Connecting you to BGU family opportunities to better steward your global call.
Alumni of universities often serve their school with donations. Alumni form the essential funding source for present students. These alumni associations primarily exist to provide donations for scholarships and capital campaigns.
The BGU family sees funding as an important, but not the primary role for alumni. From the beginning, BGU鈥檚 purpose was to build a school that serves networks, not to build a network to serve a school. The Lausanne Urban Associates, the Leadership Foundations in the Pacific Northwest, CCDA, and other networks formed the team that shaped the vision of BGU.
Like other universities, the alumni of BGU serve the school after graduation. The graduates of BGU serve on staff and faculty and as dissertation advisors. BGU graduates create certificate programs, coach students, recruit students, serve on Personal Learning Communities and provide donations in order for BGU to continue to exist.
However, BGU also serves networks and proactively provides opportunities for students to connect to global networks in order to further their call. The is one of the world鈥檚 largest global Christian networks. BGU had over 25 graduates attend the Lausanne Cape Town Congress in 2010; over 55 attended the Lausanne Workplace Forum in Manila in 2019, and even more attended the Lausanne Seoul Congress in 2024. In most cases, these graduates don鈥檛 just attend, they serve on various teams that organize the program of these events. Currently, BGU graduates serve on several ongoing Lausanne Issue network teams and projects, including directing the Cities Issue Network, which was a primary founding network of BGU in the early 2000s.
The (WEA) is another network that BGU proactively connects graduates with. The WEA was founded in 1846 and has national alliances in 161 nations, each of which is formed by the largest denominations and evangelical leaders in those nations. In 2017, the WEA asked BGU to create training and coaching programs for these alliances. Since then, BGU alumni have been involved in training, coaching, shaping WEA global events, and taking on leadership roles in national alliances and WEA global staff. A significant group of BGU alumni recently attended the once every six-year WEA Global Assembly in Seoul in October 2025.
For BGU students and graduates, the BGU family provides a myriad of ways they can steward their gifts and calling for a larger global influence. It was part of the core mission of BGU from the beginning. If you are interested in learning more, please contact info@bgu.edu and ask for Chancellor Brad Smith to contact you for next step coaching on clarifying your calling, and connecting you to these opportunities provided by the BGU family.
*Part of the lyrics of the song 鈥淗otel California鈥� released by The Eagles in 1977 which is famous primarily in western cultures. It has been a way BGU has described its commitment to engage students in continued learning long after graduation in a life-long BGU family.
