Spiritual Development for Online Learners

 

Our hope is that as you learn to love God with your mind, you will come to appreciate that in following your call to be a student you are indeed following God’s will for your life.  The work you do online to prepare yourself for the future is a worthy endeavor and one that will bring great joy and satisfaction to you.  We want you to be persuaded that participation in curricular and extra-curricular activities will provide growth in a multitude of dimensions so essential to becoming a strong well-balanced person.

In helping you to cultivate a life of the mind, we want to open you to the freedom that is found in seeking to grow in your capacity to understand the will of God in a full-orbed fashion.  Spiritual growth and sanctification are realized as a mind is made strong by scholarly practices.  The process of your online education will bring with it the realization that ignorance and fear can best be banished through the discovery of truth and the power of love.

 

Because all truth is God’s truth, we are compelled to look for truth wherever it may be found, which includes truth regarding our relationships, our health, our thinking and our behavior.  The truth of human finitude is also important to affirm.  The idea that I am a finite being created in the image of God working with other finite beings made in God’s image compels me to treat them with dignity and view my own insights and understanding in humility.  The basis for building fellowship and community is strengthened by the full acceptance of the fact that I am a dependent creature capable of giving and receiving wisdom and understanding.

A holistic view of ministry causes us to appreciate that maintaining healthy relationship with others as a vital witness before others which also applies to an online community.   A full acceptance of our humanity under the Lordship of Christ causes us to seek excellence in our work and that of others, while accepting and allowing for human frailty and failure in light of God’s grace.

 

Regular Bible study, prayer, fellowship and the practice of faith in a practical demonstration of love is the basis of personal discipline and practice. Our hope is that you will feel truly connected to the Ouachita community and that your online experience will be filled with discovery and joy.