Viewpoint: Mission

Harding University has always been identified by our Christian mission. Nearly one-third of the missionaries who have gone out from churches of Christ have graduated from Harding. Believing that Matthew 28:19 calls Christians to “go and make disciples of all nations,” 290 students spent their spring break at 15 locations around the globe fulfilling Christ’s words.

Sponsored by the Mitchell Center for Leadership and Ministry, primarily student led campaigns traveled to places stateside as close as Fort Worth, Texas, and to foreign locations as far away as Ecuador and Panama. Students gave their break to serve and love this world.

Hannah Owens and Jeff Montgomery traveled with the kinesiology and communication sciences and disorders groups going to Tuba City, Arizona, to spend their week on the Navajo reservation. Through words and photos, they share the experiences of the two diverse groups working there beginning on page 18.

Our students are involved daily in so many areas of mission and service, from Ju Go Ju and Pi Theta Phi’s participation in the department of mathematics’ Pi(e) Day March 14, which raised more than $2,000 covering the amount needed to send a Zambian student to George Benson Christian College for a year to study to be a mathematics teacher, to the annual Bisons for Christ April 13, where students, faculty and staff spent an afternoon serving local communities.

At Harding, mission is much broader than the idea of serving God in foreign lands. Mission is about studying every discipline as an opportunity to love God with all our mind; mission is about approaching every major and every profession as a sacred calling; mission is about following Jesus wherever he leads us; mission is about seeing the face of Christ in everyone who has a need; mission is about doing all that we do to the glory of God; and mission is about making disciples of all nations.

May a community of mission continue to define Harding University in the future.