I am looking at Christian based schools. I love the atmosphere and love for Christ that is found on these campuses. Here is the question. My daughter is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as often referred to as Mormons. I saw a previous list of Christian based churches and BYU Idaho, BYU Hawaii and BYU were not listed.This baffles me since our lives are as Christ centered as anyone. My daughter will not be attending those schools because she is interested in attending a smaller school so she can play volleyball. I believe a Christian school would be best, but will they be accepting of her since the lists I saw on this site did not include any of the schools that relate to our faith.
Any suggestions for Christian schools that are accepting of all Christian faiths?
Thank you.
Whitworth University was one of the choices we were thinking of choosing.
Many evangelical Christian colleges don’t consider Mormons as Christians. 
[Some also don’t consider Catholics as Christians due to infant baptism and adoration of saints.]
Whitworth MAY work because even if they don’t have a LDS youth group that I know of, they are located in Spokane so there should be spiritual support nearby. Your child could email and, after introducing herself, ask whether they consider Mormons Christian, if there’s an LDS group on campus, etc.
However most Christian colleges won’t consider LDS students “Christian”.
If you want a Christian college, see if you can find a “mainstream” college, either Catholic or Protestant (Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian) that is near a LDS Temple or an active youth group. Flagships may also be good - Southern Utah may be small enough? What about Concordia-Moorhead- it’s a small university but it’s in a big city so there’ll necessarily be a temple. Concordia in Portland OR? StThomas in St Paul MN? StEdwards in Austin? DePaul, in Chicago, may be too big?) UDayton, UScranton perhaps?? Centre College in KY? Queens in Charlotte NC? Most state flagships would have groups but they’ll be large universities. Smaller flagships include UDelaware, UVermont, UNewHampshire.
The big name in LDS higher education is, of course, BYU. But there is an interesting, though less well-known, alternative in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Southern Virginia University is strongly LDS-oriented:
SVU is a small school with NCAA DIII athletics, including women’s volleyball. The coach would probably love to hear from a prospective student who is both LDS and interested in playing volleyball at the college level. http://athletics.svu.edu/sports/wvball/index
Christian school will not reject student because they are Mormon, as they admit atheist as well. By definition, " Christian" U accepts all faith is not Christian Univ. But Christian Univ admit students from all faith.
How small are you looking for? University of Wyoming is 10,000, has D1 Volleyball, and has a large LDS population. Also Boise State, Idaho, U of Northern Arizona. Why is BYU Idaho too big? It’s a very small school
I disagree that a school like St. Thomas in MN would be a good fit. It’s very Catholic.
BYU-Idaho currently has on-campus enrollment of around 19,000, which doesn’t seem “very small”. But it’s a moot point – you can’t play NCAA volleyball at either BYU-Idaho or BYU-Hawaii, regardless of their sizes, because they currently have no intercollegiate sports programs.
BYU-Provo obviously does have intercollegiate sports. However, you would have to be extremely talented to make the women’s volleyball team, which was ranked #15 nationally in NCAA DI last year.
For most high school volleyball players, it’s probably more realistic to target a DIII school like SVU.
You can play in a competitive volleyball league at BYU-I.
If you are LDS, the cost to attend BYU-I is less than 10k (amount due school) and BYU-P is about 13k (amount due school). Either is a tremendous value. If cost is an issue at all, they are hard to beat.
Many Christian schools would be accepting of an LDS member, but remember that the prevalence of alcohol and drugs will likely be much greater than at BYU. Depending on your daughter, this may or not be an issue. Dating may also be an issue, if she prefers to date LDS members.
There are competitive intramural leagues at BYU-I, including one for women’s volleyball. There could be intramural volleyball leagues at BYU-H or BYU-P as well.
http://www.byui.edu/activities/sports-activities/competitive-sports/competitive-sports-offerings/volleyball
But there are currently no intercollegiate NCAA sports at either BYU-I or BYU-H. Both schools had them in the past, but they have been discontinued.
When someone says that they are looking for a college where they can play a particular sport, they typically mean competing in NCAA. However, any BYU campus could be a great value if intramural competition is sufficient.
Evangelical’s will try to convert you. Catholic’s not so much. I’d go for Catholic schools over evangelical if I were you.
I don’t think either will try to convert you but while many Evangelical schools would fit better value-wise list will not consider LDS students as Christians. Now it’s true you can attend whether you’re LDS, Muslim, or Jewish, but attending a school where you’re tolerated as an outsider when you consider yourself legitimately Christian wouldn’t be a good fit.
I agree St Thomas is quite Catholic indeed - I listed it because it is in a big city and it thus would have a temple with a youth group.
I also agree that if the the definition of small includes colleges in the 8-15k student range, smaller public universities in the Western States may have what you need. Utah valley, Southern Utah may work.
Another idea that came to mind is Hillsdale: it’s not Christian per se but 'based on Christian traditions and the traditional Western heritage" (Western = European here, not ‘west of the us’) with mandatory studies in the Constitution, founding documents of the us… It’s very similar to an Evangelical college but would not be as strict in its definition of who is a legitimate believer.
Graceland in Lamoni Iowa is along your lines I think.
Hillsdale (which is in a small town in southern Michigan, near the Indiana border) is Christian, but nondenominational. As per their Mission Statement, which was updated in 2016:
According to a recent story in the student newspaper, Hillsdale is an accepting place for LDS, but the LDS community is very small. The total (including students, faculty, and staff) is apparently in the "single digits", with only one practicing undergraduate. http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2018/03/mission-minded-mormons-seek-truth-discussion/Hillsdale has NCAA women’s volleyball, at the DII level, which includes athletic scholarships. They appear to be very good at this level, and regularly make the NCAA DII Tournament.
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I listed it because it is in a big city and it thus would have a temple with a youth group.<<
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What the student is looking for is not a Temple but a Ward. There are many of those, even in small towns.
To answer the original question, many LDS students will not feel comfortable at small religious schools if that LDS student is looking for religion to be included in college life. The more Christian a small school is, the less likely a student not of that religion will feel welcomed, including Catholic, Jewish, atheist, Christian Scientist, or LDS. I doubt there will be any religious courses offered that would include LDS teachings or history.
LDS students I know go to BYU-Idaho, to any of the schools in Utah, or really in the western US. Wyoming has 10% LDS, so there are a lot of activities for college aged members at the Wards in Laramie.
It is probably larger than you are looking for, but the University of Utah has a very large Mormon population. You can see if they offer club/intramural volleyball.
@Christandfamily – 2nd @Corbett about looking at SVU… The campus and the surrounding area at SVU are lovely!