Graduate Profile

The Laidlaw College Graduate Profile reflects our mission to equip students and scholars to renew communities through a faith that is intelligent, courageous, and shaped by the gospel. It outlines the distinctive qualities, values, and character we seek to develop in graduates as they contribute to churches, communities, workplaces, and relationships.

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The Laidlaw Graduate Profile describes the distinctive characteristics we seek to form in our graduates — shaping how they think, live, serve, and engage with the world.

It reflects our commitment to theological education that forms people of faith, hope, and love, equipped for churches, communities, workplaces, and relationships.

Laidlaw’s mission is to equip students and scholars to renew their communities with a faith as intelligent as it is courageous, in service to our vision of a world shaped by love, compelled and informed by the gospel. We pursue this as imperfect people in need of grace, convinced that through faith and hope our graduates can influence the church and the world through love.

Formation

Laidlaw graduates will be known as:

People of faith

Lives shaped by encounter with Jesus through Scripture, prayer, worship, and community.

People of grace

Embracing the tensions of life and faith with a deep awareness of their own brokenness and redemption.

People of love

Encounters with others marked by authenticity and humility, whether sharing laughter or tears.

People of hope

Inviting others into the struggle for beauty and justice, freedom and rest, as they anticipate the new creation.

Context

Laidlaw graduates will participate in:

The local church

Building community by serving, challenging, and renewing in love.

Mission

Shaping society by living out the gospel of hope and reconciliation.

Bicultural dialogue

Partnering with tangata whenua and manuhiri of Aotearoa New Zealand in a spirit of covenantal love and shared story.

Diverse communities

Celebrating culture and difference in respectful and authentic dialogue.

Vocational settings

Pursuing excellence and embodying faith, hope, and love in work, home, and everyday life.

Knowledge and Understanding

Laidlaw graduates will be renewed by:

Engagement

A deeper knowledge of the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ and witnessed in Scripture, who continues to engage with the world.

Biblical Foundation

A Christ-centred theological method grounded in Scripture, shaped by the church, and engaged with contemporary life

Community

A relational understanding of humanity — of self in relation to others — within a world created for relationship with God.

Christian Practice

A participatory expression of faith, hope, and love as primary ways of engaging with people, life, and thought.

Knowledge

A robust understanding of the theories, practices, and historic and contemporary voices within their chosen discipline, held in dialogue with theology.

Skills

Laidlaw graduates will be equipped to:

Engage

Engage with life’s questions from a deep participation in the gospel as a primary source of wisdom

Interpret

Interpret the biblical text with awareness of its interpretation history and discern its relevance for the contemporary church and society.

Apply

Apply knowledge in practical, skilful ways appropriate to their discipline, committed to lifelong learning.

Articulate

Articulate their faith in dialogue with others with confidence and intelligence, curiosity, and respect.