Mission & Vision

Mission of New Saint Andrews

To graduate leaders who shape culture living faithfully under the Lordship of Christ.

Vision of New Saint Andrews

Our vision is for NSA to remain faithful to God over the course of generations, serving as a steadfast classical Christian liberal arts college, one that remains robustly Protestant and Reformed, and decidedly evangelical. Building on the foundation of the absolute authority of Scripture, we intend for NSA to remain committed to the ancient truths of Nicea and Chalcedon, and to the system of solid Reformed doctrine coupled with warm evangelical experience, as represented by the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Aim of Greyfriars Hall

To train mature, godly men to faithfully shepherd God’s people under the authority of his Word.

Distinctives

1. The Priority of Worship: We believe that corporate worship is the heartbeat of God’s people. The living God invites us into his presence where we renew covenant with him by singing psalms, confessing our sins, offering up prayers and petitions, hearing the word preached, and partaking of the sacraments, before being commissioned out into the world to disciple the nations. At Greyfriars Hall, we equip ministers to lead services of robust covenant renewal worship, filled with gravity and gladness, and which acts as a weekly battering ram to the gates of hell.
2. Pure Distilled Protestantism (Historic Protestant Doctrine): We embrace the classic Christian faith as summarized in the ecumenical creeds and the historic Reformed Confessions: The Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Definition of Chalcedon, The Synod of Dordt, The Three Forms of Unity, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the London Baptist Confession of 1689. We are evangelical Protestants, high church Puritans, and jovial, Chestertonian Calvinists, the kind that build churches on the foundation of covenant theology and get blind, staggeringly drunk on bottle after bottle of two-thousand-year-old, two-hundred proof Grace. Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratia. Sola Fide. Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.
3. Academically Rigorous: In many places, ministerial education is designed to prepare soft men for an indoor job with no heavy lifting. Our chief aim is to teach men to rightly handle the Word. Our program is academically rigorous and demanding, equipping our students to study the Scriptures in the original languages and in conversation with the greatest theological minds throughout church history. God’s word is like a fire and a hammer that shatters the rock, and wielding it well is not for the faint of heart or limp of wrist.
4. The Sword of the Word: Rightly handling the Word is about more than Greek word studies and Hebrew verb paradigms. The God-breathed Scriptures are useful for teaching, correction, reproof, and training in righteousness. God’s word is a sword that must be plunged into the dragon in every heart, and it’s a balm that must be applied to the wounds of every soul. The Scriptures must get into absolutely everything. The Word must be done, as well as heard, applied as well as studied. All of Christ for All of Life.
5. The Centrality of the Church: We believe that training of ministers is first and foremost the responsibility of God’s people, and that the best context for pastoral training is the local church. We believe in faithful shepherds equipping future shepherds to feed the flock and fight the wolves. And you don’t learn to feed sheep or fight wolves simply by reading books. Shepherds must be among the flock of God. The partnership of New Saint Andrews College and Christ Church enables us to offer the best of both worlds: academic rigor in the classroom and practical ministry in the congregation.
6. A Commitment to Christendom: Worship is the heartbeat of God’s people, but it pumps blood to every other aspect of the body’s life. We believe that through the preaching of the gospel, every institution in God’s world ought to be brought under the Lordship of Christ. And because of God’s unshakeable promises, we expect that the Great Commission will be fulfilled, the nations will be discipled, the gospel will triumph in history, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the sea. And so, living in the ruins of Christendom, you will find us rebuilding the walls and defending the city of God. And we intend to enjoy ourselves while we do it.
7. A Band of Brothers: While most of the programs at New Saint Andrews are open to both men and women, Greyfriars Hall is special. Unique even. Greyfriars Hall is for men only. And not just biological males. The ministerial calling is a masculine calling, demanding strength, fortitude, skillfulness, sober-mindedness, and a touch of citrus. We intend to produce men who have the courage of David, the boldness of the apostles, and the sacrificial joviality of King Lune of Archenland. Our students must master their passions and appetites, manage their households well, and be prepared to fight wolves and defy petty tyrants. Ours is an M. Div. for pirates and merry men.

Statement of Faith

Because Greyfriars Hall is a ministry of Christ Church our Statement of Faith will be the same as that of Christ Church. For a fuller expression of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, please see our Web site (christkirk.com).

This statement of faith represents the doctrinal understanding of the eldership of Christ Church and the instructors at Greyfriars Hall. It is our intention that the teaching of Greyfriars Hall reflect this understanding as well.

As reformational evangelicals, Greyfriars Hall seeks to display our unity in truth with other faithful believers, not only in the present, but also with the historic Christian church throughout the centuries. Although not included here, we are in essential agreement with the historic confessions of the Reformation, including the Synod of Dordt, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism (together known as the Three Forms of Unity), the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1646, and the London Baptist Confession of 1689.

The Triune Majesty

The Triune God is the one uncreated Creator of all things that exist; between the Creator and His creation is a fundamental divide. This one God is eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His Majesty is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, and limited by nothing other than His own nature and character. He is holy, righteous, good, stern, loving, and full of mercy.

Revelation

The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, inerrant in all they affirm. The Word has divine authority in everything it addresses, and it addresses everything. In no way should the Scriptures be brought to the judgment seat of human reason; rather, we must rationally and submissively study the Word granted to us.

Creation

In the beginning, God created the material universe from nothing. He spoke, and by the Word of His power, it was. Our science on the nature and time of this event must be determined in full submission to the Word of God.

Sin

Our first father Adam was our federal head and representative. He was created innocent, but through his rebellion against the express Word of God, plunged himself and his entire posterity, represented in him, into the hopelessness of death in sin. This sin is lawlessness—an attempt to live apart from the Law and Word of God. Since that first great apostasy, no descendant of Adam has escaped from the death of lawlessness apart from efficacious grace.

The Incarnate Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ is, according to the flesh, a descendant of David, and sits on David’s throne. He is, at the same time, God enfleshed. He is one individual with two natures—fully man and fully God. As a man, He is our elder brother and High Priest before God, representing us to God the Father. As God, He is the visible image of the invisible Father, representing God to us.

Salvation

Because all sons of Adam are spiritually dead, they are consequently incapable of saving themselves. But out of His sovereign mercy, God the Father elected a countless number to eternal salvation, leaving the remainder to their sinful desires. When the time was right, the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and was raised to life as an efficacious redemption for the elect. Thus He secured the salvation of His church, for which He laid down His life. And at the point of each individual’s conversion, the Holy Spirit brings resurrecting grace, effectually calling him by His power, with the result of repentance and faith.

Law

The grace of God in the gospel does not set aside the law of God; rather, it establishes it. To the one who believes, the law of God is precious, and through faith the law is established. The law stands as God’s testimony of His own righteous character; as such, it cannot be altered by anything other than God’s express Word. Consequently, we receive the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, as fully containing the will of God for us. To all who do not believe, the law of God condemns them in self-righteousness.

Covenant

When God is pleased to bless the proclamation of His gospel, the result will always be a visible collection of saints bound in covenant to Him. They will be characterized through their assembly around the preached Word, their faithful administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and their orderly and disciplined government according to the Word of God.

Witness

As believers present the gospel to those who remain in rebellious unbelief, there must be no halfway compromise with that unbelief. The ground and precondition for all creaturely ventures is the Word of God, which necessarily includes our teaching, apologetics, and evangelism. Every thought is to be made captive to the Lord Christ, and every tongue is to glorify the Father.

Eschatology

As the gospel of Christ is proclaimed throughout the world, the result will be the gradual transformation and salvation of the world. Prior to Christ’s return, the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and the whole earth will be full of His glory.