Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing

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“WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR”

The Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing (CFHF) exists to advance LCC’s mission through research and academic engagement. The CFHF is interdisciplinary and encourages diverse approaches to any questions about faith and human flourishing, broadly construed. LCC enjoys affiliations with North American networks such as the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and is well positioned to participate in projects funded by external agencies. Opportunities for CFHF research partnerships include: faculty exchange; research fellowships, and assistance in applying for public and private research grants. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dr. Elena Šiaudvytienė
Director, Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing

“WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR”

The Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing (CFHF) exists to advance LCC’s mission through research and academic engagement. The CFHF is interdisciplinary and encourages diverse approaches to any questions about faith and human flourishing, broadly construed. LCC enjoys affiliations with North American networks such as the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and is well positioned to participate in projects funded by external agencies. Opportunities for CFHF research partnerships include: faculty exchange; research fellowships, and assistance in applying for public and private research grants. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dr. Elena Šiaudvytienė
Director, Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing

Purpose Statement

The Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing (CFHF) exists to advance LCC’s mission to provide Christian liberal arts education within a diverse learning community that transforms people for servant leadership by:

empowering the faculty and student body for more and better academic engagement with important contemporary intellectual voices;
fostering scholarly conversations within the disciplines represented at LCC, but especially promoting interdisciplinary dialogue that feeds LCC’s liberal arts model;
encouraging active and experiential learning outside the seminar room, such as community projects and relationships with regional churches;
stimulating faculty research productivity as well as faculty and student research collaboration.

The CFHF reflects LCC’s identity as an international Christian liberal arts university. The CFHF integrates perspectives from all branches of Christianity represented at LCC (and beyond), and promotes dialogue between people of different faiths with respect to all aspects of human flourishing.

Research Agenda

A research agenda provides focus for the CFHF and its activities. While other research projects undertaken by any department, research cluster, or individual member of the University community may be supported by the CFHF, preference will be given to projects and researchers focusing in these areas. In order to reap the benefits of consistent, concentrated efforts, the CFHF will maintain this focus in its initial five years (2017-2022).

Area 1: Migration, Economic Development & Flourishing Communities

Migration is a key element in human flourishing: the free movement of individuals and families to escape insecurity and poverty in pursuit of survival and economic opportunity.

Economic migration, family migration, migration
Humanitarian migration (refugees); IDPs; migration due to ecological disaster
International contexts: Baltic states, European Union, post-Soviet states
Economic development
Diaspora and return migration, particularly as contributing to economic development in home countries
Securitization of migration; how states and host populations treat migrants as problematic/dangerous; migrants at risk of deportation
Integration of migrants (socio-economic/family/humanitarian migrants); reception, suspicion, racism, xenophobia
Religious persecution and conflict
Religion as contributing factor to attitudes toward migrants and migration

Area 2: Trauma, Relationships, Flourishing Individuals and Families

Safety, love, and sense of belonging are significant contributing factors to human survival and satisfaction.

Interpersonal relationships, especially families, as key to flourishing
Influences on attitudes towards marriage
Marital and couple adjustment
The role of faith in quality of marriage experience
Gerontology; capability and flourishing in advanced age, aging populations
Attitudes towards mental health issues; obstacles to seeking psychological help
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Depression, suicide
Physiological measures of psychological function
Communication norms and patterns within nuclear and extended families, in post- totalitarian societies

Area 3: Textual Studies, Faith and Conception of Flourishing

Texts and other artistic expressions, including the foundational texts of faith such as the Bible, reflect and shape conceptions of meaning, purpose, flourishing, and relationships. As a liberal arts institution, LCC is committed to foundational principles and tools of inquiry that empower free individuals to pursue meaning within a free society.

Biblical, theological, literary, historical, and philosophical studies, within the following contexts: Lithuania, the Baltic States, Eastern Europe, and post-totalitarian and post-secular societies
Christian ecumenical dialogue, and interreligious dialogue
Rhetoric and persuasive communication
Conceptions of ethnic and national identity
Modes and methods of artistic expression, including visual and performing arts

Research Fellows

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Elena Šiaudvytienė, Ph.D.

Director, Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing/ Assistant Professor

Brian Ballard, PhD

Research Fellow

Kornelius Ens

Research Fellow

Markku Ruotsila, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

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News

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LCC’s Center for Research Joins First INCHE Europe Research Departments Meeting

2026-10-01

On September 23, 2026, research leaders from Christian universities across Europe met online for the first time as INCHE (International Network of Christian Higher Education) Europe research departments. LCC International University’s Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing took part, and its Director, Elena Šiaudvytienė, presented the Center’s work.The meeting was chaired by Lydia Bor and opened by INCHE Executive Director Deborah Haarsma. It followed the April 2026 presidents’ and international officers’ meeting of INCHE Europe in Norway, which highlighted the need to connect research departments. Participants came from the Netherlands, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania and Norway.Elena Šiaudvytienė introduced the Center as an interdisciplinary space that brings together faith, scholarship and diverse disciplines around one question: what helps people and communities flourish? She spoke about how the Center supports faculty and students to engage with contemporary intellectual voices, encourages dialogue across LCC’s liberal arts model, and supports faculty-student research and international partnerships.She also shared the Center’s plans for this fall, including its faculty research seminar series, the international policy conference “Connecting the Dots, Connecting the People” on October 29, and the research symposium “Christianity and Civil Society” on October 30-31. On the international side, she noted that the Center led LCC’s Horizon Europe project proposal on democratic citizenship education, and spoke about LCC’s participation and interest in COST Action activities, as well as its involvement in the INCHE Europe reading circles. She invited partners across the network to consider research exchange, joint proposals and research fellowships at LCC.Colleagues from the Christian University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), NLA University College (Norway), and the Biblical Institute and Evangelical Theological Seminary (Croatia) also presented their research work, from societal challenges such as polarization to new doctoral programs and theological research.Participants discussed possible cooperation, including research networks, joint European applications, shared events and online seminars. A follow-up meeting is planned for December 9, 2026.

Faith and the Work of Healing: A Conversation with Samford University Researchers

2026-09-26

On September 25, the Center for Research on Faith and Human Flourishing at LCC International University hosted a special coffee conversation with two researchers from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, USA – Dr. Jean Roberson and Dr. Rachel Hagues.Dr. Roberson, Associate Professor of Social Work, focuses on faith, the church, and the integration of faith into social work practice. Dr. Hagues, Professor of Social Work, researches refugee response and how communities support people who have been displaced. Together, they serve on the board of the Future Leadership Foundation, developing faith leaders around the world.The visit grew out of LCC President Dr. Ken Stoltzfus’s connection with both researchers from his time at Samford University.Through relationships with Ukrainian Baptist leaders, Dr. Roberson was invited to develop training for pastors and seminary students on walking with people through long-term trauma. That invitation grew into an ongoing research collaboration exploring how faith leaders can help people not just survive trauma, but grow through it.During their visit, Dr. Hagues and Dr. Roberson shared insights from their research with refugee communities in Poland, sparking rich conversation with LCC faculty and staff about how faith can be thoughtfully integrated into academic research and how that integration can genuinely help people heal and grow.The conversation flowed both ways. LCC faculty and staff shared reflections on what it means to be a Christian university educating students from diverse faith traditions and backgrounds – and how that identity shapes both community life and scholarship on campus. Faculty also discussed arts-based research and language teaching as ways of contributing to peacebuilding, and how these approaches can help us understand resilience and recovery in contexts of conflict and crisis.The exchange opened space for new perspectives and further exploration of the role of faith in healing, resilience, and human flourishing.

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Events

Upcoming Events

Past Events

Fellowship Application

Research Fellows of the Center for Research in Faith and Human Flourishing may be in-residence or non-resident members of the LCC faculty. As a fellow at CFHF you can get following benefits and support: