History

Alabama Christian Academy was founded in 1942 by a small group of Christian leaders committed to providing Montgomery’s youth with a Bible-based education. The school grew from local interest in Christian education with Leonard Johnson and Rex A. Turner as its co-presidents. The original site of the school was on Ann Street, just three miles from downtown Montgomery. The institution now known as ACA opened on September 14, 1942, offering four years of high school work and one year of college. Twenty-three students launched ACA. Leonard Johnson, Rex A. Turner, Arthur L. Butler, Mrs. Bulah Sessions, Mrs. Bernice Johnson, and James Benson were among the first faculty and all served without pay. In 1954, the institution’s name changed from Montgomery Bible College to Alabama Christian College and in 1973 it evolved into three schools – Alabama Christian Academy, Faulkner University, and Southern Christian University, now named Amridge. In 1985, ACA moved to its current location and was separated from Faulkner University. ACA remains true to the original founders’ goal of providing a Bible-based education to its students.