Providing leadership in Christian distance education through resources, community, and promotion
1971: ACCESS, the Association for Christian Distance Education, has been in existence since 1971. The association began at a conference in Chicago to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Moody Correspondence School. The twenty-six delegates present declared that they had enjoyed the fellowship, profited from the sessions, and requested that a committee be appointed which would provide another similar conference the following year. In the years that followed, similar conferences were convened in Fort Wayne, Nashville, and Chicago. ACCESS, formerly The Christian Correspondence School Association, adopted its constitution and bylaws in 1976. It was incorporated in 1977 and changed its name to the Association of Christian Continuing Education Schools and Seminaries (ACCESS).
2007: The Executive Committee of ACCESS determined that the association needed to move forward in a way that would more definitively define the field of Christian distance education. They determined that an Executive Director should be hired that would continue to provide leadership across all levels. Dr. Mary Lowe has served in that position since August of 2007. The Committee determined that the association would maintain the acronym ACCESS but use the new name, Association of Christian Distance Education.
Future: The leadership of ACCESS anticipates building on the foundation established to serve all levels of Christian distance education.