— News Release —

Tim Dearborn Appointed a Director of World Vision Institute for Global Engagement

SEATTLE -- Timothy A. Dearborn, a pastor, professor and theologian, has joined World Vision as a Director of the Institute for Global Engagement, a new policy, strategic planning, advocacy and education arm of the international relief and development organization.

Dearborn, 46, will be responsible for partnerships with churches and educational institutions, and the development of educational programs for staff and other organizations. He previously served five years as executive director of the Seattle Association for Theological Education (SATE) while also teaching at Fuller Seminary, Regent College and Seattle Pacific University.

“Tim’s innovative leadership, combined with his extensive theological training and commitment to educating Christians to probe their faith more deeply will help enable World Vision to enhance its already strong relations with the church and the educational community,” said World Vision President Robert A. Seiple.

The institute will study domestic and international issues and trends from a theological, missiological and strategic viewpoint, and help formulate an agenda to address them -- including education of staff, donors and key publics. Among the issues of importance to the institute are: providing sustainable hope for the world’s poor; global rules for engagement in complex international situations such as Bosnia and Rwanda/Zaire; forming alliances with other organizations; and constituency development at all levels.

Dearborn will share the leadership of the Institute for Global Engagement with two other World Vision employees: Stephen Commins, a geo-political policy specialist who also teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles; and Katherine Currie, World Vision’s Director of Organizational Strategy and Research. Seiple established the institute last fall.

“My work will be to articulate the theological integrity of World Vision’s holistic ministry,” said Dearborn. “The institute provides an opportunity to examine the way World Vision operates in the context of its mission and values, and to ensure that those values and mission are communicated effectively to churches and Christian leaders throughout the nation.”

Dearborn holds a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland, along with Master’s degrees from Fuller Seminary and Harvard University’s Divinity School and a Bachelor’s degree from Whitman College. Prior to joining SATE he taught at King’s College in Aberdeen, Scotland and the Faculte Libre de Theologie Evangelique in Vaux-sur-Seine, France. He also served as the Mission Pastor at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle and began his career as a chaplain and instructor at a college in Sitka, Alaska. He is ordained through the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

He has published one book, “Taste and See: Awakening Our Spiritual Senses,” and currently is working on two additional manuscripts.

[World Vision is the largest privately funded Christian relief and development organization in the world.]

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