Registration is ongoing for the INCHE/Kuyers fall 2022 in-person conference on the Calvin University campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday, October 6, through Friday evening, October 7. The rapid pace of change in the educational environment has accelerated in recent years. It is fueled by factors such as health and safety, shifts to online learning, political polarization, challenges to civil discourse, shifting demographics, ambiguous student identities, and increased needs for student and faculty support. Together we will explore how Christian educators can respond constructively. How will we retain a focus on intentionally Christian educational processes in an unstable environment? A description of plenary speakers, the conference schedule, and links to registration are available at https://calvin.edu/centers-institutes/kuyers-institute/news-events/conference-2022/.
INCHE Latin America Announces Recent Publications
INCHE Latin America, also known as RIESC, is pleased to announce the publication of two outcomes from its December 2020 online conference. The Spanish-language publication of Universidad Christiana Renovada, Semper Reformanda Est as well as an English-language special issue of the Journal of Latin American Theology titled “Higher Education, Christian Identity, and Public Impact in Latin America” (Vol. 17, No. 1, 2022) are now available. Copies can be purchased by emailing office@inche.one. The final statement at the conclusion of the December 2020 can be read here.
Finally: The INCHE Europe Conference Occurs!
On April 6-8 INCHE Europe members from thirteen countries met in Budapest for a joyful and informative professional development gathering. After two years of pandemic postponements, Károli Gáspár University, our INCHE member in Hungary, hosted this occasion for Christian educators from across and beyond greater Europe. Together, we explored Building Community in Fractured Societies: Challenges for Christians in Higher Education.
Plenary speakers included Dr. Govert Buijs, Abraham Kuyper Chairholder at the Vrije Universitiet; Dr. Jószef Pálfi, rector of Partium Christian University, Romania; and Dr. Claudia Beversluis, Professor of Psychology and Provost Emeritus, Calvin University. They provided analyses and reflections at the macro, meso, and micro levels related to current fracturing and educational rebuilding of Christian faith, identity, and service. Other conference participants offered scholarly presentations during concurrent breakout sessions to explore educational diversity, citizenship, and community building as well as institutional practices. The rector of the Ukrainian Institute of Arts and Sciences provided a substantial conference presentation about her institution in Bucha, Ukraine, and its very recent challenges.
Additional pictures from the conference are posted on the INCHE Facebook page, accessible by INCHE members. In mid-year 2023, articles based in the conference will be published in the International Journal of Christianity and Education.
Calvin University Announces a New President
INCHE member, Calvin University, announced its new president on March 29, 2022. The Calvin University Board of Trustees approved Dr. Wiebe Boer as the 11th president. After a rigorous international search, Dr. Boer emerged as the clear choice of the search committee thanks to his deep Christian commitment, his excellent academic qualifications, and his extensive international experience in the private and non-profit sectors.
Boer was born and raised in Jos, Nigeria by Christian Reformed missionary parents. He completed his elementary and secondary education at Hillcrest School in Jos. Then he graduated from Calvin College (now University) in 1997 and is married to Joanna Bachew, from Trinidad & Tobago, who graduated from Calvin in 2003.
Wiebe Boer majored in history as a Calvin undergraduate; and he then completed a doctoral degree in history from Yale University. He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey and Company as well as the Boston Consulting Group. Currently, Wiebe Boer serves as CEO of Shell–All On, a renewable energy investment company, in Lagos, Nigeria.
You can learn more about Wiebe Boer by clicking this link.
INCHE Europe Completes Successful March 18 Webinar
With leadership from Driestar Christian University for Teacher Education (NL) and Kάroli Gάspάr University (HU), the International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE) with its European leaders hosted a March 18, 2021 webinar on topic, “Christian Higher Education in a Pandemic: Possibilities for Fractured European Societies.” More than 140 faculty, staff, and administrators from seventeen European and Eurasia countries, as well as sixteen nations beyond greater Europe, registered for the webinar. Their engagement prompted a lively two-hour session of presentations and discussion.
After greetings from INCHE Executive Director Shirley Roels, Péter Balla, Professor of New Testament and Rector Emeritus of Kάroli Gάspάr University, provided devotions. He read the story about Jesus’ healing of the deaf man who could hardly talk (Mark 7: 31-37). Prof. Balla reminded participants that Jesus remains near to us in times of human suffering. Yet Jesus comes to this world with the power of God to bring healing; and people who see such miraculous healing recognize the goodness of it. So too we should recognize the healing that God through Christ can provide for our fractured, suffering lives and the power to make them whole again.
Bram de Muynck, the webinar’s moderator, Professor of Education at Driestar Christian University, then introduced reflections by Dr. Gerald Pillay, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of Liverpool Hope University (UK). Dr. Pillay noted that universities nourish through the arts and sciences for colleges as communities of students and faculty members. Then he described the past year’s difficulties in providing such nourishment for higher education communities. But he challenged participants to redeem this time by learning from it. Colleges and universities have gained substantial skill in online teaching while also recognizing its limitations for student learning. Now Christian higher education communities also have an opportunity to recalibrate their goals beyond a competition for national reputation. Instead Christian higher education can nurture special communities as world resources that are called to ameliorate global inequality.
Following these reflections, Dr. Jeroen de Ridder, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit, led participants to consider the goals and practices of academic work. He advocated teaching and scholarship that educate Christians to build shalom, namely, right human relationships with God, other humans, and the natural world. Using Mentimeter as a tool for interactive responses, Dr. de Ridder asked participants about practices that shape the “liturgies” of academic life. He encouraged participants to consider exemplars, language, imagery, behaviors, and expectations within educational communities that form our behaviors. The goal should be a closer alignment between such features and Christian behaviors. These values, and their related practices, include:
· Care for students and colleagues;
· Appreciation of diverse talents;
· Thoughtful attention to matters of import;
· Support for a healthy balance of work and life.
The speaker encouraged participants to reflect carefully on what they value in their Christian higher education communities, to value things that matter most, and to build practices that cultivate such values.
At the end of the webinar, Gyula Sümeghy, Director of International Relations for Kάroli Gάspάr University, announced tentative dates for the next INCHE Europe conference on April 6-8, 2022 in Budapest. The conference will pursue greater depth under the topic, “Building Community in Fractured Societies: Challenges for Christians in Higher Education.” Further details about that occasion are available here. Inquirers can also confer with Lydia Bor, INCHE Europe coordinator, and a staff leader at Driestar University. Lydia closed the webinar with prayer and invites ongoing connections through inche-europe@inche.one.
INCHE Europe hosts March 18 webinar
INCHE Europe leaders are hosting a March 18, 2021 webinar on the theme, “Christian Higher Education in a Pandemic: Possibilities for Fractured European Societies.” This interactive online occasion in the English language will feature reflections by Dr. Gerald Pillay, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University (U.K.) and an engaging session by Dr. Jeroen de Ridder, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Professor of Christian Philosophy (by special appointment) at the University of Groningen. Further details are available here. Registration is open to INCHE members and interested others through March 16. A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants. Please join us.
INCHE Shifts to Online Events
INCHE postponed face-to-face events in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID 19. But the postponements created new online opportunities described below:
· Latin American leaders announce a December 1-3, 2020 online seminar on the topic, “Christian Identity, Higher Education, and Public Impact in Latin America.” This INCHE consultation is sponsored jointly with the Latin American Theological Fellowship (LATF) and the Community of Interdisciplinary Theological Studies (CETI). For three afternoons speakers and panelists in this Spanish-language event will consider the role of both centers of Christian higher education and the role of Christians who serve in the secular sphere of higher education. Over the past fifty years how have such Christian educators influenced both the church and society by contributing to its transformation? Further information about the seminar is available in both Spanish and English here. The registration deadline is Friday, November 27.
· INCHE Europe leaders announce a March 18, 2021 gathering on the theme, “Christian Higher Education in a Pandemic: Possibilities for Fractured European Societies.” This interactive online occasion in the English language will feature reflections by Dr. Gerald Pillay, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University (U.K.) and an engaging session by Dr. Jeroen de Ridder, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Professor of Christian Philosophy (by special appointment) at the University of Groningen. Further details are available here. Registration is now open to all INCHE members.
· North American INCHE leaders are planning a joint event with Calvin University’s Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning focused on Christians and citizenship. That in-person conference scheduled for October 2021 is postponed to October 6-8, 2022. Plans currently are being developing for engaging online opportunities over the year ahead. Details will be announced on the INCHE website in forthcoming months.
The INCHE mission to serve Jesus as Lord by fostering worldwide Christian higher education continues. INCHE leaders are finding new ways to cultivate learning and network fellowship online.
INCHE Latin America Conference 2020
July 9-11, 2020
Cochabamba, Bolivia
“Evangelical Identity and Public Impact in Latin America”
The seventh INCHE Latin American Consultation will be held in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia from July 9 to 11, 2020. This consultation will take place in the context of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (LATF). The general theme will be "Evangelical Identity and Public Impact in Latin America." We also seek to evaluate the public contribution that evangelical Protestantism has had and is having, after these five-decades in which the LATF has been contributing to the theological renewal of the continent. INCHE began its activities in the region in 1989 as a fraternal movement within the current of theological-missiological renewal, adding contributions from the specific field of Christian higher education and focusing on interdisciplinarity. We will be joined by other organizations, some of which have come into being during these five decades, encouraged by pastoral and missiological contributions to the renewal of theological thought by LATF. Such is the case for the Community of Interdisciplinary Theological Studies (CETI), with whom INCHE has also joined efforts in its two past consultations (2014 and 2017). Note: this conference was postponed to December 2020 and held online.
INCHE Biennial North America Conference: October 3-5, 2019
October 3-5, 2019
Prince Conference Center, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Announcing the fourth biennial North American conference of the International Network for Christian Higher Education. For the first time, INCHE will co-host this conference with the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning. Click the link for more details https://inche.one/events
New Facebook Closed Group for INCHE Members
To deepen communication options between members of the network, the INCHE network staff have created a closed Facebook group for INCHE members only. The purpose of this group is to share insights and questions about teaching, scholarship, and leadership worldwide. Posts only can be seen by members of this group. If you wish to become an INCHE Facebook member, please send Shirley Roels (https://www.facebook.com/shirley.roels.50 ) a friend request on Facebook and you will be included in the group.
INCHE Partners with the Society of Christian Scholars
INCHE is pleased to recognize the official opening of the global Society of Christian Scholars (SCS) in March 2019. SCS is a partner network with INCHE to support the work of Christian scholars in many settings, including both public and independent colleges and universities. As a membership organization SCS is a portal for scholarly resources, networking and support. For details about the new Society see their homepage at: https://societyofchristianscholars.org/. Individuals who join both INCHE and SCS receive a discount on both memberships. Please contact office@inche.one for further details.
IAPCHE BECOMES INCHE
On November 27, 2018 the IAPCHE Board of Directors adopted a new name of our global network. Effective in January 2019, the International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education (IAPCHE) will become the International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE, pronounced “inch”).
The mission of the network — serving Jesus Christ as Lord by fostering the development of Christian higher education worldwide— continues as the shared purpose. But advancing the network’s mission in a digital and globalized age requires current language to reflect the network’s ongoing purpose.
The name change from IAPCHE to INCHE officially will occur on January 1, 2019, with the launch of the new website, INCHE.ONE, to follow shortly thereafter. Leadership, contact information, and the organization’s purpose all will remain the same. Member access to the IAPCHE website automatically will be redirected to INCHE. Emails to the network office also will be redirected so that there is no loss in communications during this change. In the transition to INCHE, gifts and membership payments made to IAPCHE can continue to be received as either IAPCHE or INCHE.
Substantial research and thought by the Board of Directors and the Executive Director, Dr. Shirley J. Roels, preceded this change. All agree that the name of International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE) represents more fully the globalized effort as a network as well as one that stands firmly for Christian higher education worldwide. The acronym INCHE will reflect, with simplicity, clarity, and standard pronunciation, the network’s position as a partner for Christian higher education that is based in Christ’s reign over every inch of creation.
This network began in 1975. Since then, it has operated under four different names. The fourth network name, IAPCHE, was adopted in the early 1990s. The Board of Directors and the Executive Director expect that International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE), as the fifth name, will continue for many years.
For more information about this change, during December please email office@iapche.org or director@iapche.org. In January 2019 such emails will be redirected automatically to office@inche.one and director@inche.one.
The INCHE network includes more than 150 institutional, affiliate, and individual members worldwide who are leaders in Christian higher education. The network office is hosted by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. In partnership with other organizations, INCHE provides global Christian higher education news, conferences, seminars, and resources that deepen institutional and scholarly foundations for faith-based teaching and learning.
IAPCHE Network Office Staff Update: Student Interns
As we say goodbye to Ewuraesi Brookman-Amissah and Sung Woo Lee, we welcome two new interns.
Danielle Frempong, whose home country is Ghana, currently studies International Development Studies and International Relations. She is looking forward to working closely with Shirley to sustain the quality and consistency of the IAPCHE Newsletter as well as bringing new ideas on board. In her free time, she likes to sing and dance.
Nate Herder, joins the team as the Information Technology Assistant. He brings the team strong coding abilities as he is in his third year studying Computer Science. He is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In his spare time he enjoys playing board games or ultimate frisbees. He’s looking forward to being a part of IAPCHE and using his skills to help maintain the website.
Kaitlyn Kline returns from her summer doing research in Ann Arbor. Her last year in college will summate her double major in International Development Studies and Organizational Communications. While she is originally from Indiana, she is looking forward to working wherever God calls her.
African Formation of Christian Teachers: An IAPCHE initiative
During 2018-2019 five African Christian universities, each an IAPCHE institutional member, are initiating professional learning circles focused on the formation of Christian teachers. The universities selected for this effort include: Bowen University, Nigeria; Christian Service University College, Ghana; Scott Christian University, Kenya; Uganda Christian University, Uganda; and the University of Mkar, Nigeria.
Each university’s professional learning circle coordinator will plan at least five meetings, occurring from September 2018 to early April 2019. Participants will read and discuss journal articles about African teacher education, other selections from the International Journal of Christianity & Education, and three books about the formation of Christian teachers and their educational contributions.
The goal is to engage IAPCHE-member colleges and universities across Sub-Saharan Africa in strengthening the education of Christians to serve children and youth in both church and school settings.
All-Africa IAPCHE Conference, November 2018
On November 6-8, 2018 the IAPCHE Africa conference will be hosted in collaboration with the Institute for Foundational Studies,the North-West University (Potchefstroom, South Africa campus), the Faculty of Education of NWU, and AROS, a South African higher education institution. Conference organizers issue this call for presentation proposals.
The conference theme is “Integral Christian Scholarship in Africa”. Under this broad theme there will be three streams for conference thinking and engagement: worldview; leadership; and education. Proposals, with 300 words or less, must be submitted to iapcheconference2018@gmail.com. The deadline is August 31, 2018. A fuller description of the conference details is available on the conference website at http://humanities.nwu.ac.za/iapche-africa-2018.
The conference will take place in Potchefstroom, a beautiful green city. The university, second largest in South Africa, is 120 km to the southwest of Johannesburg. All venues are within walking distance of each other. Transportation from and back to the OR Tambo International Airport will be provided upon request. Accommodation options from very simple to upmarket have been arranged for prices ranging from R260 to R870 per room night. The conference fee will be R1000 and will cover all meals, teas and other incidentals. A conference dinner with special South African food can be chosen for an additional fee.
Update on Laura Van Engen
In the last Contact newsletter, IAPCHE reported that program manager Laura Van Engen would be moving to Nicaragua. Below is a brief update about why Laura moved to Nicaragua, what she is doing, and how you can follow her.
Laura arrived in Nicaragua in the beginning of January and plans to stay until November. Her goal in Nicaragua is to prepare for graduate school (to begin August 2019) by improving her Spanish language skills and by getting exposure and experience in community development work in Latin America. She plans to pursue an advanced degree in Anthropology, Community Development, or Peace Studies. She hopes that interviewing practitioners and beneficiaries and participating in community events will help her select a meaningful path of study and practice.
Laura will be living on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, in Bluefields, an historically isolated, ethnically diverse, and under-resourced city. Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region (RACS) and hosts two universities: University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN) and the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University (BICU). Laura has already visited BICU and will be assisting with their English program; she plans to visit URUCCAN soon to learn about their community development and intercultural communications programs.
Prior to her travels to Bluefields, Laura had the unique opportunity to visit an IAPCHE member institution, the Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua (UPOLI) in Managua. IAPCHE will be reporting about this inspiring visit in the March 2018 monthly update.
Laura has expressed gratitude to those IAPCHE members who have reached out to her or inquired about how she is doing. She can be reached at the email address: laurabluefields@gmail.com and hopes to maintain a blog about her experiences at: www.lauravanengen.blogspot.com.
Welcome To Our New Website!
As you may have noticed, the IAPCHE website has been updated. After several conversations with our members, the board of directors, and events necessitating a transition, we have completed our new website and are excited to share it with you.
Some key differences from our previous website are:
- Modernized look
- Easier profile management
- Intuitive navigation
- Improved news and newsletter system
- Streamlined donation page
- Streamlined access to all our resources such as articles, publications, and journals
This improvement will make your browsing experience more enjoyable, as well supporting IAPCHE's purpose to inform, equip and connect members.
International Conference for Christian educators to be held in April 2018
The 2018 International Conference for Christian Educators, dubbed "Modelling Christ's Love and Hope within Professional Practice" will take place on April 11–13, 2018. It is organized by IAPCHE Asia-Oceania and Bethlehem Tertiary Institute of Mount Mauganui, New Zealand. Practitioners involved in all areas of Christian education such as early childhood education, primary and secondary teaching, social work and other disciplines in the Asia-Pacific region are invited to participate in this action-packed event filled with networking, collaboration, fellowship, and celebrating. It's an opportunity for Christian Educators to:
- Connect and learn from each other through breakout small groups;
- Fellowship, collaborate and brainstorm ways to innovate Christian education and engage Christianly with social, cultural and spiritual issues of our day; and
- Be inspired by keynote presentations from national education leaders.
The conference will be held at the ASB Arena, Mount Mauganui, New Zealand and conference registration is currently open. Discover more information, including registration costs, or view the tentative conference schedule. If you would like to register for this conference, go to the registration page.
Come and be blessed.
IAPCHE Office Staff Update: Student Interns
The IAPCHE network office is reconfiguring its office staff in this new calendar year. With Laura Van Engen’s move to Nicaragua, she becomes an on-call consultant for director Shirley Roels and the rest of the IAPCHE office staff. The continuing office staff include:
From left to right: Sung Woo, Ewura Esi and Kaitlyn
· Sung Woo Lee graduated from Calvin College this past December, a change his parents celebrated from their ministry post in Jordan. He has worked closely with the director to develop the new IAPCHE website with its integrated membership renewal. Sung Woo completed studies in psychology, philosophy, classics, and international relations. As he moves to other full-time employment, IAPCHE hopes that he will remain an off-site advisor about the website.
· Ewura Esi Brookman-Amissah continues as an intern with principal responsibility for IAPCHE news whose home country is Ghana. Look for her work in the monthly updates and Contact, our quarterly newsletter. Ewura Esi is a Calvin College senior studying international relations, communications, and marketing.
Kaitlyn Kline joins the IAPCHE office as a new intern. During the next month she will coordinate the individual membership renewals and then continue to support the director in the use of network financial resources. Kaitlyn is a Calvin College senior from Indiana who is exploring the field of international development studies.
The IAPCHE network office benefits substantially from the energy and expertise of these current students and recent alumni. They allow each generation to learn from the next!