GENERAL OVERVIEW OF UNELA
1. PLAN OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The present Financial Development Plan was defined by Board of Directors of AIMDELA (the legal corporation responsible for UNELA) to provide guidelines for our fundraising activities and to share our vision and financial needs as an institution with potential donors. This document was prepared by the Board’s Financial Development Committee, and was discussed, modified and approved by the Board of Directors in September, 1999. The Financial Development Plan was presented to the members of the Board of Trustees (General Assembly of AIMDELA) at its annual meeting in October, 1999.
2. VISION STATEMENT
To be the best possible Evangelical University, directed by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, exercising responsible stewardship of the resources that the Lord provides. To serve the Church by providing the training that its members need to complete the mission that God has given to each one, both in the Church’s multiple ministries as well as in the larger society according to their respective needs, in the Americas and in other parts of the world.
3. MISSION STATEMENT
To train men and women called by God to be servants of Jesus Christ in the accomplishment of His mission: persons that are committed to intellectual excellence, who are spiritually balanced, socially interested, and physically healthy; and who are capable of perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the Body of Christ, and for the demonstration of God’s rule and His justice.
4. STATEMENT OF FAITH
The Evangelical University of the Americas (UNELA) has adopted the Lausanne Covenant as its statement of faith.
5. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF IMDELA-UNAZA-UNELA
5.1 IMDELA
The Missiological Institute of the Americas (IMDELA) had its roots in the Evangelism-in-Depth Movement during the 1970s, when members of the International Institute for In-Depth Evangelization (IINDEF) conducted a series of seminars and workshops on "Integral Church Growth" for Christian leaders throughout the Central America region. This program of non-formal education paved the way for a series of national church growth studies in every country of Central America from 1977-1981, under the sponsorship of the Central American Socio-Religious Studies Program (PROCADES). In 1982 PROCADES was renamed the Latin American Program of Socio-Religious Studies (PROLADES), under the leadership of its founder and director, Clifton L. Holland (a missionary with Latin American Mission who served on-loan to IINDEF from 1972-1982). During the 1980s, PROLADES assisted with similar studies in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which included a National Directory of Evangelical Churches, a History of the Protestant Movement, and a study of Unreached People Groups.
In this context, the idea of creating a School of World Mission (IMDELA) at the post-Licentiate level was born, initially under the sponsorship of IINDEF and later as separate educational institution, incorporated under the laws of Costa Rica as a non-profit service organization. The first classes of IMDELA were offered during January-February of 1983 in the facilities of the Nazarene Seminary of the Americas in Ipís de Guadalupe, with a small group of students and professors under the directorship of Holland.
In August of 1983, IMDELA was incorporated as a legal entity with the following departments: School of World Mission, Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program (PROLADES), and Christian Leadership Development. The respective department heads were Dr. Paul Bergsma, Lic. Alberto Pozo Córdova, Lic. Eduardo Monzón, and Clifton Holland as Executive Director.
The first Board of Directors of IMDELA was composed of the following members:
President, Loren Long, M.A. (Director, Spanish Language Institute)
Secretary, Alberto Pozo Córdova, Licenciate (Director of PROLADES)
Treasurer, Eugenio Orellana Salazar, Licenciate (Editor, Editorial Caribe)
Vocal I, Daniel Castro Albertazzi, Licenciate (Christian businessman)
Vocal II, Gary Teja Aldrich, M.A. (Missionary, Christian Reformed Church)
Fiscal, A. William Cook, M.A. (Missionary, Latin America Mission)
Executive Director, Clifton L. Holland, M.A. (Missionary, Latin America Mission)
In 1987, the various ministries of IMDELA were consolidated into the School of World Mission, with Holland as Executive Director. In December of 1989, Holland resigned from IMDELA to resume his activities as Director of PROLADES under the sponsorship of In-Depth Evangelism Associates (IDEA) of Orange, California. Dr. Paul Bergsma was appointed as the Executive Director of IMDELA, on-loan from the Christian Reformed World Mission Board. By January 1994, IMDELA had offered about 190 formal courses of study with the participation of more than 300 students.
IMDELA represents a pioneering attempt to provide Missiological education for Latin Americas to train them for cross-cultural ministries throughout the Americas and around the world to reach the unreached people groups. IMDELA was the first graduate-level School of World Mission in Latin America, but not the first one: AMEN (Asociación Misionera Evangélica a las Naciones) was founded in 1981 in Perú, under the leadership of Mr. Obed Alvarez, as a Bible Institute-level program.
Following the COMIBAM ’87 missions conference in Brazil, there was a great explosion of interest in the training and sending of Latin Americans as missionaries to the least evangelized nations and the unreached people groups around the world. AMEN and IMDELA were the leaders in providing training for cross-cultural missionaries in Latin America, and IMDELA continues to be the only known graduate-level program in Missiology in Latin America. Many of the professors in AMEN and other programs have received their advanced training in Missiology from IMDELA in Costa Rica or in one of IMDELA’s extension programs in other countries.
5.2 UNAZA
The Nazarene University of the Americas (UNAZA) was founded in 1967 as a theological seminary, located in Ipís de Guadalupe (a suburb of San José), that served the needs of the Church of the Nazarene by offering Licentiate-level degree programs to students from many Latin American countries, primarily for students who received their undergraduate training prior to coming to Costa Rica. In 1992 the Nazarene Seminary became a legally-constituted private Christian university (UNAZA) with the approval of CONESUP (Council of Higher Education of the Government of Costa Rica), under the directorship of Dr. Enrique Guang.
UNAZA offered several programs of study at the undergraduate and graduate levels:
THEOLOGY
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
PASTORAL COUNSELLING
SACRED MUSIC
MISSIOLOGY
However, due to changes in the denomination’s goals and priorities at the international level, the leadership of the Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City, Missouri, decided to close UNAZA and to concentrate its resources in other areas of ministry. Consequently, in 1997, the administration of UNAZA began to look for other alternatives, rather than closing down the university that they had worked so hard to establish and maintain. One of the possible alternatives was to merge UNAZA with another existing educational program, which led to a dialogue between officials of UNAZA and IMDELA during 1997.
5.3 MERGER OF IMDELA-UNAZA & BIRTH OF UNELA
Following many months of negotiations between representatives of the Church of the Nazarene, UNAZA and IMDELA, an agreement was reached whereby the Board of Directors of IMDELA would become the legal entity responsible for the educational structure of UNAZA in the facilities of IMDELA. The facilities that formerly housed UNAZA in Ipís de Guadalupe remained the property of the Church of the Nazarene and are now being used for a variety of purposes: church functions, a conference center and facilities of the Nazarene Seminary.
In October of 1998, the ownership of UNAZA as an educational institution was legally transferred to the Board of Directors of IMDELA. Dr. Enrique Guang continued to serve as the Rector of UNAZA and the UNAZA students continued their university studies in the facilities of IMDELA, located about six blocks south of downtown San José and adjacent to the Latin American Biblical Seminary and the Hospital "Clínica Bíblica," both of which were founded by the Latin America Mission (LAM). In fact, the building that currently houses IMDELA was formerly the Administration Building of the LAM.
In October of 1998, the name of UNAZA was legally changed to the Evangelical University of the Americas (UNELA), and this change was formally recognized by CONESUP in January of 1999. UNELA is authorized by CONESUP to offer a variety of accredited academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels (see the Appendices for more information about this).
In the light of this change of name and the need to project a new international image, the Board of Directors of UNELA has created an International Council of Reference composed of well-known Evangelical leaders who support the work of UNELA. The members of this Council are listed in the Appendices.