Life Together

Spending time on campus at Taylor University, whether as a student or prospective, as faculty or staff, you cannot make it a week without hearing some kind of reference to the Life Together Covenant. For the most part, these allusions to the dreaded "LTC" are in good taste, but with a negative connotation, directed at the clause that states "The University expects its members to use discretion and discernment in their choices of entertainment and recreation (some examples include media, Internet usage, and games). Social dancing is not permitted on or away from campus." While prohibition of dance is a frustrating thing, I have found that I spend way to much time focusing on the minor restrictions of the LTC rather than enjoying what the Life Together Covenatnt is all about: building community.

The opening line of the Life Together Convenant is as follows: "Taylor University is a community of Christians intentionally joined together for academic progress, personal development and spiritual growth." The LTC is put in place to instill in students a desire to have life together in the fullest. And believe me when I say that I see students living this out on campus. One of my favorite examples is chapel. "Corporate worship, prayer, fellowship and instruction are essential for our community. Therefore, students, faculty and administrators are expected to attend chapel." Chapel at Taylor University is not required, but simply expected. There is no kind of check-in or attendance taken at chapel, yet the majority of campus attends on a regular basis. I firmly believe that this is because of the community at Taylor. Nearly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday someone asks me, "Are you going to chapel?" "Did you enjoy the message this morning?" "What did you think about this or that about chapel?" (or something there within) If I had skipped chapel for some reason, I would immediately be encouraged to come next time or playfully chastised that I had skipped. It's the community that's brought students to chapel on a regular basis; community brings together this body of believers to worship God together.

Another example of how well-built the community at Taylor because of the LTC is through its restrictions on profanity. "Any kind of demeaning gesture, symbol, communication, threat or act of violence directed toward another person will not be tolerated." Although I don't live on the floor at Taylor, I've been told by a trusted friend, Ryan, that there is no profanity on Penthouse. No one swears. On one, rare occasion, someone swore while we were playing a game of soccer, and immediately two or three other guys were immediately on his case for having done so, and that was the end of it. I firmly believe that this is a result of the LCT.

In conclusion, while the LTC does prohibit a few, miniscule things, it does an amazing job of building up the peer to peer interaction of Taylor University such that we, as students, can enjoy such a fantastic, Biblically-based community. If you'd like to read further about the LTC, you can read the whole copy here. I encourage students to take another look at it in this new light, and see how different the Life Together Covenant looks.

Instead of focusing on the negative aspects about the Life Together Covenant, students should focus on what it has done for the community at Taylor.