Mission and Identity

Mission

Rochester Christian University is a Christ-centered institution that empowers students to lead lives of personal and professional significance while serving God in a changing world.

Virtues

At RCU, God’s call challenges all community members to live vocationally, cultivating character and virtues in the context of community and relationships.Community – Engagement: Students enter the university community through active engagement. 

• Knowledge – Dedication: The student’s dedication to their individual calling contributes to RCU’s collective pursuit of knowledge.
• Truth – Honesty: Students embody honesty in their own work, adhering to truth as an institutional norm. 
• Deliberation – Curiosity: RCU encourages curiosity and deliberation in the pursuit of truth.
• Justice – Courage: Students learn to advocate for themselves in the pursuit of truth and justice. 
• Freedom – Responsibility: Students recognize their mutual obligations within the conditions of freedom RCU seeks to establish for the common good. 
• Wisdom – Humility: The pursuit of knowledge, approached with humility, transforms into wisdom. 

Vision

Rochester Christian University will position itself as a Christ-centered, forward-looking, and globally connected institution by innovating academic programs, expanding its reach and impacting communities, scaling with efficiency, and elevating its brand to stand out as a destination for transformative Christian higher education.

Our strategy directly supports the mission of empowering students to lead lives of personal and professional significance while serving God in a changing world, and our vision of becoming a global destination for innovative, relevant, values-driven education.

Rochester Christian University will cultivate a diverse and welcoming community of learners among students, faculty, and staff for the sake of participating in God's mission in the world. Learning together the way of Christ, we will serve in neighborhoods, businesses, and organizations with justice and mercy. Sharing life in the spirit of God, Rochester Christian University graduates will contribute creativity, knowledge, and integrity to our rapidly changing world.

Heritage

In 1954, members of the Churches of Christ formed a Board of Trustees to establish a college in the north central United States. The new board purchased land near rural Rochester, Michigan, and the first students arrived at North Central Christian College in 1959. Several years later, NCCC became Michigan Christian College. In 1997, the board adopted the name Rochester College. That year, the board reaffirmed the founders’ dedication to leading students toward high academic achievement and the development of Christian ideals and character. In 2019, Rochester College became Rochester University, then in 2024, it became Rochester Christian University.

Over the years, the campus of Rochester Christian University has grown, and administration and faculty have continued to develop and modify programs that meet the changing needs of our students.

In a typical year, students arrive from 20 states and about 10 different nations. Alumni are scattered across the country and around the world.

Since its inception, Rochester Christian University has emphasized the importance of combining academic excellence with Christian ideals. While the university admits students of all ethnicities and religions and carefully explains varying worldviews in relevant courses, it employs only those professors and instructors who understand, model, and teach the Christian faith. Regardless of their discipline, faculty members routinely relate their subject matter to relevant principles and concepts of the Christian faith.