History

Dr. Donald and Mrs. Faye Smith, the founding partners of IICC, began their work as missionaries in 1952. They were teachers at a training college in South Africa, and later established an African Christian publishing house. The Smiths moved to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1963, partnering with Rhodesian Christian Press to begin Daystar Publications. In 1969, Daystar Publications became Daystar Communications, shifting concentration from publishing to research and training.

As a result of Dr. Smith’s observation and research in communication within various cultures, he began teaching African leaders, missionaries, and organizations who wanted to learn more about effectively reaching people with the Gospel of Christ.  As these findings became more widely known, the Smiths established the Institute of International Christian Communication in 1971.  In 1973, Daystar (and the IICC training) moved to Kenya, partnering with Wheaton College to launch a two-year Master of Arts degree in Communication and Christian Ministries.  In 1975, a Diploma in Communication and Christian Ministries (Associates degree level) was begun. Working with Messiah College, a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree developed and was formally launched in 1984.  Daystar is now a fully-accredited Christian university – Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 1979, an African Executive Director was appointed, and the Smiths moved to Portland, Oregon in 1981 where he became Chair of the Division of Intercultural Communication and she became the Intercultural Student Coordinator at Western Seminary.  Daystar’s American Board of Directors completed total transfer for Daystar Communications to the Afro-Asian Board of Directors in 1982, making Daystar an autonomous African Christian institution.  The U.S. Board relinquished the name Daystar to the African group, legally changing the U.S. name to International Institute for Christian Communication, which had been the subsidiary name for Daystar’s training courses.

Ministry within the Majority World continued from a Portland, Oregon base. The work included field research for a major study of the Christian role in relief and development (Sudan and Cameroon) instigated by the Lutheran World Federation; training and evaluation of Bible translation teams working with Living Bibles International; and leading of seminars on fruitful Christian communication in Asia, Africa, and Europe. 

In 1988 and 1989, IICC hosted (in Portland, Oregon) major leaders of the rapidly-growing Third World missionary movement to give an opportunity for their own agenda to be followed.  These consultations led to the mission leaders forming the Third World Mission Association (TWMA) as a vehicle to coordinate their efforts in leadership, finance, and preparation of missionaries.

Through the Smith’s continuing involvement in IICC and Western Seminary, it became increasingly clear that classes in intercultural ministry needed to be teamed with an intercultural living-and-learning environment.  Up to this point, international students were living in individual rooms and apartments around the city, and experiencing great struggles with loneliness and disjointedness from the Community of Faith, as well as tremendous cultural barriers for which they were not equipped nor supported.

IICC attempted various solutions, but prayer continued to be for a building which would become a living-and-learning environment.  Through prayer and God’s miraculous answers, a building, just a few blocks from Western Seminary, was purchased in late1995. Thirty-five students moved in immediately.  IICC now encompassed both an Institute for ministry preparation, as well as a hands-on learning environment – the WorldView Center. 

IICC has served more than 65 different churches and missions in approximately 50 countries of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America over the last 45 years of research, evaluation, and training of national leaders.  Its unique worldwide ministry continues through WorldView Institute and WorldView Center.

Legal Status

Institute for International Christian Communication is an Oregon non-profit religious corporation, exempt from corporate income taxation under Section 501(c) (3) of the International Revenue Code.

IICC is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. ECFA is committed to helping Christ-centered organizations earn the public's trust through developing and maintaining standards of accountability that convey God-honoring ethical practices.

The board and staff of IICC are in full agreement with the following doctrinal confession:

We declare that we are Christians, in the Protestant evangelical tradition and that we believe in: 

• the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of the Old and New Testaments as    originally given as the complete Word of God, and its supreme authority for faith and practice; 
• the Trinity—the deity of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
• the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the universal sufficiency of His atoning death upon the cross for the sins of the whole world;
• the personality of the Holy Spirit;
• the personality of Satan;
• the depravity of man’s fallen nature, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s work as the only means of regeneration and sanctification of the believer;
• the eternal salvation of the saved and the eternal punishment of the lost; the free justification by faith in Christ alone of every sinner who believes in and receives Him as personal savior; present conscious assurance of salvation;
•  absolution of sins through Christ our High Priest alone;
•  holiness of heart and life, and the full provision of this in Christ Jesus, and good works as proof and result of saving faith;
• the individual priesthood of the believer;
• the joyful anticipation of Christ’s return; and
• the urgent obligation of each believer to witness to the lost of His saving grace.