Our History

1986: Exploratory efforts launched and organization founded in Overland Park, Kansas, USA, on November 24.

1987: Contract signed in December with Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to establish a Department of Christian Studies.

1988: Dr. Danny McCain and family move to Nigeria in August to inaugurate the first IICS Department of Christian Studies at Rivers State University of Science and Technology in Port Harcourt.

1989: Contracts signed with other Nigerian universities to establish Christian Studies departments. Affiliate organization established in Great Britain.

1990: Department of Christian Studies established at University of Jos, Nigeria.

1991: IICS professors begin teaching in Russia, Ukraine and Romania. At Moscow State University, Dr. Dan Clendenin teaches “A Christian Worldview” course required of all the students in what had been the “Department of Atheism.”

1992: Thirteen IICS full-time professors teaching in various countries in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

1994: Successful pilot project for the Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) Teachers Training Program in Nigeria. Affiliate IICS organization, Christian Studies International, established in Canada, headquartered in Toronto.

1996: IICS trains public school CRK instructors in several Muslim states in northern Nigeria.

1997: Efforts begun to develop a Teacher’s Manual which will assist instructors in Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) at Nigerian secondary schools. Program welcomed in the Muslim states of Nigeria. Twenty-two professors teaching in eight nations including Russia, Belarus, Romania, Czech Republic and Nigeria.

1998: Historic curriculum revision project initiated in China. Testing of CRK Teacher’s Manual in Nigeria. Partnership established with Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA) for long-term placements of medical instructors at medical schools overseas. Leadership Development Fund launched. Sergei Kiriyenko, former student of IICS professor Brian Burnett, appointed by Yeltsin as Prime Minister of Russia.

1999: Twenty-two professors teaching in eight nations. Protocols established with universities in Nicaragua.

2000: Fifteen professors teaching in six nations. Sponsored the first American Business Leadership Workshop in Southeast Asia. Dr. Richard Smith appointed as Interim President of Anglo-American College (AAC) in Prague, Czech Republic. The second in the CRK (Christian Religious Knowledge) Teacher’s Manual series is released in Nigeria. First edition of a Teacher’s Manual for the Faith-Based AIDS Awareness Program for Nigerian secondary school teachers released.

2001: Twenty-four professors in seven nations. Groundwork laid for IICS-Australia. Established partnerships with new universities in Hungary, Ukraine and in Southeast Asia. Shipped more than one ton of business books to partner universities in Europe and Asia. Pilot test of the Faith-Based AIDS Awareness course in Nigeria’s Plateau State is successful. IICS honored with an award from the Christian Community Foundation in Kansas City. Established partnership with the Institute for Sino-Christian Studies of Hong Kong.

2002: Twenty-seven professors teaching in nine nations. First IICS professor teaching in Saharan Africa. New partnership established with Wisconsin International University in Kiev, Ukraine.

2003: Twenty-five professors teaching in nine nations. First professors placed in Brazil. Trained 120 university professors in a war-torn Muslim nation in Central Asia. More than one ton of academic books shipped to partner universities in Europe, Asia and Africa. IICS receives First Place Excel Award for Servant Leadership from the Christian Community Foundation in Kansas City.

2004: Thirty-two professors teaching in twelve nations. Faith-Based AIDS Program taught in Nigeria. Established partnership with Institut fuer Weltmission und Gemeindebau, based in Bonn, Germany. The Teachers’ Manual for Instructors of Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) for the Ninth Grade is published.

2005: Thirty-seven professors teaching in fifteen nations. IICS professors help sponsor a historic conference on Intelligent Design in Prague, Czech Republic. IICS is honored by the Servant Christian Community Foundation with a Passion Award.

2006: Forty professors teaching in fifteen nations. Professors serving for the first time in Bulgaria and Ireland. IICS is honored by the Servant Christian Community Foundation in Kansas City with a Passion Award. Over 250 people attended the IICS conference entitled “Scholars Coming to Faith: Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of C.S. Lewis”. Developed an official partnership with Christian Reformed World Mission. A team of 6 IICS professors trained 19 university presidents from a Muslim nation in Central Asia.

2007: Forty professors teaching in fourteen nations. Professor serving for the first time in Croatia. Surprised By Faith-Conversion and the Academy, a book of papers on conversion from the 2006 IICS conference, is published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. IICS staff meet with university officials in a war-torn nation in Africa and make plans to send IICS professors there for the first time.

2008: Forty-three professors teaching in sixteen nations. Professors serving for the first time in India, Portugal, and a country in the Middle East. IICS celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

2009: Forty-three professors teaching in nineteen nations. Professors serving for the first time in Cambodia, Tanzania, Nicaragua and Mongolia. Engaging Our World: Christian Worldview from the Ivory Tower to Global Impact, a book of papers from the 2008 conference, is published by Word & Spirit Press. IICS writer-in-residence, Teri McCarthy, co-authors a book, Teaching in a Distant Classroom: Crossing Borders for Global Transformation, published by InterVarity Press.

2010: Forty-three professors teaching in twenty-three nations. Began re-structuring IICS to be able to place and support 100 professors around the world within the next several years.

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