2 Tim 1:8-12 If the child of God is going to be effective in the work of being a witness (Acts 1:8) He/she cannot be ashamed of God, one another, or the glorious gospel of Christ. Being ashamed will place the believer in the prison of fear, allowing them to be imprisoned on the island of isolation. Paul is trying to help Timothy embrace his call, and not be fearful as a follower of Jesus Christ. Identify with me 8 So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for Christ. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News. 9 It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began — to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. Note: It is clear from vs. 7 that Timothy was very concerned about what others thought. So Paul encourages him to remember that God did not give him a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Here in this verse Paul wants timothy to not only forsake being fearful, but also to embrace the testimony of the gospel, and not be ashamed about knowing Paul and being associated with the church.

• God will give him strength
• God will help him to be ready to suffer like Paul
• God will enable him to suffer for the proclamation of the gospel

Identity in Christ 10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News. 11 And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News. 12 And that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. Note: Paul Here is not only encouraging Timothy to identify with the sufferings that the gospel brings, but to also have an understanding of this identity. For in the Christian identity there is Power. “Christ broke the power of death over us” and gave us everlasting life. (vs.10) we are children filled with this eternal life and called to proclaim this good news. Paul was called by God to embrace this new identity as a Preacher, Apostle, Teacher, and servant of God to preach the word. Application: When the child of God has an identity change, then they are no-longer the same! Their old identity is in the past, and the new identity is what they identify with. Paul went from being a persecutor of Christians, to being a Christian. How did He do this? He embraced the three principles of discipleship:

1. He was willing to suffer for Christ
2. He was not ashamed of Christ, His plan, His work of salvation or His relationship
3. He learned to trust God in every area of his Life

Questions:

1. Are you ready to embrace the three principles of discipleship today?
2. How is your life being lived as a witness, are you ashamed of the gospel? You should clarify by listing several ways that you carry out these three principles.

Chapter 3 The Office of Spiritual Formation and Diversity The University in its inception has always had spiritual formation as a part of the core instructional values. Teachers have always prayed with and for students. Students have always read the Scriptures and looked for how God was working through the biblical text and in the course in which they were studying. 20 years ago, The office of spiritual formation was created as an official office of the co-curricular division of the University. Because of the growth of the student body a formalized office was created to coordinate and develop Chapel programs, mission related-activities and service events was desired. This office was developed to help coordinate with academic programs and the local church to stimulate and formulate a rigorous activity for undergraduate students. Over the course of these 20 years as the university has continued to grow, various students from multiple backgrounds and cultures have begun to enroll in the Fresno Pacific University. With the growth and addition of multiple cultures, and traditional programs begin to evolve and to represent Christ to help students reach a diverse world with the kingdom diversity agenda. As the Lord Jesus Christ himself sent forth disciples into the world to make a difference for him, the University also embraced this great commission. We endeavor to send all cultures into a diverse world in the name of our Lord that we might save souls and impact lives for the kingdom of God. The office of spiritual formation has in recent times taken on diversity in its name. As an Office of Spiritual Formation and Diversity, it is incumbent upon us to recognize that the kingdom agenda is Gods agenda and diversity is Gods idea. Because diversity is Gods idea and it includes his agenda to save lost souls, the University has developed a diversity initiative that helps to equip and encourage students to not see diversity as a negative thing, but rather to see diversity as a kingdom initiative and part of the bigger plan of spiritual formation for all of humanity. The Office of Spiritual Formation and Diversity is unique in the totality of all that God is doing in the lives of students at Fresno Pacific University. And it embraces all cultures, all nations, and peoples as gifts of God to the entire world. Our primary objective is to have the kingdom mentality of going to all the world and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that the Lord has commanded, we believe that God will be with us through the end of the world. As the University continues to grow and to expand and has included over the last 15 years regional campuses with very diverse programming, the OSF& D has expanded its co-curricular content to include international missions work in service, technological academic expressions and collaborative endeavors with the local church in the Central Valley. All of these ventures have challenged and pushed the university to be more astute and keenly aware of the biblical text in changing times. The Office of Spiritual Formation and Diversity understands that the cultures and communities that surround the context of our university do not necessarily embrace the word of God or the agenda of God for the work of God in the earth. Nevertheless, our mandate in our calling is clear and is to not to become compromised by the agenda of a fallen world. Therefore, it is our call to be engaged with serving all of humanity with the agenda of God for all of the world. Spiritual Formation and Diversity matters at Fresno Pacific University and it matters because it is a kingdom agenda and God has commanded us to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 2

A Diverse University For A Diverse World Fresno Pacific University is located in the Central Valley of California. We are nestled between Los Angeles California and San Francisco California. The place in which we exist is called the breadbasket of the world. In the central valley, we are known for our agricultural services to the world. We grow food here, raise cattle here, and serve all of humanity with the gifts that God has given to us. The California university school systems are known all over the world for tremendous thinkers and services of scholars and practitioners that make our university college systems one of the best. However, the distinctive of the Fresno Pacific University is one that the California school systems does not have. We are a Christian liberal arts university. Our distinctive is that we are followers of Jesus Christ first and then we are educators. The Christian distinctive of Fresno Pacific makes us an anomaly in Northern California. Our unique position is that we are the only Christian University for the Central Valley. We are called by God to serve multiple cultures in multiple cities in the Christian liberal arts tradition. This makes us very diverse, unique and set apart for the glory of God. It is from this position of diversity that we recognize our privilege to work on behalf of God in the earth calling men and women to himself and equipping, empowering, and enriching life with the Christian worldview. The challenge of every Christian University is the challenge of being diverse and embracing diversity in our dark and dying world. According to Scripture the world [humanity] has fallen from their original state with God and are in opposition to God's agenda for humanity. Therefore, the body of Christ exists to go into all the world[earth]and make disciples, serving in collaboration with God, to redeem and reclaim humanity for himself. We have been made stewards with a call to do something great on behalf of the one who loves us and has made us in his image and desires to include all of humanity in his redemption plan. Therefore, kingdom diversity is inclusive, in that God calls every man, and every woman to be involved in the work of God in the earth until all have been redeemed and all are included in the glorious plan of salvation for all. This makes kingdom diversity inclusive. This is the privilege that we have in the earth to work on behalf of a God who loves us and uniquely has set us apart to work for him on the earth. He also calls for us to lay down our lives in active service and submission to win those who have rejected him. Our calling is to serve the entire human race not to exalt one particular race or culture, above another. Fresno Pacific University exists to work in the kingdom of God, on behalf of God, teaching in the liberal arts tradition how God has come to reconcile himself in the world. Through various modes and traditions in several diverse schools of learning, we embrace an academic agenda to send forth laborers into the world. The various fields of services include the natural sciences, the arts, the humanities, religion, and social sciences, in business or other areas. We endeavor to train leaders, that will one day stand before God and give an account of their deeds done in the body. Fresno Pacific University agenda is a kingdom agenda, that is awaiting the coming of our savior and king.  

  Chapter One Where diversity began My name is Angulus Wilson I am the University Pastor, Dean of Spiritual Formation and Chief Diversity Officer at Fresno Pacific University. The aim of this blog is to explain and highlight Spiritual Formation and Diversity in the University context for the glory of God. I want to take you on a journey today and show you how in the body of Christ and in the work of the Spirit the believer must see that diversity is God's idea and not men. In the book of Genesis, the holy Scriptures began with the truth stating, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Moses as the author of Genesis goes on to explain all that God did in his creative work to bring the universe into existence with all of its contents. In doing so God displays divine creativity in the development of diverse ecosystems and life. According to the Scriptures everything he makes he made diverse. No two creatures are created the same. Every form of human life, plant life, or birds and beast of the field have been created distinctly different and diverse from one another. Therefore, the idea of diversity and the celebration of diversity does not come from man but it comes from acknowledging the God of heaven and earth who created all things for his honor and his glory. Moses goes further on in Genesis to say that it is good. That's correct after he created all things at the conclusion of his Great work, the Lord said it is good. With these thoughts set on the backdrop of our discussion for today, it is important to identify that the human race is made up of many cultures, and all created in the image of God. For the very same book in its beginning, stated that when God got ready to make a man, he distinctively created him different from anything else he created. It is said in the Holy book that God created man in the image of himself. When God created his image in the earth he did it in a diverse manner. No two human beings are alike, male and female are created distinctively different by the hand of our Almighty God. Therefore, we see diversity in the very beginning of creation and all of it was designed and developed by a thoughtful creator who embraces diversity as his idea. After God creates the human race in his likeness, he delights in making humanity the crown jewel of his creation. As the crown jewel of his creation, humanity has been made the Stewart leaders of all that God had created on the planet. Mankind becomes involved in the work of God by caring for the cosmos, the creation, and all of the creeping things, plants, ecosystems, that God delighted in. God has made men a collaborator with him on the earth. This idea of diversity and stewardship collaboration is A beautiful picture of what God desires in the earth for his people. As we further progress through these ideas I want to encourage the reader to hold on to this narrative as it will become the idea that we come back too often in this work. Here at Fresno Pacific University, our kingdom agenda is to be involved in what God is doing in the lives of his people that he has created in the earth for himself. Through the medium of higher education, we inspire people to have a kingdom worldview of how God can use them through the earth and all of their gifts and service opportunities in collaboration with God. Therefore kingdom diversity is God's agenda for humanity. We do not embrace A humanistic worldview of secular diversity, that separates, segregates, and subjugates any race or class of people from one another. The kingdom diversity perspective is A perspective of service, submission, as a sacrifice on behalf of one individual to all individuals ensuring that God is glorified in our good works toward one another. Secular diversity demands for inclusion and acceptance. Kingdom Diversity willingly embraces all people groups because all have been made in the image of God and all are deserving of the dignity of being created in this very image. Therefore, the celebration of cultures is a necessity and obligation for the believer to act out of love, service, and honor to the one who has done such a marvelous work on behalf of himself for himself through himself and by himself. Kingdom inclusion does not have to be mandated because it is done out of a heart of gratitude and love for the splendor of our God himself. In Kingdom Diversity racism is not tolerated or celebrated. For racism is a social construct created out of a heart of sin and separation from God. Racism is from the evil one. Racism is evil and therefore flows from the father of lies, who the Bible calls the wicked one or the devil. Racism does not honor God nor does it honor God's creation or plan for humankind. Because it is a social construct and creates havoc and systems of separation and division. It also points directly towards what God's agenda is on the earth for all of humanity. We will talk more about racism in the later chapters of this book. However, for the sake of our conversation, we want to discuss today how the Christian university has a direct obligation to express kingdom diversity in all areas of her existence. [Wilson, Angulus, Understanding Kingdom Diversity, What I wish you knew, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, November 6, 2018]