It is the quality of the environment and the relationship of the person to it that ultimately determines how much that person will learn. Instead of simply learning about people of other cultures, classes, and creeds, students learn from them and with them. During the program, vital connections are made between interdisciplinary classroom study and concrete community experiences. In the community, students are challenged and changed through a variety of mentoring relationships.
Students live with culturally different families.
They go up to meet the urban powerful and down to meet the urban powerless. Students develop specialized skills through supervised internships within grassroots ministries and community organizing programs. And they survey the diverse religious landscape of the city, including its Christian churches, Islamic mosques, Buddhist meditation centers, Hindu temples, and Jewish synagogues. In small groups, students discuss their community experiences, mine the Bible for insight, and formulate ethical responses, all energized by times of corporate worship and prayer. A Piece of the Bigger Picture All of the L.A. Term courses are either part of the General Education program at APU or the upper division electives students can complete for graduation.