TIU Celebrates RZIM Partnership

This is an article written for the Trinity Digest, published on April 17, 2010. 


The Trinity International University (TIU) community celebrated a new partnership with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) on Wednesday through an All-University Chapel event and a Carl F. H. Henry Center event, both held at the A.T.O Chapel. 

Ravi Zacharias, a widely known Christian apologist and evangelist, spoke at the chapel event, along with speaking at “Apologetics Beyond the Pew: A Conversation for the Church with Ravi Zacharias and Friends,” a Carl F. H. Henry Center event at 2:30 p.m.. Zacharias’ wife and Rick Pease, the president of RZIM, accompanied Zacharias on campus.

Zacharias is the first to have the title of a TIU professor at large, according to Joyce Shelton, Interim Dean of Trinity Graduate School (TGS). This means that his position encompasses all the schools of TIU. 

This partnership means TIU will have more opportunities to have Zacharias and members of his staff on campus on a more regular basis, teaching courses and seminars. According to Shelton, TGS may have a Masters degree in Cultural Engagement in the future that would have several emphases, including one in apologetics. TGS students may also have the opportunity to take courses from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, a partnership between RZIM and Wycliffe Hall of Oxford University, and there is the possibility of professor exchanges between the two schools. TIU President Craig Williford said in chapel that a small number of TIU students may also have the opportunity to travel with RZIM or have an internship at RZIM. 

At chapel, Zacharias described how the idea of a partnership came about through one of many phone conversations with John Woodbridge, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought. Shelton said that Dr. Woodbridge then brought the proposal to a group of Trinity individuals, faculty, and administrators that then discussed the possible benefits.

Williford spoke following Zacharias in chapel and further described the partnership, stressing that it is ultimately about Christ and the gospel. 

“This partnership is about equipping all of us here with a greater understanding of the gospel and the world in a way that makes sense and a life that demonstrates it,” Williford told TIU students. 

Williford also stressed the fact that the partnership is not just for graduate students, for undergraduates as well. 

According to Shelton, the partnership will benefit both Trinity and RZIM in many ways. Shelton said Trinity can provide solid educational background and credentials, while RZIM can help provide global connections and opportunities for Trinity students to engage the culture with scholarly credibility. In addition, RZIM’s team of speakers and educators will benefit Trinity’s programs at all four schools through their courses, lectures, and seminars.
Shelton said that the partnership is educational in nature, but that there is more to it. RZIM and Trinity share a common mission. RZIM seeks to train, mentor, and send speakers throughout the world to engage cultural and thinkers with the rationality of the Gospel of Christ. Similarly, cultural engagement is one of TIU’s core values, and according to their website, TIU seeks to “develop the academic knowledge and practical skills to effectively engage these cultures.” Shelton described the cultural engagement that Trinity advocates as not just evangelism or apologetics, but meeting individuals where they are. 

“In engaging the culture, credentials are important. Not just in missions, in any professions the credentials are important,” Shelton said.

In his chapel message Zacharias encouraged students to follow Nehemiah’s example in intellectually engaging the culture and seeking God’s call while avoiding the “paralysis of pessimism.” 

“When God plants a passion in your heart, it makes a difference for generations to come,” Zacharias told TIU students.