Community depends on each individual being in concerted sympathy with the tasks and gifts of others, mutually supporting and encouraging one another, and recognizing the worth, dignity, and needs of others engaged in communal tasks. Properly understood, compassion is a liberating force, for it consists of how we see ourselves in relation to others. Moreover, compassion allows us to recognize that we are, finally, fallen and fragile creatures, and that even in our inability to achieve desired tasks or goals we are nonetheless worthy as image-bearers of God. A Disciplined Community Finally, compassion is tempered by discipline. The Christian community will be an orderly community.
Genuine compassion requires discipline, including the orderly pursuit of the college's mission.
A sense of disciplined order bears profound implications for the very governance of the college and the manner in which we conduct our daily affairs. At no time may the community permit a tyrannical exercise of will in lieu of leadership, nor may it tolerate imposition in lieu of the informed discussion and decision of all members of that community. Having described these elements of community, we must identify what keeps a community centered on its purpose and vitally committed to its principles of justice, compassion, and discipline. Clearly, working and learning together keep us focused. But it is more than that.