Mission, Institutional Profile & Statement of Faith

Institutional Profile

The mission of Bethel University, affiliated with the Missionary Church denomination, is to be a community of learners dedicated to building lives of commitment for leadership in the Church and the world. Bethel’s liberating academic programs challenge the mind, enlarge the vision and equip the whole person for lifelong service.

Founded in 1947, Bethel is urban situated in the northern Indiana region, home to 275,000 residents, seven colleges, the second largest shopping district in the state of Indiana, more than 16,000 businesses, 50 parks and beautiful riverwalk developments in South Bend and Mishawaka. Resort venues on Lake Michigan are just 45 minutes away. The Bethel community is comprised of about 1,225 traditional and adult/graduate students from 32 states, 41 countries/territories and every continent except the Poles, with about 145 full-time employees. Bethel also hosts more than 8,000 guests annually to arts productions, 25,000 annually in conference services and many thousands of community members in support of our athletic teams, who have won 51 national championships.

The university has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report on their annual Best Colleges list since 2005. For 2024, Bethel is also ranked on U.S. News & World Report’s list among the Midwest’s Best Regional Universities and distinguished in the top 10 for social mobility. Bethel has been named to Money Magazine’s “Best Colleges for Your Money 2023” list and was recently ranked No. 1 in Indiana on the College Affordability Guide, which analyzed 10 million data points from 7,000+ colleges and universities across the USA to find which colleges are doing the most to make high-quality education affordable.

Traditional college-age students rank mentoring as one of the most prominent traits of the Bethel environment. In addition to mentoring, Bethel integrates strong academics, spiritual formation and lifelong relationships into the student experience.

Bethel’s work values include: Love God, Love People, Humble Excellence and Creative Grit.

Statement of Faith

​Bethel University is affiliated with the Missionary Church and aligns with Missionary Church Articles of Faith. We are a Christian community of scholars and learners dedicated to building lives of commitment for leadership in the Church, the nation and the world. Bethel provides liberating academic programs to challenge the mind, enlarge the vision and equip the whole person for lifelong service.

We Believe

• The eternal, triune God of the Bible – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is the Creator and Sustainer of all creation and the Author of salvation.
• The Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the written Word of God, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and, therefore, true, reliable, and without error in all it addresses.
• God made humans in His image, but their sin enslaves and alienates them, ruining their relationships with God and each other. Therefore, through His unique Son, Jesus the Christ, and through him alone, God has undertaken a work of salvation that will bring about the complete destruction of evil and its effects and the eternal redemption and reconciliation of those who repent of and renounce their sin and turn to God in faith and obedience.
• The Church is comprised of people who are born of and empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the two Great Commandments to love God and love people and to carry out the Great Commission. Thus, the church is a community of believers who strive to live lives of holy love and mutual edification, while faithfully making obedient disciples of Jesus the Christ.
• The personal return of Jesus the Christ will bring an end to the present evil age and establish the full and final form of God’s eternal Kingdom. Christ’s return will result in the last judgment of all believers and unbelievers, the reward or retribution that each person has coming, and the creation of the glorious new world which believers will enjoy with God forever.

Alignment concerns between Bethel University and the Missionary Church that have been discussed with your Missionary Church pastor and deemed appropriate to investigate should be described and sent in an email to Dr. Shawn Holtgren, VP of Spiritual Life and University Affairs, at Shawn.Holtgren@BethelUniversity.edu.