The Local Church: We believe that the local church is God’s institution designed by Him to carry out the work of the Great Commission and that our mission at Northland is to assist the church in that endeavor. We will do our best to defer to pastors and local congregations in matters of practical application.
Fundamentalism and Separation: Northland International University identifies itself with historic, biblical fundamentalism. We believe God calls us to be separated unto Him in our theology, relationships, and personal lives.
Translations of the Bible: We encourage our students to use translations that accurately reflect the words and meaning of the Text. We also challenge them to support and follow the leadership of their home churches and extension churches (while in school) and not allow this issue to be a point of division.
Divorce and Remarriage: We recognize that there are various views on marriage and divorce in the church. We as an institution, however, do not encourage or assist young men to enter the pastoral ministry if they have been divorced or if they are married to a divorced person. We see this as a “blameless” issue (1 Timothy 3:2). We do, however, recognize that there are many other fulfilling avenues of ministry for believers who have gone through a divorce experience.
Calvinism: We do our best to define our theology with the text of Scripture. We believe in the sovereignty of God and that He has “chosen” and “elected” according to His will (Ephesians 1:4–5).We also believe that Christ died for the sins of the world (John 3:16, 1Timothy 4:10, 2 Peter 2:1), and that we are to go to the ends of the earth, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature (Matthew 28:19–20). The way these great truths work together is a mystery that rests with God.
Music: We believe that everything we do should glorify God, including our music (1 Corinthians 10:31).We believe that music has the power to affect the heart and, therefore, cannot be judged “amoral” or “value-neutral.” While the Bible says little if anything about musical “style,” it is full of teaching on worship and the Spirit-filled life. God-honoring music should flow out of this foundation, and this is the foundation we seek to build in the lives of our students. We take a conservative approach to our worship and believe it should be God-centered, Christ-centered, Word-centered, a fruit of a consecrated life, and wholehearted. We also believe it should be done with reverence. We do our best to respect each pastor and local church in the practical applications.
Dress: We believe that every believer reflects the God he or she serves. While the heart is the most important issue for us, we also believe that God cares about how we represent Him with our outward appearance in this fallen world. For us at Northland, it is more than controlling the behavior of students but teaching them principles of modesty, appropriateness, and deference that will work “from the inside out.” With off-campus church ministries, we encourage students to “take the high road” as well as to follow the example of church leaders.