Friday, November 7, 2008

ICAATS An Assessment 004

Numerous Bible Colleges, seminaries and other institutions from several countries expressed their interest in getting ICAATS help. Institutions from Middle East, Far East, Africa and Eastern Europe were very responsive, particularly from those countries where open confession of the Christian faith is either forbidden, or is restricted.

People from these countries wanted to have an advisor and an informal or formal accreditor who would help them to establish quality theological education for their priest or pastoral candidates. This immediately demonstrated to the ICAATS volunteers that they can become a niche player in theological accreditation and standardization by helping those who cannot seek open help.

A good example is Indonesia, where the government is hostile to the idea of establishing a Christian training institution. ICAATS got them linked with an Indian institution that was able to offer them a quality curriculum and also all the training materials they needed for establishing an institution.

After much deliberation between the three parties, an institution was established as a "branch" of the Indian seminary and this helped them to overcome legal hurdles that other face. Also, it was all kept a low key affair so as not get adverse publicity to this institution based in Indonesia.

This way ICAATS soon rose to become a niche player in standardizing theological education behind the iron curtain, the bamboo curtain, and difficult borders.

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