For sixteen years, Central Africa Baptist University has intentionally prepared disciples for Great Commission living. Our goal is to produce disciples who, in turn, make other disciples. This goal is at the heart of all that we do. Every aspect of our academic offering and student experience intentionally serves this end.
This mission to train disciples is something we call the ‘CABU Path of Discipleship.‘ Our passion is to honor Jesus by proclaiming the gospel and teaching those who believe in Him to obey all that Christ commands. Our single focus is fulfilling the Great Commission. The two Great Commandments is our motivation for fulfilling this Commission: Loving God and loving our neighbor.
Christ calls us to follow Him. It is not possible to follow unless we know the Scriptures. It is the Scripture, inspired by God, that is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The result of this application of the Scriptures is so that every disciple will become mature and fully equipped to live lives that please God (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Growing disciples must know, understand and obey the commands and precepts found in the Word of God. At times this discipleship includes discipline. The Scriptures are the authority and foundation of all that we believe and practice. For this reason, CABU will not elevate traditions and popular cultural opinions to the level of the Scriptural authority. Our authority is the Word of God, and it is the Scriptures that must shape all we believe and practice.
As we intentionally invest our lives in others, our goal is to help them become like Jesus Christ. We believe that faithful disciples are their brother’s keeper! There is, therefore, at CABU, an intentional effort to nurture personal relationships for discipling others.
Philosophy of Discipline
Christ’s standards for disciples are often much higher than we might like to admit. Our culture seems happy with a “cultural Christianity” that outwardly conforms to a set of standards. But God is not satisfied with that! God is vitally interested in the heart – why do you do what you do?
Jesus denounced mere outward conformity to a set of rules or expectations as hypocrisy and rejected those kinds of “disciples.” Jesus made it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that the standards of His kingdom were much higher than what was commonly accepted. Jesus said, “you have heard it said… but I say unto you….” (Mt. 5:21,27,31,33,38). Jesus raised the bar by focusing on the heart, and he required nothing less than a heart that loved the Lord with all! Jesus was not looking for outward conformity but internal transformation!
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” By keeping these commands, we keep all the others.
We believe that discipline flows from discipleship. We recognize that it is possible to achieve outward conformity without any transformation of the heart. We are not interested in writing an extensive rule book that only seeks outward conformity. We use the Student Guide as a tool to disciple the hearts of our students. In every discipline counseling session, our focus is the real heart issues. Do you love the Lord with all your heart, and are you loving your neighbor the way God commands?
Our campus experience, rules, structure, and campus culture are structured to transform a student’s heart so that their decisions and actions are pleasing to God.
Life-touching-life discipleship is the CABU Path of Discipleship.
The Path of Discipleship “begins with training, from training to clarified expectations, from expectations to directed responsibility, and from responsibility to personal accountability.”
We have intentionally created a campus experience that focuses on developing in our students a heart for God. Because this is our goal and philosophy, we require our faculty, staff, administration, and executive team to covenant together to invest in the lives of our students. We expectantly look to the Holy Spirit to do within the hearts of our students that which we cannot do, to transform each of our students into humble servant-leaders committed to great commission living.
Raising the Bar
| Raising the Bar From | Raising the Bar To |
| The Law | The Life in Christ |
| Precepts & Traditions | Biblical Authority |
| Works | Faith |
| Doing | Believing |
| Pride | Humility |
| Insecurity | Security |
| Fear | Love |
| Control | Coaching |
| Rules | Tools |
| Outside-In | Inside-Out |
| Conformity | Transformation |
| Performance | Spirit-Filled Living |
| Hypocrisy | Authenticity |