https://www.vanguard.edu/about/mission

UNIVERSITY MISSION

The mission of Vanguard University is to pursue knowledge, cultivate character, deepen faith, and equip each student for a Spirit-empowered life of Christ-centered leadership and service.

UNIVERSITY VISION

Vanguard University will be the leading source of Christian higher education in California. We will accomplish this vision through the following student-focused strategies: 

• Access - pave clear pathways to a Vanguard education.
• Affordability - make the Vanguard educational experience financially attainable.
• Success - Cultivate resources and support for academic and career achievement. 
• Facilities - build facilities that enhance the quality of the Vanguard experience.

INSTITUTIONAL CORE VALUES

The vision that guides the Vanguard community is rooted in the University’s heritage as an institution of the Pentecostal tradition which was birthed out of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, at the turn of the twentieth century. From its inception, the movement generated a multicultural, multiracial, and gender-inclusive community of Spirit-empowered Christian believers who were committed to peacemaking and reconciliation. With global consciousness, these foremothers and forefathers of a renewed Christian faith carried the good news of the gospel around the world.

A strong commitment to cultural diversity, racial reconciliation, and gender equality is a consequence of Vanguard University being deeply grounded in the faith tradition that brought the University into existence. Moreover, these core values continue to define the institutional vision that pulls the Vanguard community forward toward its mission and educational targets and goals. Within this Christian context of inclusiveness, the University aims to provide a quality educational experience marked by the pursuit of truth, the cultivation of virtue, and the desire for service.

These three values inherent in the Vanguard University educational experience—truth, virtue, and service —are enshrined in the University motto and embossed on its official seal.

TRUTH – As members of the Vanguard community we strive to

• pursue truth by understanding the Word of God and by knowing Christ, who is Truth;
• develop critical and creative thinking skills for careful, reasoned, and independent analysis of competing ideas;
• engage in scholarship with integrity and excellence; and
• explore, participate in, and contribute to our cultural, intellectual, and spiritual heritage.

VIRTUE – As members of the Vanguard community, we endeavor to

• honor God and commit ourselves to the person and model of Jesus Christ;
• develop personal integrity and character by applying biblical values to our lives;
• understand and accept the responsibilities of living in a free society; and
• transcend the limitations and errors of the prevailing culture, and through a wholeness of vision, choose and hold to the path for a righteous life.

SERVICE – As members of the Vanguard community we work to

• develop our talents to their potential and discern God’s purpose for our lives;
• strengthen the skills necessary for effective communication of ideas and for a productive place in society;
• prepare students for diverse vocations, graduate programs, and leadership roles; and
• exercise civic responsibility, respect cultural and individual differences, and care for others.

In order to develop continuously as an inclusive community growing in truth, virtue, and service, the University invites its members to a life lived in response to the claims of the Kingdom of God, in which the transcendent realities of the gospel are brought to bear on the real life challenges which they face as citizens of the twenty-first century.

FAITH CONFESSION

As a Christian comprehensive university of liberal arts and sciences, informed by its evangelical persuasion and Pentecostal heritage, Vanguard University affirms the following confession of faith. We believe:

• The Bible to be the inspired and only infallible and authoritative Word of God.
• That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in his vicarious and atoning death, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal, future return to this earth in power and glory to rule over the nations.
• That the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious blood of Christ.
• That regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for personal salvation.
• That the redemptive work of Christ on the cross provides healing of the human body in answer to believing prayer.
• That the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it.
• In the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy life.
• In the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting damnation.