual Christmas tree lighting advent ceremony.Pepperdine offers many opportunities for worship – my favorite is The Well, a weekly service that hosts hundreds of students for prayer and singing. There are also several other ministries available to students, such as Koinonia Christian Ministries, Alpha Omega, and Word Up, a gospel-style worship ministry that I am leading this year!Here, all students are supported and welcomed, no matter what their religious background might be. It is not difficult to find an event, support group, or comfortable space to challenge you and help you grow. Since I have begun my studies at Pepperdine, my faith has increased. I have seen how the Hub for Spiritual Life is a connecting place for students, staff, and faculty to become engaged in service, worship, and leadership opportunities on and off-campus. My experiences as Pepperdine fully demonstrate that Pepperdine is both academically excellent and distinctly Christian. That’s it for me, Alex!

Thanks, Katai, for sharing about the Pepperdine mission and the integration of faith and learning. Pepperdine equips graduates to lead purposeful lives as servant-minded leaders throughout the world and encourages faculty, staff, and students to live out the school’s motto, from Matthew 10:8:  “Freely ye received, freely give.”