Welcomed by International Board of Education (IBOE) Commissioner Jerry Lambert, representatives from Nazarene universities and colleges in all world regions met Tuesday at General Assembly to respond to 21st century challenges facing Nazarene higher education. General Superintendent W. Talmadge Johnson reminded participants that education is not a luxury, but a necessity for mission and ministry. Speaking on behalf of World Mission Department, Director Louie E. Bustle reminded the audience that, “Education forms the base upon which we build all that we do. It is essential to facilitate the catching of a global vision. With the visionary approach of [global churches] to develop and deploy missionaries who will evangelize the 10/40 Window, it behooves us to develop educational delivery systems that will facilitate the catching of this vision for evangelism, revival, and renewal."

Robert Woodruff, global mission education coordinator (Australia), acknowledged five key characteristics of Nazarene educators that have, and are, making a difference:

• A sense of calling generates a spirit of passion
• Giftedness for service and ministry
• Prepared for the teaching moment
• Dedicated educators, doing their work as unto God
• Anointing for the sacred task of passing along the message to future generations

Lambert cited the Inclusion and Diversity Task Force Report, as evidence of the Church's interest in increasing not just the diversity of the church, but as an indication of its commitment to embody the very message of Jesus Christ in the academic and educational environment.

Guest speaker Herma B. Williams, vice provost of Gordon College, Massachusetts, asked the educators, “How far are you willing to go in the educational endeavor? Where will your students come from? How will you recruit your students?" She cited statistics showing 72 percent of incoming students at Howard University are female. She stated this is typical of many colleges and universities and asked the educators to consider the relevance of this stat for Nazarene institutions.

Williams has been actively engaged in facilitating educational endeavors in Africa. She stated, “In Africa there are thousands of orphans who could be potential students. What are you doing about this? Are we willing to connect the dots of this challenging scenario? How will we respond to the challenge identified by Phillip Jenkins who predicts that in coming years, the center of Christendom will shift to the southern hemisphere?"
--NCN News