FIRE Chicago’s vision is grounded in a commitment to high academic standards. For this reason, our courses make use of textbooks and materials written by some of the most trusted and reliable Christian scholars. These texts are also used in some of the most demanding Christian colleges and universities in the country. In addition, FIRE Chicago's faculty consists of men and women who are also instructors for accredited institutions in the Chicago area and beyond, several of whom have Masters and Doctoral degrees in their fields of expertise. In this way, we have built in a level of accountability and excellence that breeds confidence in the quality of our training.
Because FIRE Chicago emphasizes areas beyond academic study (like Spiritual Formation and Practical Ministry), and because general education requirements like English, Math and Science are not being offered, we are not candidates for accredited status at the present time. This could change in the future, and we will continue to pay close attention to our options in this regard.
In the meantime, we have good reason to think that some components of our training will indeed be transferable to other academic programs, on the basis of our solid curriculum and qualified instructors. In fact, FIRE Chicago grads have already been accepted at graduate programs such as Trinity International Divinity School, Northern Seminary, King's College London and Logos University. We encourage students to join us in this pioneering work, knowing that FIRE Chicago’s faculty members are committed to training them to the best of their ability, and helping them continue their studies elsewhere after graduation, should they so desire.