Our Core Values

In active, vital partnership with church, community and strategic partners, and ever striving for first-class quality in all that it does, the Sterling College community will be guided in all its work by the following intrinsic values:

Faith: Faithful discernment of and response to God's self-revelation in Christ in Scripture

Calling: Faithful discovery and pursuit of each person's particular calling in life

Learning: A love of learning and a dedication to the pursuit of truth

Integrity: Integrity in scholarship, the arts, athletics, and all other co-curricular activities

Service: Faithful practice of redemptive servant leadership involving a vision of wholeness in a broken world

Community: Mutual respect amid diversity as members of the body of Christ

Institutional Learning Objectives

The Sterling College graduate will:

1. demonstrate sufficient content knowledge to be successful in his or her chosen profession or advanced academic endeavors.
2. demonstrate understanding of relationships between his or her chosen area of study and the world and its cultures.
3. exercise the intellectual, communicative, and social skills reflective of creative and thoughtful servant leadership.
4. demonstrate an understanding of the personal and civic skills necessary for a productive life of faith and service.
5. demonstrate understanding of how Biblical principles affect personal, professional, and academic life.

Our Statement of Faith

The board, faculty, administration and staff possess an active and
visible Christian faith which encourages the entire campus community in our pursuit of a wholesome and practical Christian life. We personally trust in and collectively bear witness to the one, eternal God, revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe in God the Father who created the heavens and the earth.We believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus suffered, died, and was buried. He rose from the dead. Jesus ascended into heaven and remains with the Father and the Holy Spirit to judge the living and the dead. Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life. There is salvation in and through no other.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit who is the comforter, sustainer and sanctifier of all who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We believe that humanity has hope for redemption from sin by Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection. It is by God's grace alone that we joyfully receive our salvation through a personal faith in Jesus Christ.

We believe that the Bible is God's revealed Word. It is authoritative and infallible in all matters of faith and practice.

We believe that the Church is the body of Christ and God's witness in the world.

We believe that Jesus Christ will return and claim his own, ushering in the new heaven and new earth in which righteousness will dwell and God will reign forever.

Our Priorities

Sterling College is committed to an environment of academic excitement in the Reformed tradition of a thorough exploration of all truth in the light of God's Word. An enthusiastic Christian faith and experience permeate all aspects of the College life. Activities are designed to encourage and develop the skills necessary to understand our world and to create positive change in it. Specifically, we seek to build within our student's creativity, critical thinking, effective communication and leadership for use in the workplace as well as in the community, church and home. We seek to cultivate a Christ-centered world view through which students are able to explore and understand themselves, their faith, their environment, and their heritage. We further strive to foster the values of independent inquiry, a thirst for life-long learning, emotional maturity, positive self-worth, and an understanding of a maturing Christian faith that provides the foundation and meaning for life.

Our Process

The College works to achieve its priorities through the learning experiences of the liberal arts curriculum, faculty/student interactions, and a residential lifestyle. The liberal arts curriculum is designed to build breadth and depth of understanding through a general education core, specialization in a major, and attention within majors to career preparation. The College affirms the primacy of the faculty/student relationship and the importance of excellence in instruction and advising. Relationships of faculty to students are built around principles of serving, mentoring, modeling, and discipleship. The Campus lifestyle is designed to provide a unifying community experience for social, educational and faith development.

Our Relationships

Founded in 1887 by the Synod of Kansas of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, Sterling College continues to affirm its historical ties with the Reformed tradition. As an institution, the College nurtures and develops strategic partnerships within the Presbyterian Church (USA), and with evangelical organizations, in order to advance the mission and vision of the College. Accountability for the College's mission and vision rests in governance by an independent self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. Sterling College holds strong the mandate of the original charter to be "thoroughly Christian, but not in any sense sectarian." The diversity of God's people is welcomed and the College respects the differences in denominational distinctive and worship traditions.