The IAMSCU Board of Directors met during the Joint IAMSCU-MSN Conference. During the event, the Board of Directors received, considered, and approved the IAMSCU Strategic Assessment produced by three committees which dedicated almost three years to this process. The three committees worked on the Wesleyan heritage, collaborations, and future sustainability of the association. They met periodically, listened to member institutions and their representatives, reported to the IAMSCU Board of Directors, and led conversation sessions with various stakeholders. As a result of this process, the committees submitted their assessments, which were then combined into a whole document and submitted to the IAMSCU Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors approved the IAMSCU Strategic Assessment document and announced its decision to the IAMSCU General Assembly gathered at the John Wesley’s New Room in Bristol, England, on April 30, 2023. An essential component of this IAMSCU Strategic Assessment is to “visibly affirm the Wesleyan heritage of education.” The committee working on this matter included representatives from five continents, including countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, England, Germany, India, Mexico, Mozambique, Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. The committee was led by The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, who presented a document which was integrated into the Strategic Assessment: the Wesleyan-Methodist Heritage Statement. The statement calls for a public reclaiming of the Wesleyan and Methodist theological heritage, so that a new generation of leaders emerging as stewards of schools, colleges, seminaries, and universities affiliated to IAMSCU can not only receive and affirm this tradition but also project it into the future as they respond to new global challenges and opportunities.
Wesleyan-Methodist Heritage Statement
Our Wesleyan and Methodist theological understanding is based on:
- the Reformation doctrine of justification by grace through faith;
- the Catholic emphasis on sanctification, which must be followed by good works;
- the Orthodox belief in the possibility of humanity’s participation in the divine;
- the Arminian understanding of our cooperation with God’s grace in response to God’s loving invitation;
- the Anglican approach of bringing Scripture, tradition, and reason into conversation with one another as sources of theological reflection, and we, as Wesleyans and Methodists, add experience;
As Wesleyans and Methodists, we value all these accents of Christian faith that have emerged throughout history and inspire our faith.
We participate in the means of grace to be inwardly renewed by the Holy Spirit and empowered to engage in God’s mission in the world.
Specifically, we believe as Wesleyans and Methodists that personal sanctification is always manifested in everyday life as social sanctification that leads us to work toward inclusivity of others in different contexts and with different religious traditions.
Our way of reflecting our Wesleyan and Methodist theological heritage reveals our deep willingness to work and engage in ecumenical and interreligious contexts and realities.
God sends us out into the global world to participate in God’s mission to all of creation.
For more information on the IAMSCU Strategic Assessment and the Wesleyan-Methodist Heritage Statement, please contact IAMSCU at iamscu@iamscu.org