Almost every company in America can point to a corporate plan that highlights its unique strengths, market segments, growth opportunities, and headwinds. Many Christian not-for-profits, and especially Christian higher education institutions, can also point to their own strategic plans that focus on their mission, key areas for growth, and the steps they will take to evaluate programs.
Christian higher ed mission statements are always aspirational, pointing their communities toward the goals they have for graduates. They envision spiritually forming students who integrate intellectual excellence with Christian faith, cultivating lives of purpose, character, and leadership within a Christ-centered community, and preparing them for lifelong learning and service to the Church and society.
Yet these statements often stop short of naming the animating force or telos that gives them meaning, emphasizing outcomes rather than their deeper grounding. They tell us what an organization hopes to accomplish, but not why it exists. As a result, the question of “why” is often treated as expendable—another abstract layer that seems unnecessary alongside already lofty mission statements. But when the “why” is assumed rather than examined, it remains unformed and is easily displaced by competing aims. At stake is not simply the clarity of institutional statements but fidelity to their purposes. Without a clearly articulated “why,” even the most compelling mission statement can lose its animating purpose when an institution pursues opportunities that appear to be aligned with its stated outcomes but follow a path its founders never saw down the road.
For this reason, the “why” deeply matters. When what animates an institution’s claims is not clearly articulated, it is easily shaped by competing pressures, such as financial performance expectations, urgency, and status, that begin to outweigh vision. Institutions may gradually orient themselves toward the wishes of donors, achieving parity with perceived elite secular peers, or pursuing political influence. In such cases, the question is no longer simply what is being achieved, but what is ultimately driving those outcomes. The “why” shapes not only goals but the very logic by which decisions are made; when it is neglected, the “what” is readily co-opted by competing desires and the pressures of the cultural zeitgeist. As Simon Sinek observes in his book Start with Why, organizations rarely abandon their purpose outright. Rather, they drift toward externally validating performance outcomes, losing not only clarity but also the inspiration of the founding vision.[1]
As print editor of the Christian Scholar’s Review journal, I’m grateful to be part of an editorial team that has stayed faithful to its founding “why.” Fifty-six years ago, back in 1970, sixteen Christian scholars, each representing a different college or university, met at Wheaton College to discuss the launching of a new journal, which they ultimately decided to call the Christian Scholar’s Review. The new journal would not be under the editorial auspices of any single institution. Instead, it would be a consortium – a journal for Christian scholars run by an editorial board of Christian Scholars with campus representatives from each school. The administrations of those schools agreed to pay an annual $500 subvention fee in return for copies of the quarterly journal for their faculty.[2]
Besides the structure, the group wrote a mission statement that has changed very little in fifty-six years and can be found on our website.
They also took the time that weekend to write and to issue this statement of purpose – the “why” of the journal:
The Christian scholar, experiencing the redemptive love of God and welcoming the enriching perspective of divine revelation, accepts as part of his or her vocation the obligation not only to pursue an academic discipline but also to contribute toward a broader and more unified understanding of life and the world. This vocation therefore includes the obligation to communicate such an understanding to the Christian community and to the entire world of learning.
The Christian Scholar’s Review is intended as a peer-reviewed medium through which Christian scholars may cooperate in pursuing these facets of their tasks. Specifically, this publication has as its primary objective the integration of Christian faith and learning on both the intra- and interdisciplinary levels. As a secondary purpose, this journal seeks to provide a forum for the discussion of the theoretical issues of Christian higher education. The Review is intended to encourage communication and understanding both among Christian scholars, and between them and others.[3]
At its core, the “why” of Christian Scholar’s Review is not simply publishing a quarterly journal but cultivating a community of scholars who understand their work as vocation—participating in God’s redemptive work to bring every thought captive in obedience to Christ. The journal, then, is an expression of that shared vocation, not merely an end in itself.
In this purpose statement, the founders sought to have Christian scholars recognize that their obligations extended not only to other Christian academics but to the entire world of learning. With the launch of our revised website in 2020, this aspiration to reach the entire world is not just a pipe dream. When I look at our website metrics, I am struck by the significant international traffic from Toronto, Singapore, Sydney, London, Melbourne, Quebec City, Hong Kong, and Beijing, among other international locations.
Our commitment to accessibility is not simply operational—it is a direct outworking of our founding “why.” As a journal called to serve as a bridge between Christian scholars and the wider world, we have chosen to expand access without increasing barriers. While our website and podcast have extended our reach globally, our financial model has remained intentionally modest: sponsoring institutions still pay a minimal fee, now far less than its original cost in 1970s dollars, and we have resisted introducing a paywall. We make these choices so that Christians, scholars, and Christian scholars worldwide can access this work and see themselves as part of this purpose. The fee, then, is not merely transactional; it sustains a consortium that provides an academic home for Christ-animated scholarship.
While we are in a relatively healthy financial position, we want to continue to ensure this purpose lives on for the next generation of scholars beyond our consortium partners, without financial pressures that might lead the journal’s next editorial leaders to drift from its original purpose. We invite you to partner with us through a tax-deductible donation. This spring, we received a $10,000 matching gift. With your support, the journal can continue to serve as a conduit for Christian scholars to live out their vocation.
Heeding the faithfulness of our founders fifty-six years ago, the journal’s editorial board is committed to continuing to serve as a place where Christian scholars not only advance knowledge but also contribute to a more unified understanding of life and God’s world.
[1] Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Penguin Books, 2009), 209-212.
[2] The precursor to Christian Scholar’s Review was the Gordon Review (1955-1970), which was housed at Gordon College. When questions were raised about institutional editorial oversight, the scholars, led by Gordon Philosophy professor George Brushaber, decided to start a new journal that would not be beholden to any single institution. For an in-depth look at the journal’s founding see Todd Steen and Grace Stevenson, “Fifty Years On: The History of the Christian Scholar’s Review,” Christian Scholar’s Review, 51 no. 1 (2021), 7-32.
[3] Minutes of CSR meeting, May 2, 1970. See Steen and Stevensen, Fifty years,11.
