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Tyndale University presents a series of recorded chapel services from Tyndale's very own faculty and guest speakers.
Good morning. Welcome everybody, students, staff, faculty and friends, to our first chapel in 2024. It is good to see you all again. And I trust you had a good Christmas season, and opportunity to enjoy time with friends or family, and that you able to return now to this new semester refreshed in mind, body and spirit.
As always, we take time in our first chapel gathering of this new semester to acknowledge the location of our university in relation to the indigenous people of this region. For 1000s of years, the Greater Toronto Area has been the traditional land of the Huron Wendat, the Seneca and most recently the Mississaugas of the credit River. It is part of the Dish with One Spoon territory, a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee, that committed them together to share the territory and protect the land. Other indigenous peoples and nations have subsequently entered this territory in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect. It is on these lands, and in this spirit, that Tyndale seeks to engage in its work. And what that means for us, is that for all of us connected to this community, we gather, we work and we study in the context of this part of our history. It is our privilege and our responsibility to partner in the journey to reconciliation, sustaining a safe, welcoming and informed place of learning for everyone.
As I was preparing for today, I looked back to see what I said this time last year. I always do that. Last January, you might remember that in the fall of 2022, we had to significantly realign our budget due to lower revenue than anticipated. The same time Tyndale Green was moving forward, but it seemed to be moving slowly. And as a result, it felt in many ways like maybe we were sitting in God's waiting room, waiting for something to happen. So last January, I spoke about what it means to wait, while at the same time we continue to do what is required, and continued to trust God. And we thought about those moments in our lives when it can feel like we're sitting in God's waiting room, waiting for a door to open, waiting for some clarity, waiting for some answers. So where are we now, a year later? Let me give you just a quick update on a few things. One in terms of our strategic plan, flourishing like trees planted by streams of water. We launched three more degrees this past September. That's now seven, in the last two Septembers. We finished last year's budget challenge better than we could have hoped, or imagined. This past September, we welcomed 95 new undergraduate students. That's up almost 30% over September 2022, and 187 new seminary students as well. That represents growth in both of those groups, and the highest incoming class we've had in three years. We also welcomed roughly 120 students into residence, which also represents about a 10-15% increase over the year before. And at this point, the recruitment funnel for September 2024 is stronger than it has been at this point in the recruitment cycle since before COVID.
On the financial side, for the six months of our fiscal year that ended October 31., our overall revenue was about $15,000 off of budget. That is a phenomenal accomplishment, especially in consideration of last year. No one here, and I'm including our business office, can remember a time when that last happened. Our donations are lagging a bit, but, we received about $330,000 in December. That's significantly more than the $185,000 we received last December. And so we continue, with hope and hard work, to move forward.
And what about Tyndale Green? Well, during the week of December 18 to 22, right before we closed for Christmas, there were three board meetings, Tyndale Trust, Tyndale Green and Tyndale University. Each board had a different role to play. But the outcome at about 7pm On Thursday, December 21, was approval from all three groups to move forward with a financial plan to fund the next stage of Tyndale Green development. All of the details could not be completed by Friday, December 22. But we are anticipating the developable lands to be transferred from Tyndale University to Tyndale Trust, the financing for the next phase of Tyndale Green, and the elimination of the university's debt to be completed in the next month or so. And trust me when I say I will let you know when that happens.
So the door to the waiting room, that I spoke about last January, has opened, and we are moving forward. Now I want to be honest with you, we've still got some hard work to do. And we've still got some challenges to navigate. It is probably going to be another two, or maybe three years, for us to have a clear pathway to sustained revenue growth through increased enrollment and donations. I want you to know I'm okay with that. Because we are moving in the right direction. And as we continue to do the right things well, the results will come. That's the value of staying focused on our mission of having clear priorities in our strategic plan that inform our decision making, and of committing it all to the Lord.
So the common thread through the last few years has really been God's faithfulness, his presence, care, unchanging nature, and limitless faithfulness. We've experienced it institutionally, we've seen it among our colleagues, friends and families, and we've experienced it ourselves.
So where to, from here? I've loosely titled my message this morning,"What are we known for?" Let's start with a scripture reading from First John chapter four verses 7-12. "Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who has been born of God knows God, sorry, everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us."
With this scripture in mind, today I want to centre our thoughts around the way we move forward, not just what we do, but how we do it. You're familiar with our mission statement. "Tyndale is dedicated to the pursuit of truth to excellence in teaching, learning and research for the enriching of mind, heart and character, to serve the church and the world for the glory of God." You're aware of our strategic priorities for this year, to continue to grow and expand academic offerings, to continue to grow and sustain enrollment, to nurture holistic student development, and to enhance stewardship and accountability. Our strategic plan is about flourishing. And so it also includes five values. They are people, diversity, academics, faith and learning, and stewardship. Over the coming year, I'm going to speak more directly about these values. And so today we're going to consider people and diversity. Here's how we define them. First of all, the value of people, says we foster and nurture an educational community that extends hospitality, respect and honour to every person who engages with us, knowing that each person is made in the image of God, and wanting to see people flourish personally, professionally, and spiritually.
And this is how we've defined the value that we call diversity. We pursue the richness of diversity, welcoming, and respecting students, staff, and faculty in all our fullness, and remain open to new experiences, viewpoints and practices as core elements in a flourishing community. Now, it's important to see each of these as steps in the process, the mission drives everything. And then we have some strategic priorities, which is around what we're going to focus our intention on, and the values coming from our mission and priorities, of how we will do it together. But how do we take these values and weave them into all that we're doing to fulfill our mission as a Christian university?
Well, let's look briefly at First John, as well as a little bit of Second and Third John. They're three very short letters, you can if you need to refresh, you can read through them fairly quickly. Or if you just want to meet them for the first time, perhaps you haven't read them through, I'd encourage you to take that opportunity. But let's start with first John. The core theme of the first John is the phrase, "this is how we know". The word know, or something similar to it, is referenced around 30 times in five short chapters. So some people refer to this as the letter of certainties. It's primarily about how we can know with certainty, God's love for us through Jesus Christ, because it comes as God's testimony to us. So here are some examples from First John chapter five, verse six, it says, "It's the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is truth." And then in verse 10, "Anyone who believes in the Son has this same testimony in their heart." And then verses 11 and 12. "And this is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, whoever has life has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." And if we flip back to chapter four, of that same letter, which we just read some verses from, we see that God is love. And we accept that as truth.
In John's second letter, he expands then from the idea of truth, and God's love, to the experience of truth and love. In verses four to six, this is what he writes to his friend. "It gives me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. I ask that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." And then in his third and final letter, John expands on that, to indicate that God's love and truth are experienced by others through our love, and hospitality. Here's what verses five to eight say, "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honours God. It was for the sake of the name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people, so that we may work together for the truth." And then John illustrates with the example of two men, one who put himself above the truth and did not extend hospitality, and one who is spoken of well, as living the truth through his relationships and hospitality toward others.
When I read the letters from John, I'm reminded of the song "They'll know we are Christians by our Love." It was written by Peter Scholtes, almost 60 years ago now, but it connects very well to these three letters. Just remind you sort of the highlights of the key verses starts out "We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that all Unity will one day be restored. We will walk with each other. And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land. We will work with each other. We will work side by side, and we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride." And the chorus is very simply "And they'll know we are Christians by our love". To be Known by our love, to be known for our love, individually, and as a community of Christ, to be known by our love includes in our city and surrounding communities, which are experiencing the impact of wars in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, and where so many people are struggling to find shelter and feed their families. To be known for our love in a city and surrounding communities where differing perspectives, cultures, beliefs and views are too often linked to rejecting a person, rather than engaging in discourse. To be known for our love in our city and surrounding communities, where there are so often seems to be increasing and strident division, rather than shared seeking of the common good. And here at Tyndale, to be known by and for our love, where there is such wonderful diversity of experience, culture, ethnicity, traditions and life that is represented in this part of the body of Christ.
It is hard work to love, especially when we don't particularly like what the other person or group may say or stand for. Sometimes, I think we try to walk both sides of that conundrum. Can we love the sinner and hate the sin? Yes, that is being like Jesus? Can we despise, or dismiss, or disrespect the person while saying we love them in the Lord? No, that is not Christ's love. That dichotomy doesn't come from Scripture.
A theologian named Thomas Merton put it this way. "Our job is to love others, without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business. And in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do, is to love." Our mission is that Tyndale University is dedicated to the pursuit of truth, to excellence in teaching, learning and research for the enriching of mind, heart and character, to serve the church and the world for the glory of God. Two of the values identifying how we will pursue our mission as a Christian university, are people, and diversity.
For people, we foster and nurture an educational community that extends hospitality, respect and honour to every person who engages with us. Knowing each person is made in the image of God, and wanting to see people flourish personally, professionally, and spiritually.
And our value called diversity. We pursue the richness of diversity, welcoming and respecting students, staff and faculty in all our fullness, and we remain open to new experiences, viewpoints and practices as core elements in a flourishing community.
Friends, how we accomplish our mission is just as important as what we actually achieve. So let's remember God's great love and faithfulness. Let's remember Jesus Christ who came into our world, lived among the people of his time, was crucified for our sins and resurrected from the dead, all because of his love for every person. And may we be known by our love. Amen.