Across churches, homes, and schools, many Christians are yearning for the same thing: a faith life that is rooted and relevant. Yet how can we keep up in such a rapidly changing world? From the AI revolution to global unrest to life transitions and loss, sometimes it can be difficult to find ways to bridge our historic Christian faith to the present moment.
Maybe you’re a pastor or ministry leader seeking faithful and practical ways to respond to the emotional demands of your communities as they navigate grief, stress, conflict, and other life challenges.
Perhaps you’re a parent, desperate to find reliable handholds for raising your kids in a complex world.
Or maybe you’re a recent graduate, wondering how the faith of your college years actually makes a difference in the “real world.”
If you’re facing any of these challenges, you’re not alone.
The Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service (IFLS) at Azusa Pacific University serves ministry leaders, parents, and professionals just like you. Our mission is to build bridges between faith, academic resources, and everyday life for the holistic flourishing of our communities.
Meeting the Moment
As Christians today, we do not have a “knowledge” problem—we have a “translation” and “formation” problem.
As late Catholic philosopher and theologian Alasdair MacIntyre explained, faith traditions endure when we draw on our deepest resources to address the new questions, crises, and historic moments of our time. As researchers, therapists, coaches, and ministry leaders at IFLS, we are committed to translating cutting-edge scholarship into spiritually formative tools that help you and your community flourish in today’s world.
Bridge to Churches and Communities
APU advances the work of God in the world through academic excellence that encourages students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life. IFLS extends this mission by serving as a university-wide hub for faith-based research, resources, leadership development, and partnerships. We connect APU’s faculty, students, alumni, and institutional mission with churches, nonprofits, Christian schools, and ministry leaders around the country. We translate scholarship into lived wisdom, integrate worship with work, link service with spiritual formation, and magnify the university’s mission to the wider Church and world.
Building a Faith-Filled Future Together
As an alum or friend of APU, you are already part of this ecosystem. Through your prayers, leadership, service, generosity, and witness, you carry APU’s mission into the wider Church and world. IFLS offers a new way to participate in this mission by strengthening the churches, schools, pastors, parents, teachers, and faith-based organizations that help faith take root across generations.
How We Work
IFLS carries out its mission through five initiatives:
- Helping children participate more fully in the life of the Church
- Deepening the spiritual formation of adolescents and young adults through service
- Supporting clergy well-being and mental health
- Equipping leaders to communicate Scripture with clarity and imagination
- Helping congregations and everyday Christians integrate faith, work, and community life
Your Support Can Expand This Work
Through prayer, partnership, time, or financial giving, you can empower IFLS to translate research into practical resources for ministry leaders, young people, and neighborhoods—contributing to the flourishing of churches, communities, students, and ministry leaders at this important time.
William Whitney, PhD, LMFT, is executive director of the Institute for Faith, Leadership, and Service, and Caleb Roose, MDiv, ACC, is director of program development and strategic operations for the institute.