What are Waterloo's Mission and Core Values?
Our Mission —Waterloo integrates academics and city engagement, mentoring students to become whole people, in relationships, in Christ.
We have seven core values that animate our mission and ground our school and relationships with one another:
Belonging—everyone belongs to contexts that provide identity and support. Growing through communities with healthy identities is the healthiest and most effective way to mature.
Mentorship—intergenerational relationships help people grow and mature. As students practice reaching out to great people in their community they can begin to develop a habit of seeking guidance and wisdom from adults and those who are a little farther down the path of life.
Restoration—attending to hurts, wrongs, and the fallen things of our world. Each student has the potential to solve problems and make things of value and heal from past hurts—both for themselves and others.
Complexity—embracing and humbly seeking to understand the complexity of life. The more we understand, the less ‘simple’ things are. Often, an apparent ‘either/or’ matter becomes a rich, paradoxical ‘both/and’. Maturity is discovering the goodness of complexity.
Flourishing—the healthy mode of living unique to human nature. God has created each person to know deep, fulfilling joy—‘life abundant’. Becoming fully ‘ourselves’ is discovering the abundant life.
Growth—individuals and institutions learning and maturing through experiences. All people and relationships are growing. A paradox of human growth is that we can choose (to some degree) not to grow. We embrace the need and opportunity to grow.
Generosity—magnanimity and charity of spirit and action towards others. A paradox of life is that we are wealthier when we are more generous—‘anyone who will lose his life for my sake will find it,’ Jesus says. We seek to embody and impart a generous hospitality towards others.