The university was founded by a committee commissioned by the Evangelical Free Church of America, a denomination in the Radical Pietistic tradition, to establish a Christian liberal arts college. As such, the committee's mission has shaped the campus and the university. Trinity Western University has maintained extremely close ties with the broader Christian church, and historically has had close relationships with the Evangelical and Mainline Protestant denominations, as well as with the Mennonite tradition recently. This has also resulted in the university having a significant American influence when compared with other Canadian universities. More than one out of every six students is American.