Fundamental to the faith of Northrise University is our confession that the scriptures are the Word of God. As God's infallibly and authoritatively inspired revelation, the Bible reveals the way to salvation in Jesus Christ, requires life to be lived in obedience to the Lord, and provides the key to the understanding, interpretation, meaning, and purpose of life. Only the Bible can unlock the door to a true insight into the nature of created reality. Ultimately, all things must be judged in the light of its teachings; therefore, the Northrise University staff confesses that the Bible provides the determinative and essential principles for a Christian educational philosophy.
The Bible reveals to us a sovereign God; all things are under His control. Nothing can exist apart from Him, and everything finds its goal and purpose in His glory.

1. In the beginning, the Bible tells us, God created all things by His sovereign will.
2. The Son of God, the Word incarnate, was central in this work of creation. The Apostle John affirms that Christ is the Son of God, the Word, without whom nothing was made
3. Paul explains that the Son is the image of the invisible God through whom and by whom the entire cosmos was brought into existence. Paul makes it clear that God upholds and maintains the entire creation by his Son.
4. The creation is an integrated totality, a cosmos in which each part is designed to function coherently and meaningfully.
5. The creation belongs to God and is under His sovereign rule; it is God's Kingdom. God controls and orders the cosmos by His will; and it is only by obedience to His will that the creation can fulfill its purpose in the service of God.
6. The Word, that is the Son of God, brings about a diversity within the creation. We acknowledge this when we confess that God has created out of nothing the heavens, the earth, and all creatures.
7. Each creature is accountable to the sovereign King and must obey the laws, which God has established for it.
8. The Bible also tells us that God created men and women in His image, religious creatures, covenantally bound to their Creator by the law which calls for loving obedience. The religious character of human kind is manifested through the heart, which is the integrating center of human existence.
9. With hearts open to the will of God, people are to serve the creator by fulfilling the mandate to subdue the earth.
10. God placed men and women in office and called them to the task of working in His Kingdom. However, by disobeying God, men and women violated their office and broke the bond of covenantal fellowship.

Biblically oriented learning is both a possibility and a necessity for the Christian community. Recognizing this, Northrise University is committed to its mission of being Christ-centered institution of higher education.

We believe that the integration of faith and learning is at the heart of authentic Christian higher education. Our faculty and staff are therefore wholeheartedly committed to the integration of faith and learning across our campus and across the curriculum.

Integration of faith and learning could be defined by the following characteristics: the love for God, the love for study, the importance of devotion, the importance of instruction, the place of spirituality, the place of scholarship, the priority of affirming. passing on the tradition and the significance of honest intellectual inquiry. These characteristics are often held in tension, but they are not in contradiction and, if rightly understood, they can be seen as connectives, bound together, and not matters of exclusivity. We begin with a faith commitment that informs all learning, which also shapes expectations for living.

The moral and spiritual virtues have vital cognitive significance and strengthen both teaching and learning. We believe that humility strengthens and arrogance hampers the learning process. Humility combined with faith, love, gratitude and other virtues are essential for a balanced approach to Christian higher education


Summary:

The Northrise University community believes that loving God with our minds--thinking Christianly--points us to a unity of knowledge, a seamless whole because all true knowledge flows from the One Creator to His one creation. At Northrise University we are intentional about integrating faith and learning in every discipline as a foundational reality. We are deliberate about a commitment to truth, for by Him and for Him all things are held together. Northrise University confesses that the source of true freedom and knowledge is Jesus Christ. Christ empowers us by His Spirit and directs us by His Word to perform our academic task in a liberating way that enables us to respond obediently to His call to bring transformation to His world.

1. Commitment & Dependent: We desire each day to follow and honor the Lord Jesus Christ in all we do by being His committed disciples and acknowledging our dependence on Him through prayer, worship and obedience.
2. Love and Service: We seek to be a place where Christian love and service is evident, and we are committed to respecting and treating all people as equal.
3. Leadership: Following Jesus, our goal is to lead by example and by servitude. By being this type of leader, we can properly train and equip our students.
4. Faithful Stewardship: We desire to honor our God by being thankful, faithful and respectful of all resources that He provides for us as we use them to His honor and glory.
5. Biblical: We desire to be guided by the Holy Spirit, living out a biblical worldview through academic study, meditation on Scripture, prayer and community action.
6. Faith: We recognize that God's evangelical mission has made us into a redemptive community which, acting out of faith, is being transformed into the likeness of Christ.
7. Spiritual: We pursue spiritual development of all University students and staff members.