About
Greeting from President
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Dear Friends,
Greetings and welcome to Great Commission University in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Please know of our joy and thankfulness for your deeply humbling expression of interest in Great Commission University, which you have demonstrated by kindly taking time to read our welcome letter.
We consider it honoring to our institution, and a most encouraging development in the process of being acquainted, for which we rejoice in the Lord. We sincerely hope that your visit to our website would be richly blessed and inspiring.
It is my great privilege and honor to attempt to put down in words for your thoughtful consideration an introduction to Great Commission University that captures the touching feeling that overflows in our hearts whenever we think about God’s faithfulness in providentially establishing this institution at the former Howe Military Academy through a miraculously-timed and indescribably thankful series of events.
We humbly present to you Great Commission University: an institution of Biblical higher education built by God and entrusted to us, your servants for Jesus’ sake. Here, we are committed to inheriting and continuing on Howe’s freedom-fighting legacy of more than 100 years to be used by God to raise spiritual warriors and freedom fighters as missionaries for the Lord Jesus Christ into the future.
Our dream is to establish Great Commission University in collaboration with evangelicals around the world for the purpose of educating and equipping men and women of godly character as ordained ministers and missionaries commissioned with preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth — particularly among unreached people groups.
Well aware that “Great Commission University” holds inside of our name the greatest commissioning by God in the history of humankind, it is our sincere hope and prayer that God will guide us and you in all our steps from here to unite, deepen and empower our connection with you into a partnership in the Lord used by God towards the fulfillment of this grand dream through Christian higher education.
Please know of our deep gratitude for your encouragement, prayers, and support to this end.
May the Lord be with you and may his blessings be yours.
With Prayer,
Paul Förster
University President
Great Commission University History
History
Great Commission University was initiated within the World Olivet Assembly (WOA) denomination and incorporated in Indiana on May 20, 2020, as an independent educational ministry. Its purpose is to provide Christ-centered higher education aimed at serving and equipping the denomination’s missionaries and addressing primarily the practical educational needs of its parachurch organizations, who are growing in likeness to Christ to fulfill the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15).
In June 2020, we were blessed by receiving a developed 55-acre campus in Howe, Indiana. This campus includes two chapels, two academic buildings and an academic annex, six dormitories, a dining hall, a cafeteria, an auditorium, two gyms, an administration building, an infirmary, an industrial arts building, three maintenance buildings, two historical homes, and two residential homes. This provided a space for the new university to start quickly and settle its administration. The new venue was also shared with World Olivet Fellowships (WOF), which includes a wide array of evangelical and faith-based youth groups and professional organizations.
This historically significant and unique campus originally served as the home of Howe Grammar School, established in 1884 by a $10,000 trust left by John Badlam Howe to the Episcopal Bishop of Indiana for the purpose of training youth for the ministry of the Episcopal Church. The school eventually became Howe Military School, continuing its educational mission until the school was closed in 2019. The campus’s historic St. James Chapel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Great Commission University is excited about the opportunity to connect this historically significant campus to the future, preparing it anew to serve young people in fulfillment of their calling to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
In 2021, the William & Sally Wagner Mission Library was dedicated, commemorating the family’s profound influence on missiology and world missions, and their commitment to spreading the Christian faith across diverse cultures.
In 2023, the university became more actively connected to WOA’s rapidly expanding mission field across Latin America. This connection led to a significant increase in students, who are earnestly committed to and actively participating in their regional churches and fellowship chapters, enrolling in GCU’s online Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in Theology.
Presently, Great Commission University continues to expand and develop its on-site and off-site academic and administrative staff to accommodate a growing distance education student body. Simultaneously, the university is renovating and revitalizing the physical Howe campus and building or connecting it to the infrastructure needed to welcome a significant student and staff population on-site.
Mission, Vision, Values
Mission Statement
Great Commission University serves the global church by educating mission leaders to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
The mission statement of Great Commission University is intended to serve as a guide for
Board directors, staff members, and student conduct; strategic and programmatic planning; and institution-wide priority setting and evaluation. It evolved from a careful process of collaboration and consultation among Great Commission University’s founders, key administrators, faculty, and selected advisors from affiliated and independently operating organizations recognized for their demonstrated commitment to the ideals and goals formalized here in the Great Commission University mission statement.
Our mission is founded in the understanding of Missio Dei as God’s mission and God’s sending. The Trinitarian God is missionary in nature, and so is the church that was called and sent by Jesus Christ to be the instrument of His saving and healing work for all creation. At Great Commission University, we have dedicated ourselves to be the instruments of God’s saving mission to the world.
Vision
We envision a world where the gospel of Jesus Christ is known to everyone, and his grace and truth deeply embedded in each person’s heart.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)
We work in Christlike unity with churches and missionary organizations, we gather today’s disciples of Christ, provide education, training, and spiritual refreshment, and send them out again to the world in need of the saving truth of the gospel.
Great Commission University accomplishes this mission through a comprehensive program of Biblical, general, and professional studies; applied scholarship in ministry environments affiliated with the University; and Christ-centered service and support
Values
Jesus Christ
“I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) GCU acknowledges Jesus Christ as the only source of salvation and the foundation of all knowledge and truth.
The Kingdom of God
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
Access
GCU believes that Biblical education is a gift given by God to equip Christians in any part of the world for ministry. The University works to open the doors of Biblical higher education to qualified students, even in nations closed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by offering its programs through distance learning and by making this opportunity accessible.
Global Community
GCU creates a global community by bringing into reach educational services, programs, and employment opportunities to qualified individuals from all over the world, and by providing learning opportunities among diverse students.
Service
GCU expects all students, faculty, staff, and administrators to embrace the highest standards of personal integrity, honesty and responsibility for their studies and work based on the kenotic ethic of Jesus.
Quality
GCU provides a high-quality, Biblical education suitable in scope and depth to the challenges of the day. The University assesses and evaluates all aspects of its academic model on an ongoing basis.
Statement of Faith
What We Believe
Great Commission University affirms the statement of faith of the World Olivet Assembly (WOA):
We believe in:
The Holy Scriptures as originally given by God, divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy; and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, His virgin birth, His sinless human life, His divine miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His mediatorial work, and His Personal return in power and glory.
The Salvation of lost and sinful man through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith apart from works, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the believer is enabled to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Unity of the Spirit of all true believers, the Church, the Body of Christ.
The Resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
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5755 IN-9 Howe, IN 46746
- +(1) 260.217.4712
Great Commission University serves the global church by educating mission leaders to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 2024 Great Commission University. All rights reserved. Great Commission University is not affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.