The supporting constituency may be well defined or fuzzy. Whatever the case, the School of Religion can service these groups in important ways. Whatever the supporting body, it is manifestation of some form of a community of faith. As such, it participates in a specific Christian tradition with a particular history, theology, thought-style, and linkages to other traditions, including the larger culture. As with all communities of faith, the group's deepest understandings of itself are dynamic and are constantly in flux.
New questions emerge as answers to old questions are found to be unsatisfactory.
In light of changing conditions answers must be found that help 8 the group accommodate to the new conditions and new ideas while being true to their heritage. The supporting churches need individuals, then, who know and respect their traditions and who can do the intellectual work necessary to provide the new theological understandings. We assert that the faculty of the SOR is the natural resource upon which the supporting churches can and should call for the intellectual work needed to provide the new answers and new theological understandings. Through their research and through their interaction with the supporting churches, the faculty of the SOR can write, give talks, and shape discussions of doctrine. In fact, the faculty of the SOR may be the only resource the churches can turn to for advice, for only the faculty in the SOR may have the intellectual ability and academic resources necessary to study the questions within their community context and present the relevant findings.