Black Forest Academy Celebrates 70th Anniversary

Black Forest Academy (BFA), located in Kandern, Germany, celebrated its 70^th anniversary from April 29 to May 3. Nearly 120 alumni and guests joined the BFA community to reconnect and reflect on the legacy of the school.

Events included a pancake breakfast, a Thank-You Kandern dinner with music and drama, a ribbon cutting for new dormitories, and a walking tour of significant buildings and locations tied to BFA’s history.

The celebration was an opportunity to thank God for all that He has done through BFA and all that He is continuing to do.

A Brief History of Black Forest Academy

Black Forest Academy is an international Christian school for grades 5-12. It serves over 260 students, many of whom are children of missionaries serving in countries around the world.

BFA’s Head of School, Philip Dow says the school began as an afterthought.

“BFA came out of the Janz Team ministry, which was a music evangelism ministry in post-war Germany,” Philip said. "Think of Billy Graham and mass evangelism, but through music, that was the Janz Team work. They were a Canadian, Mennonite mission that was involved in this. And they needed a school for their kids.”

Black Forest Academy would go on to draw the interest of other mission organizations looking for a place where their children could go to school. In the 1970s, it became a boarding school for children who lacked educational resources in the regions that their families were serving.

Later, as music evangelism was starting to lose its momentum, Janz Team completely shifted its focus to the education of missionary kids.

“And the impact is now an average of 50 different countries every year that we're having an impact on,” Philip said. “And most of these are creative access countries. So, these are pioneering missionaries that are in places that there aren't other options for their kids' education.”

Reaching the Nations

Janz Team became TeachBeyond in 2009. It now focuses on providing transformational education to students around the world. BFA was the school that started it all. Seventy years later, the school continues to be a blessing to missionary families.

“For a lot of kids, BFA and schools like BFA offer a set of opportunities that they just couldn’t have in their context otherwise,” Philip said. “We get to be a part of the development of these kids and their development into becoming the next generation of global Christian leaders.”