PRESS RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018
PLYMOUTH, MN

The AFLC Schools reached a major milestone on Tuesday, October 30, gaining full accreditation through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).

Students, faculty, and staff gathered between second and third hour classes on Wednesday, October 31, to receive the news and celebrate the major accomplishment. Seminary Dean, Dr. James Molstre, shared the news received from AFLC Schools President, Pastor Wade Mobley and Dr. Mark Olson, vice president of academic affairs. Both appeared before the TRACS Commission on Tuesday at the TRACS Conference in Dallas, TX.

“Accreditation provides external accountability to make us do what we have promised our students, alumni, and supporters,” said Mobley. “TRACS includes a strong statement on the inerrancy of Scripture and has encouraged us to do what we have been doing for more than 50 years: Establish students in the eternal and inerrant Word of God.”

The accreditation process has sharpened the focus of the AFLC Schools by helping evaluate current performance and identify ways to better serve students and congregations. This step of accreditation joins the AFLC Schools with 75 other institutions of Christian higher education in mutual support and encouragement. It also helps the AFLC Schools develop academic rigor and integrity, financial stability and accountability, and transferability of credits for our graduates.

“We thank God for this momentous day,” said Mobley, “and we thank God for the tireless work of many staff members, including Dr. Joel Rolf and Dr. Fran Monseth, who worked side by side in the early days of the accreditation process. After Dr. Monseth’s death, Dr. Rolf carried the bulk of accreditation duties, a task that has brought us, by God’s grace, to where we are today.”

The AFLC Schools are accredited as a Category III Institution with TRACS.

The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) was founded in 1979 as a voluntary, non-profit, self-governing organization to promote the welfare, interests, and development of postsecondary institutions whose mission is characterized by a distinctly Christian purpose, as defined in the agency’s Foundational Standards. TRACS is recognized by both the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as a national institutional accrediting agency for Christian postsecondary institutions, colleges, universities, and seminaries.

Founded in 1964 by the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, the Free Lutheran Schools include a two year post-secondary program (Association Free Lutheran Bible School) and a four year pastoral training program at the Masters of Divinity Level (Association Free Lutheran Theological Seminary). The Free Lutheran Schools Corporation is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS, www.tracs.org).