“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

Fresno Pacific University is committed to engaging the cultures and serving the cities throughout the Central Valley and abroad. This is consistent with our prophetic witness as expressed in the Fresno Pacific Idea. Faculty, staff and students across our campuses have collaborated with cultural, business, educational, church and nonprofit groups domestically and internationally. Our goal to Engage Collectively encourages a culture of intentionality in extending ourselves beyond the borders of our campuses while inviting others to benefit from a Christ-centered educational community. We recognize the external community as an extension of our classroom, and we value opportunities to partner our assets in initiatives that will impact the broader community.

Engage Collectively is the second of five goals (GEIST)—GROW Strategically, ENGAGE Collectively, INNOVATE Creatively, SERVE Courageously and TRANSFORM Purposely—identified in the University Strategic Map 2019 – 2022. Four objectives under this goal prioritize our work in actualization of the University Vision Statement: to be “a vibrant Christ-centered university that is transforming California’s Central Valley and global communities…” Those objectives are:

• Design brand positioning for multiple target audiences including businesses, churches and future students regionally, nationally and internationally.
• Strengthen government and regional social networks that extend opportunities to faculty and students.
• Empower faculty and staff governance structures to support collaborative communications for internal and external engagement.
• Strengthen and broaden partnerships in health care, education, the arts, sciences, technology and cross-cultural organizations locally, regionally and globally.

Our engagement and willingness to be engaged by others reflects our resolve to be light in our communities as we prepare our students for “leadership and service.” Our athletic teams clearly embody this commitment of light-bearing in the community. Each year these teams reach out in service to the community, and invite children to our campus with a goal to nature hope in their futures. This model of outreach gained recognition has gained FPU four PacWest Conference Community Engagement Awards and six straight service-related honors from the NCAA Division II. Our coaches encourage these teams to “let their light so shine before others that they may see their good works and glorify the Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Even our effort to build the new Culture and Arts Center aligns with goal to Engage Collectively. The arts create beauty and inspiration; they inform and transform lives and bring people together from different backgrounds and perspectives. The arts are expressed through cultures, creating dialogue that draws a diversity of people to a deeper understanding of God’s creation and his gifts to humanity. Celebrating the arts and cultures through this new facility will offer a tool to extend hope and healing, peace and reconciliation, light and verity to not only our students, but to children and the senior population in the region.

Engaging collectively strengthens community health and wellbeing while nurturing a vision to reach out beyond ourselves. Martin Luther King said: “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” He also said: “Every person must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” Engagement through the Culture and Arts Center will strengthen the link between engaging and being engaged.