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Luikham, Chronic, and Hoksbergen, A Brief History of the Accord Network and Synopsis of OneAccord23 152 

 

 

A Brief History of the Accord Network and  

Synopsis of OneAccord23  
 

Elijah Luikham, David Chronic, and Roland Hoksbergen 
 

 
 

A Brief History of the Accord Network 
Like any flourishing organization, the Accord 

Network has grown and changed since its founding in 

1977. Originally known as the Association of 

Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations, or 

AERDO, the organization changed its name in 2010 to 

the Accord Network and has become ever more 

influential in the world of US-based Christian 

organizations engaged in what we have come to know 

as “integral development.”  The new name was 

unanimously chosen by the members of the Board, 

because, as Scott Todd, Board President in 2010 says, 

it was simpler, rich in meaning, better “branding,” and 

more inviting to Christian organizations wary of the 

term “evangelical.” Sadly, notes Todd, this term had 

already become politicized, and was not sufficiently 

welcoming to potential members with other theological 

backgrounds, like those from Roman Catholic, 

Reformed, or Mennonite traditions. Originally, being a 

member of AERDO required affirmation of the 

Statement of Faith of the National Association of 

Evangelicals (NAE), but along with the name change, 

aspiring members could now opt simply to affirm the 

Apostles Creed (Todd 2024). 

A main player in the Accord Network’s evolution, 

recently deceased executive director Chad Hayward, 

provided a spiritual center to the organization as well as 

much-needed direction and continuity. Under 

Hayward’s 17-year leadership, the membership grew to 

over 120 organizations and initiated annual meetings 

that encouraged members to gather for learning, 

sharing, worship, and general inspiration.  In addition 

to a rich variety of workshop topics and plenary 

presentations chosen every year, annual meetings 

provide opportunities for Accord working groups to 

spend whole days in “intensives” that focus on specific 

topics and areas of ministry. These include Water, 

Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), Monitoring & 

Evaluation and Spiritual Metrics (both under the 

Accord Research Alliance (ARA)), Christian Economic 

Development (CED), or the most recent working 

group, Formation and Care. 

Another key development in Accord’s history was 

its affiliation with this journal, Christian Relief, 

Development, and Advocacy. Conversations among 

Hayward and the journal’s founders began in 2017, with 

Hayward heartily encouraging the development of the 

journal, along with an independent editorial board. The 

Accord Network board and the journal’s newly-

constituted editorial board readily agreed that CRDA 

would become the official journal of the Accord 

Network, dedicated to providing “a forum in which 

practices, ideas, research, theories, ethics, and 

controversies of relief, development, and advocacy are 

presented, discussed, and debated by those who share 

a commitment to live in service to Jesus Christ” (CRDA 

website – About).  As part of this affiliation, this journal 

plans to include brief summaries of the yearly meetings 

and associated intensives, which are simply titled 

“OneAccord##,” where “##” stands for the current 

year.  What follows is a synopsis of OneAccord23, held 

in October 2023. 

 
Synopsis of OneAccord23 

The theme of OneAccord23 was “Flourish.” The 

idea of human flourishing weaved its way through all 

presentations, beginning with four all day “intensives” 

on the day prior to the meeting, and continuing with five 

plenary addresses and all four program tracks in the 

three days that followed. 

 

Plenaries 
Katie Toop, Senior Director of Transformational 

Development at World Concern, got the plenary 

sessions off to a strong start with her comments on 

“Flourishing and Worship.” She reminded attendees of 

God’s love and promise of abundant life and pointed 

out that a flourishing life is a life of worship to the 

Triune God. 

 

Alia Abboud, Chief Development Office for the 

Lebanese Society for Educational and Social 

Development (LSESD), wondered whether flourishing 

can arise in times of crisis. She told how God is using 

refugees to teach the church about God, and that the 

https://accordnetwork.org/
https://accordnetwork.org/
https://crdajournal.org/index.php/crda/about
https://crdajournal.org/index.php/crda/about


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 5(2), Winter 2024  
 

Luikham, Chronic, and Hoksbergen, A Brief History of the Accord Network and Synopsis of OneAccord23 153 

 

refugee crisis has restored the mission of the church in 

Lebanon to preaching Christ, not Christianity. And she 

explained how preaching Christ during a crisis can lead 

to flourishing.  

 

JoAnne Lyons shared from her personal experiences 

and the holistic practices of John Wesley to remind 

attendees that the mission of Accord is God’s mission. 

Referring to Christopher Wright, she argued that the 

church is God’s mission in the world, and that the Spirit 

brings impact and results that we could have never 

planned. 

 

In the final plenary address, Mike Mantel, CEO of 

Living Water International, pushed his listeners to 

build organizations that pursue both physical and 

spiritual wellbeing modeled on the Biblical concept of 

Shalom. Moreover, he encouraged us not to forget 1) 

that God (the Master Strategist) loves you; 2) that God 

equips you and invites you to serve right where you are, 

and 3) that God’s world needs you.  

 

Workshop Tracks 
Throughout the several days of OneAccord23, 

participants attended workshops and/or breakout 

sessions on Flourishing … 

 

1. Through Program, 

2. Through Marketing and Fund Development, 

3. Through People and Operations, and 

4. In Kingdom Opportunities. 

 

Each track offered four sessions, covering a wide variety 

of practical issues of great interest to the Accord 

community. These included forays into such perennial 

issues as understanding poverty, fundraising, and hiring 

global staff, but also some newer ones, like responding 

to climate change, evaluating the importance of grit in 

entrepreneurship, and harnessing artificial intelligence 

(AI) for integral mission.   

One theme that permeated the entire conference 

was the shared desire to be faithful to our callings in 

serving a Savior who cares about the wellbeing of 

everyone the world over and asks us to care about it too.  

For an overview of all the workshops and 

presenters involved, see the 2023 OneAccord program. 

 

Intensives 
The purpose of the Water Sanitation and Hygiene 

(WASH) Intensive was to take a deep dive into the 

complexities of integral mission topics. Presentations 

and collegial conversation addressed the pursuit of 

transformation in the context of a variety of political, 

social, and spiritual environments, focusing especially 

on communications strategies, technology, financing, 

and monitoring. To learn more, contact Thomas 

Soerens at tsoerens@messiah.edu.  

 

The Formation & Care Intensive enjoyed its inaugural 

Accord intensive and focused on practitioners who 

wanted to learn more about how to support the spiritual 

formation and care of staff/volunteers. Biblical 

reflection, prayer, silence and solitude, and sharing 

personal stories all played a role in this intensive. To 

learn more about or join this Community of Practice, 

write to Odoi Odotei (odoi_odotei@wvi.org). 

 

The Christian Economic Development (CED) 

Intensive addressed how flourishing in partnership and 

collaboration requires an end to paternalistic models 

and relationships led by organizations in the Global 

North on the one hand, and, on the other, the 

development of new models through which we can 

serve God’s people together.  To learn more, visit 

https://www.cednetwork.org/ or contact Gillian Foster 

Wilkinson (gwilkinson@hopeinternational.org). 

 

The Accord Research Alliance (ARA) Intensive, which 

focused this year on spiritual metrics, addressed the 

mutual organizational interest in measuring the faith—

oriented part of our work. There was much diversity 

here. Some presenters emphasized how often the 

gospel message is heard and shared, while others 

focused more on the increase in human dignity and 

sharing in the common good. Everyone seemed keen 

on finding statistically acceptable techniques. Including 

program participants in the design of program and 

measurement strategies was also a key theme. For more 

information, contact David Bronkema at 

dbronkem@eastern.edu.  

 

References 

 
Todd, Scott. March 8, 2024. Email conversation with 

Roland Hoksbergen, CRDA editor. 
 

 

 

David Chronic has served for over 25 years with 

Word Made Flesh, a Christian development 

organization working in thirteen countries. He is 

currently the director of operations and is also a PhD 

candidate at Asbury Theological Seminary, 

researching theologies of development in the 

Romanian context. 

 

Elijah Luikham is an ordained priest in the Anglican 

Church in North America who has served in a variety 

of ministry positions, most recently as a missionary for 

the organization Trinity on the Border in south Texas. 

He is also PhD candidate in Intercultural Studies at 

https://accordnetwork.org/oneaccord-2023
mailto:tsoerens@messiah.edu
mailto:odoi_odotei@wvi.org
https://www.cednetwork.org/
mailto:gwilkinson@hopeinternational.org
mailto:dbronkem@eastern.edu


Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 5(2), Winter 2024  
 

Luikham, Chronic, and Hoksbergen, A Brief History of the Accord Network and Synopsis of OneAccord23 154 

 

Asbury Theological Seminary where he is focusing on 

Global Development.  

 

Roland Hoksbergen is professor emeritus of 

Economics and International Development at Calvin 

University. He serves as co-editor of this journal. 

 

Author emails:  david.chronic@asburyseminary.edu  

 elijah.luikham@asburyseminary.edu  

 hoksro@calvin.edu  
 

mailto:david.chronic@asburyseminary.edu
mailto:elijah.luikham@asburyseminary.edu
mailto:hoksro@calvin.edu

