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Responsibilities of Community LifeHoughton College derives its purpose from the mission statement approved by the Board of Trustees and contained in the College Catalog. As an independent liberal arts college of The Wesleyan Church, Houghton recognizes a responsibility to its students and to the Christian community at large. As an academic institution, Houghton has an obligation to pursue truth unflinchingly and without bias. Members of the college community recognize this task and seek to create an educational environment that integrates faith, learning, and living. We are confident that all areas of knowledge and truth finally reflect and are extensions of the reality of God and His work in and through His creation. I. Preamble The people of Houghton College comprise a Christian community that has joined together to seek academic progress, personal development, and spiritual growth. We strive to uphold a unity based on the lordship of Jesus Christ, guided by Biblical principles and the moral laws of God. We affirm our commitment to the triune God, perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ. We recognize that the Biblical standards for both individual and corporate life within the body of believers are necessary bases upon which to live. As members of a community, we expect each other - trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and students-to take seriously the responsibilities mentioned herein. We dedicate ourselves to individual academic progress, personal growth, and the building of a Christ-centered community that will provide spiritual nurture for all. Together, we seek to honor Christ integrating faith, learning, and living as we reflect the process of maturing in Him. We choose to live according to the word of God, to respond to one another in love, and to make decisions motivated by unselfish love and divine truth. Our goal is the ideal of mature self-regulation and active participation in fulfilling community responsibilities. In joining this community, we freely and willingly take upon ourselves the responsibilities outlined in this statement. II. Assumptions Believing that the demands of community life require mutual forbearance, we make the following assumptions as we attempt to establish reasonable, viable expectations: a. We call ourselves Christians by virtue of the grace of God and our commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord. b. The Bible is our authority, providing all essential teaching and principles for conducting ourselves and our community. c. The primary motivations for Christian relationships and behavior are loving God and being accountable to Him. d. God, through His Holy Spirit, provides us with the inner resources and attributes to minister to each other in supportive relationships. e. As members of this community we are either committed to Jesus Christ or are sympathetic with a Christian perspective on life. f. We desire to participate in the process of a liberal arts education in an evangelical Christian context. III. Biblical Principles a. Relational responsibilities We believe that living in daily fellowship with other Christians is a privilege and an expression of God's grace. Consequently, we cherish relationships in our community. Living in an interdependent community, we recognize that the following Biblical principles should guide us in our corporate life and individual behavior. i. Our highest priority is to love God, as Jesus commanded,"...with all your heart and with all your mind." As we love God, we can truly love others, and thus obey the second command, which is like the first: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:35-40) ii. It is our love for God which motivates us to obey Him. Jesus said "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15) iii. God's word tells us what we must do to obey Him. "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (II Timothy 3:16-17) iv. When there is a question as to what constitutes obedience to God, we will seek to discern the mind of Christ through prayer and the example and counsel of Christian friends. Paul encourages Christians to allow God to guide them: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7) In that same letter, Paul stresses the value of the example of others: "Join with others in following my examples, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." (Philippians 3:17) b. Expressions of love We desire several specific expressions of love in our community: building, forgiving, caring, confronting, and healing. i. Building - We will strive consciously and deliberately to build relationships that support, encourage, and help others. ii.Forgiving - When difficulties in relationships occur, we will follow Paul's admonition to: "...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another." (Colossians 3:12) iii. Caring - We will support those who experience grief, discouragement, illness, tragedy, and other personal trials. We will provide comfort, consolation, encouragement, and intercession. iv.Confronting - We will strengthen our community by speaking the truth to each other always in a spirit of love. Our confrontations will be for the purpose of growth, and will be motivated by love, not revenge. We will hold paramount the welfare of the person we confront. v. Healing - When one of our relationships has been harmed, for any reason, we will reach out to one another: forgiving, making restitution and restoring affection. c. Specific behavioral expectations We believe the Scriptures which say that certain attitudes are available to individuals through the Holy Spirit, including "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23) We believe that the Scriptures call us to worship our Creator, and that the Sabbath should be observed as the Lord's day for the express purposes of corporate worship, rest from labor, Christian fellowship, and service to others, especially people in need. We also believe the Scriptures condemn certain attitudes, such as greed, jealously, pride, lust, bitterness, needless anger, harmful discrimination and prejudice whether of race or gender, and an unforgiving spirit. We will seek to repudiate these attitudes in ourselves and in our community. We will seek God's forgiveness and help to grow in grace. We believe Scripture condemns certain acts, including drinking alcohol to excess, stealing, speaking or writing profanely or slanderously, acting dishonestly, cheating, engaging in occult practice, and engaging in sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage (including premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual behavior). We also find other practices to be inconsistent with scriptural principles for Christian living and our view of our bodies as the temples of God. Therefore, we do not tolerate the following: demeaning gestures or words; threats of violence, or physical attack on people or property; pornography; the use of beverage alcohol, tobacco, and non-medical drugs* and other chemical substances (except as specifically prescribed by a physician). *("Drugs" is defined to include controlled substances such as marijuana, hallucinogens, depressants, stimulants, and narcotics, as well as legal substances misused as drugs including solvents, alcohol, and anesthetics. We assent to the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act). We believe that Scripture calls us to submit to the authority of government, except on those rare occasions in which obedience to the civil authorities would require us to act in conflict with our consciences as they are informed by Scripture. On such occasions, we will submit voluntarily to the civil penalty for our behavior. IV. Expectations Adopted for the Common Good We believe that living as part of this community provides us with significant benefits and opportunities for growth in all areas of life. We also recognize that community living requires us to forego rights which might be available to us elsewhere. The Bible does not provide specific teaching about every behavior and situation. Scripture does urge us, however, to be willing to give up even our rights for the benefits of others, especially when exercising our rights is harmful to them. We believe that both consideration for others and standards of good taste may either limit or redirect our activities. Based on these principles we voluntarily submit ourselves to the additional standards of behavior listed below. These standards are for the good of individuals, the smooth functioning of the community in which we live, and the reputation of our community in the world. Consequently, we consider these rules to be prudent expectations, not Christian absolutes or measures of spiritual commitment. As we choose to live by these expectations, we live out our belief that mutual trust and responsibility are necessary requirements of community. We expect that honoring these standards will help us to build a sense of community integrity, and we think that violation of these standards threatens community integrity. When one of us errs, our common integrity suffers. We also believe that the Biblical principles of love and grace must be applied to both keepers and violators of these standards. a. Community members of all ages agree to forego the use of alcohol for the following reasons: in deference to the Scriptural principles suggested in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 8 as a recognition of the physical and psychological dangers of alcohol and its counterproductive nature to the essential spiritual and intellectual pursuits of Houghton College New York State law prohibits purchase of alcoholic beverages by persons under the age of 21 or giving or selling of any alcoholic beverage to a person less than twenty-one years old b. We believe that gambling is an unwise use of God-given resources. We agree to refrain from gambling in any form. c. We recognize that concern about the morality of social dancing has been declining among evangelical Christians of many denominations. At the same time, both Houghton's historical tradition and the home churches of a significant part of our community oppose participation in social dancing. Believing that much social dancing is unnecessarily sensuous and erotic, we agree not to engage in social dancing as a part of our community or under our sponsorship. d. We show that we recognize our responsibility to God by careful use of our time, so we choose to engage in activities which contribute to our spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical well-being. Fellow Christians have urged discretion and restraint in our choice of television programs, music, movies, theater, printed matter, card games, social dancing, video and computer games, the Internet, and organizations with which to associate, especially if these activities are morally questionable or diminish our moral sensitivity. V. Application Community members are expected to live by the principles and standards described in this Statement of Community Responsibilities and to accept these responsibilities by their signature thereto in the application process and annually in a community affirmation and mutual forgiveness chapel. Members of the community who fail to live up to the expectations in this document may subject themselves to disciplinary action or dismissal (as outlined in appropriate college documents and policies), as well as to forgiveness and love. People who find themselves consistently unwilling to honor the specific commitments outlined in this document should withdraw from the community, at least for a season of reflection. We ask our trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff to strive to live by these principles and standards. Because the policies of the college are not intended to infringe on the government of the home, we specifically exempt students under either of two conditions: Nonetheless, even in these exempt circumstances, we ask students to exercise restraint as representatives of our Lord and this community.
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