Inaugural meeting: IACE will promote collaboration without duplication

Leaders representing a wide array of Christian education interests gathered at Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando February 12-14 for the inaugural meeting of the International Alliance for Christian Education.

The IACE, officially incorporated as a 501(c)3 charitable organization in January, has 53 institutions of higher learning and seven other organizations among its 60 charter members. Ninety-seven representatives of those entities registered for the Orlando event, nearly half of whom are presidents, former presidents or executive directors.

The Orlando meeting featured the IACE’s first face-to-face Board of Directors meeting, six presentations and the adoption of several initiatives the new alliance will pursue later this year.

President David S. Dockery told the group IACE will promote collaboration and cooperation without duplicating the work of other existing organizations.

“We believe that this Alliance will be able to serve all sectors of Christian education, doing so in harmony,” Dockery said. “We want to emphasize unity, cooperation, and collaboration, promoting and modeling these themes at every opportunity.”

The IACE Board of Directors approved two collaborations with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview in Washington, D.C. One will create a Worldview Academic Center for faculty development. IACE-member institutions will have opportunity to send faculty to training sessions related to faith and learning initiatives. Dockery said lecture series options from this initiative could be done on individual campuses.

The second Colson collaboration invites a campus president or designee of each charter member institution to Wilberforce Weekend 2020 in May. The invitation includes three days of professional development at the event.

Beginning soon, the IACE website will host job listings for member institutions.

Dockery said the board also initiated the study of an IACE tuition exchange program, with a report due back in July 2020.

The IACE’s work will cross several boundaries within Christian education, connecting primary and secondary schools, gap year programs, Bible colleges, Christian liberal arts colleges and comprehensive universities, as well as seminaries and educationally focused parachurch organizations. Campus enrollments within the IACE membership range from 250 to more than 10,000 students.

“Representatives from each one of those sectors are present with us in this room today and they are all committed to the shared work of this alliance,” Dockery said. “As far as I know, this has not taken place before at this scale.”

With that in mind, IACE Board of Reference member Robert C. Andringa said he sees the alliance “filled with audacious hope.”

Dockery presided over a luncheon and dedication session in which he discussed his vision for the organization, with representatives reciting the Nicene Creed and singing the Doxology.

“The fellowship was warm, and the dedication was a holy, uniting moment,” Dockery said.

Presentations in each session addressed key elements of the IACE’s mission: cultural witness; confessional commitment; collaboration, professional development and innovation; and cultural, intercultural and international engagement.

During the cultural witness session, Greg Baylor, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, addressed current and future legal challenges to Christian educators rooted in discussions about human sexuality. He urged institutions to define their policies carefully.

“Start with what you stand for,” Baylor said. “Your religious beliefs are at issue, so you must express those clearly.”

Robert B. Sloan, president of Houston Baptist University, addressed confessional commitments, tracing the development of Christian models of thought such as the Nicene Creed.

“We can’t withdraw from the current cultural struggles,” Sloan said. “The Nicene Creed came out of political hot potatoes within the church and culture at that time. We must pay attention to controversial issues.”

Rob Wassell, executive director of Seeds Global Innovation Lab, talked about the importance of professional development and innovation. He noted that strategic thought about the future never has been so crucial.

“In the past, we’ve spent 95 percent of our time in the present and only 5 percent thinking about the future,” Wassel said. “That won’t work anymore.”

Bruce Ashford, provost at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, addressed cultural, intercultural and international engagement in the final session.

Ashford called on the IACE to pursue opportunities to advance a gospel message worldwide that are unique to colleges and universities.

“We should have a humble optimism,” Ashford said. “Jesus lived in the middle of a pagan empire and was able to speak the truth to power. He did so with a humble confidence.

“We can be confident too because Christ will return.”

Ashford quoted recent estimates that indicate 700 million Christians will reside in Africa by 2025, with 650 million Christians in South America in the same time frame. He suggested many Christians in the global South and East have strong commitments to the authority of Scripture, and the IACE can build on that emerging international foundation.

“The global east and south believe the Bible,” Ashford said.

Dockery quoted similar figures during his luncheon address.

“In 1900, 80 percent of the Christians in the world lived in Europe and America,” Dockery said. “But in 2020, more than 60 percent of the Christians in the world are found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The group already draws members from beyond the United States, and representatives from Canada, the United Kingdom and South Korea attended the Orlando event.

Several speakers said daunting challenges of the 21st century call for alliances, meaning people who might disagree on some matters must come together to support their primary beliefs.

Those primary beliefs include a commitment to biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy, cultural witness, scholarship, professional excellence and resourcing of Christian education at all levels.

“We will not ask anyone to step back from their personal or institutional convictions,” Dockery said, “but we will ask you to be willing to join with us around commitments to first things, to gospel commonalities.

“We will seek to foster strong relationships between schools, churches, and denominations,” Dockery continued. “We want to see Christian education serve the church and we want to see institutions and organizations with denominational ties strengthen those ties.”

IACE met in collaboration with the Association for Biblical Higher Education, which conducted its 73rd annual meeting at the same Orlando location. The two groups share many common aims, and ABHE is a charter organization in IACE.

Outgoing ABHE president Ralph Enlow is chair of IACE’s Board of Directors and was recognized at the dedicatory luncheon for his 14 years of service to ABHE.

Sponsors for the IACE meeting included Guidestone Financial Resources, Impact 360 Institute, Christian Education Group, Anedot, B & H Publishing, Crossway, Nxt.pg.com, and Seeds Global Innovation Labs.

The next full meeting of the IACE membership is scheduled for February 3-6, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Story by Mark Kahler, IACE Director of Communication