Purpose Statement
Ratio Christi--
Bringing together faith & reason...
Establishing the intellectual voice of Christ at the university.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior may be ashamed of their slander. 1 Pet.3:15-16
The local Ratio Christi chapter will be guided by the following purposes:
Ratio Christi is organized to encourage and strengthen the faith of Christian students at public and private universities around the world, while sharing Christ's message and love with those who have not yet accepted Him. By situating apologetic clubs at universities nationally and internationally, Ratio Christi hopes to take part in the battle for the mind and begin to reverse the prevalent trend toward secularism in the university by encouraging dialogue and stimulating discussion directed towards answering life’s pressing questions.
To this end, local chapters of Ratio Christi shall have the following objectives:
- Expressing the Good News of Jesus Christ through all activities of the Chapter.
- Empowering students to grow deeper in the knowledge of and love for Jesus Christ, and enabling them to effectively share that knowledge and love with others by building relationships and promoting Christian discipleship.
- Encourage dialogue and stimulate discussion directed towards answering life’s pressing questions
- Engage the entire campus by serving as a catalyst for apologetics-related dialog by sponsoring campus-wide debates, discussions, or lectures that will encourage all students and faculty to interact with Christian thinkers on an objective, intellectual basis.
- Extend offers to provide apologetics training to other campus ministries, local churches, youth groups and Christian junior and senior high schools.
- Empower faculty and students to present a strong intellectual case for Christianity in the contexts of all academic disciplines.
- Form strategic partnerships among professional apologists, faculty and students for the purpose of exposing, in university contexts, the weaknesses and fallacies of secularism, atheism and pluralism
- Work with Christian faculty to incorporate a Christian worldview into all academic disciplines and to rethink academic disciplines from the perspective of a Christian worldview
- Encourage students to respond to God's call to the mission field of the secular university by serving as professional apologists or as faculty