ABSTRACT
Community engagement is a highly contextualized endeavor, one in which local identities, needs, and interests rightly shape institutional action. The Christian tradition holds that all persons are created in the image of God and therefore endowed with inherent worth, regardless of individual characteristics such as social position. Moreover, followers of Christ are to act as agents of redemption committed to uncommon service, sacrificial love, and social justice. Members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities share common institutional commitments that vary in expression depending on their educational models. For example, Evangelical Protestant institutions often take an Orthodox or Critical Mass approach, while four different models—Immersion, Persuasion, Diaspora, and Cohort—can be found within Catholic higher education. A broader vision of higher education as social institution illuminates the unique contribution colleges and universities can make to the public good as connectors, conveners, and collaborators.
