SPU Board of Trustees Reaches Decision on Employee Lifestyle Expectations

Statement from Seattle Pacific University Board of Trustees:

After careful consideration of multiple and complex concerns, the Board of Trustees has reached the decision to retain Seattle Pacific University’s current employee lifestyle expectations regarding sexual conduct.

“We want the community of SPU to know that this was a thorough and prayerful deliberation,” says Board Chair Cedric Davis. “While this decision brings complex and heart-felt reactions, the Board made a decision that it believed was most in line with the university’s mission and Statement of Faith and chose to have SPU remain in communion with its founding denomination, the Free Methodist Church USA, as a core part of its historical identity as a Christian university.”

The decision means SPU’s employee conduct expectations continue to reflect a traditional view on Biblical marriage and sexuality, as an expression of long-held church teaching and biblical interpretation.

While the board has landed on a decision that reflects a prayerful and sincere commitment to the wellbeing of SPU’s identity as an orthodox, evangelical, Wesleyan, and ecumenical institution of faith and learning, there is also sober acknowledgement of how this news will be received. The board acknowledges that there is disagreement among faithful Christians on the topic of sexuality and identity.

(FAQs on SPU Board Decision)

Posted: Monday, May 23, 2022