The mission of ACU is to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world. ACU Study Abroad supports this mission through interaction with the global Christian community, academic excellence, the pursuit of wisdom, the practice of humility, and through giving and receiving hospitality.

• Interaction with the global Christian community. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the Christian faith by exploring the diverse nature of the global Christian community. (Acts 10:34-48)

  • Students will learn about the historic/contemporary expressions of Christianity in their host countries and how they contribute to the global Christian movement.

  • Students will participate in the life/worship of local Christian communities in their host countries, reflect upon how these communities understand their calling as Christ’s disciples in the world, and will be able to describe how their own faith is impacted in the light of these experiences.

  • Students will be able to identify both historical and contemporary issues shaping the Christian community within their host country and important evolutions occurring within the Global Christian movement shaping the future of the Christian faith.
    

• Academic Excellence: Students will engage in academic learning which meets the highest standards of excellence at ACU.

  • Coursework in the study abroad context may differ from the US domestic context in learning outcomes and pedagogical strategy. However, international courses will be required to meet similar academic standards applied to domestic academic courses at ACU.
    

• Pursuing wisdom. Students will advance critical thinking through rigorous academic learning in cross-cultural settings. They will learn to responsibly apply this learning and experience in complex, uncertain, or moral contexts. (Proverbs 3:1-35)

  • Students will be able to summarize major political/social features and challenges of their host society and relevant connections to their home context.

  • Students will be challenged to apply their learning within the freedom and independence inherent to the study abroad experience to make sound, ethical, decisions.

  • Through guided reflection and staff/faculty mentorship, students will be challenged to reflect upon how their faith commitments refine their understanding of the world and inform their vocational calling.
    

• Practicing humility. Students will develop humility through the struggle of cross-cultural living and the intentional, refining rhythms of life together in community. (Romans 12:3-8)

  • Students will be able to identify how shared community life is deeply connected to the heart of the Christian faith and God’s desire for humanity.

  • Students will be able to identify how living in community challenges our self-centeredness and advances a proper understanding of ourselves and our limitations.

  • Students will be able to describe how humility is modeled within the life of Christ, how it informs cross-cultural interaction, and why it is a primary virtue in the Christian faith.
    

• Giving and receiving hospitality. By forming an inclusive ACU community and through interactions with their diverse host communities, students will have the opportunity to develop the threads of compassion, welcome, and care that weave together the fabric of Christian hospitality. (Luke 15:11-32)

  • Students will be able to describe the importance of hospitality within the Christian tradition.

  • Students will participate in projects that seek to serve and extend hospitality to their local communities.

  • Students will be able to articulate why hospitality is at the heart of all successful cross-cultural interactions.

  • Students will be challenged to extend hospitality in the context of their living/learning community and apply Christ’s example of compassion, welcome, and care to their neighbors throughout their study abroad experience.