The Nazarene International Education Association (NIEA) is now called Nazarene Educators Worldwide(NEW) and is a part of the Church of the Nazarene. The Church of the Nazarene owns and operates 11 liberal arts institutions in Africa, Canada, Korea, and the United States, as well as 3 graduate seminaries, 37 undergraduate Bible/theological colleges, 3 nurses training colleges, 1 junior college, and 1 education college worldwide.[1] At least in terms of the American institutions, the Church of the Nazarene seems to have changed its original official philosophy of abandoning academies, bible colleges, and universities to focus on liberal arts colleges, as 7 of the 8 "liberal arts colleges"[2] call themselves universities, and there is now a bible college in Colorado Springs. The early-twentieth-century philosophy, as expressed by J.B. Chapman:
It was originally the plan to call every school we started a “university” ... It was our ultimate aim to have universities and our schools were named according to our vision of future developments. But I am, personally, convinced that we should definitely abandon the idea of building any universities, that we should drop these names from our schools... [Moreover,] it is my conclusion that we ... cannot permanently maintain academies and they do not meet our need, that a special Bible school does not meet our needs and that we should express ourselves on this conviction.... That the College, with the necessary fitting school and Bible department[,] is the school that we need and will build."[3]
History
The Nazarene International Education Association (NIEA) was born out of the concern of Nazarene educators for a support network to strengthen their educational ministries. The Association of Nazarene Christian Schools (ANCS) was the first grass roots response to this need.
In 1980, the General Assembly placed responsibility for Christian Schools in Children's Ministries. In a 1982 report to ANCS, Miriam Hall, director of Children's Ministries, proposed a denominationally-sponsored organization. ANCS voluntarily disbanded in favor of the new organization. After two years of planning, the Christian School Steering Committee adopted the concept and name of NIEA on April 17, 1984.
In June 1984, the new NIEA Executive Council proposed a Constitution and Bylaws. In February 1985, the General Board of the Church of the Nazarene approved the documents paving the way for ratification by NIEA membership.[4]
The members and organization of NIEA consists of the grassroots educators, schools, and churches.
Membership is open to all educators associated with the Church of the Nazarene, whether by actual membership, employment, or regular attendance, and others interested in supporting the purposes of this organization.
Organization consists of the Executive Committee and Regional Chairs/Representatives, The Office of Christian Schools, nine current Educational Regions (associated with the Nazarene Churches Institutions of Higher Learning) and the individual members and schools or childcare centers.
NIEA Executive Committee: General Chair; Vice-Chair, Early Childhood; Vice-Chair, Elementary Education; Vice-Chair, Secondary Education; Director of Children's Ministries; Coordinator of Christian Schools; Assistant Coordinator of Christian Schools; Regional Chairs.
Educational Regions
The NIEA Educational Regions are Nazarene college regions. The United States, for example, is divided into eight educational regions,[5] each linked with one of the eight liberal arts colleges. A gentlemen's agreement exists between the liberal arts colleges, which stipulates that they are not to actively recruit outside their respective regions.
Over the years, NIEA has developed strategic relationships with other Christian Schools associations that have helped the development of Christian schooling within the Nazarene church. One such relationship is with The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). The standards for certification with ACSI have been meet through Nazarene Bible College (NBC).
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement in North America. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest Wesleyan-Holiness denomination in the world and a member of the World Methodist Council.
Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for its founding location, Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907. In the late 1930s, it moved to the campus in Bourbonnais. The university is affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene and is the annual site of the church's Regional Celebrate Life youth gathering for the Central USA Region. It is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1901.
Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) is a private Christian university in Nampa, Idaho.
The Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) is a private, Christian college in Quincy, Massachusetts. Established as a holiness college in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1900, the college had moved to Rhode Island for several years. With its expansion to a four-year curriculum, it relocated to Wollaston Park in 1919. It has expanded to additional sites in Quincy and, since the late 20th century, to satellite sites across the state. Its academic programs are primarily undergraduate, with some professional graduate education offered.
Henry Orton Wiley was a Christian theologian primarily associated with the followers of John Wesley who are part of the Holiness movement. A member of the Church of the Nazarene, his "magnum opus" was the three volume systematic theology Christian Theology.
Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Bethany, Oklahoma.
MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU) is a private Nazarene liberal arts college in Olathe, Kansas, United States. It was established in 1966.
Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) is a Christian liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Ohio, with satellite locations in the surrounding area. It was founded in 1968 by the Church of the Nazarene and offers a variety of Bachelor's and Master's degrees to both traditional and non-traditional students. MVNU is also home to Cougar Athletics.
Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is a private Christian liberal arts college with its main campus on the Point Loma oceanfront in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1902 as a Bible college by the Church of the Nazarene.
Phineas F. Bresee was the primary founder of the Church of the Nazarene, and founding president of Point Loma Nazarene University.
James Blaine "J. B." Chapman was an American minister, academic administrator, and newspaper editor. He served as the president of Arkansas Holiness and Peniel College, editor of the Herald of Holiness, and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.
Ambrose University is a private Christian liberal arts university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Olive May Winchester (1879–1947) was an American ordained minister and a pioneer biblical scholar and theologian in the Church of the Nazarene, who was in 1912 the first woman ordained by any trinitarian Christian denomination in the United Kingdom, the first woman admitted into and graduated from the Bachelor of Divinity course at the University of Glasgow, and the first woman to complete a Doctor of Theology degree from the divinity school of Drew University.
Nazarene Bible Institute was a Bible college in Pilot Point, Texas. It has since closed.
The Pentecostal Collegiate Institute was a co-educational interdenominational collegiate institute located at North Scituate, Rhode Island from September 1902 to 1918. PCI was incorporated in Rhode Island and operated by its own board in association with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. The Church of the Nazarene operated it after 1915. It is considered a predecessor to Eastern Nazarene College.
Floyd Timothy Cunningham is an American historian and ordained minister, who has been a global missionary in the Philippines for the Church of the Nazarene since 1983, who served as the fifth president of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary from July 1, 2008 until April 3, 2013. Cunningham serves currently as Distinguished Professor of the History of Christianity at APNTS, and is the author of Holiness Abroad: Nazarene Missions in Asia, the editor and co-author of Our Watchword & Song: The Centennial History of the Church of the Nazarene, and the author of dozens of articles in academic journals and magazines. Cunningham is a Life member of the Philippine National Historical Society, a member of the American Society of Church History, the Wesleyan Theological Society, and the American Historical Association since 1980.
E. LeBron Fairbanks is a leadership consultant, an adjunct professor at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, and a retired American ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene who is President emeritus of Mount Vernon Nazarene University, President emeritus of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, and who served the Church of the Nazarene as the Education Commissioner from March 2008 to September 2011. Additionally, Fairbanks was an editor in the Church Schools Department of the Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City, Missouri; Academic Dean of European Nazarene Bible College in Busingen, Germany (1978–1982); Associate Professor of Christian Education and Lay Ministry Development, and Coordinator of the Master of Ministry program at Bethany Nazarene College (1982–1984); the 2nd President of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS) in Taytay, Rizal, the Philippines from September 1984 to July 1989; and the 5th President of Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) in Mount Vernon, Ohio for over 17 years from July 1989 until his retirement on January 31, 2007. Fairbanks founded and has served as the director of BoardServe LLC, "a consulting service for governing boards and their leaders", since 2011.
John M. Nielson is a retired American ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, who served as the third president of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Manila, the Philippines from 1989 until 2001, as well as 15 years in pastoral ministry in the USA, Germany, and Denmark. As an educator, Nielson has taught in Nazarene universities, colleges and seminaries in the USA, the Philippines, Australia, and Samoa, including serving as Associate Professor of Religion at Mount Vernon Nazarene University for 11 years. Previously, Nielson served as a global missionary for the Church of the Nazarene for 17 years. Nielson has written 3 books, a children's musical, and a had several poems and songs published.
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