Students who are not affiliated with one of the five denominations represented by these seminaries are enrolled in the ITC's Harry V. and Selma T. Richardson Ecumenical Fellowship program.

The idea of a single collaborative institution for the training and development of African-American Christian ministers began to form in the early 1940s.

Mays thought that individually, the several theological schools for African Americans would be unable to obtain the resources to develop and maintain first-rate facilities and programs, but could be successful by working together.

Discussions about cooperation among Gammon, Morehouse, and Morris Brown College (representing Turner Theological Seminary) began in the early 1940s.

In the 1950s, the concept of a new collaborative seminary in Atlanta gained support from foundations and the American Association of Theological Schools (AATS).

[1][3][4] The Presbyterian-affiliated Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary joined ITC 1969–2014, relocating to Atlanta from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Its establishment was an outgrowth of an enrichment program, started in 1988, through which students from two Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) seminaries took courses at the ITC.

[9] [10] [11] In April 2023, ITC declared "financial exigency," initiating a period of review to ensure the Center's long-term viability.

degree program is intended for persons who are currently engaged in Christian ministry and have at least three years of experience in ministerial leadership.

On June 7, 2016, the Association of Theological Schools’ (ATS) Commission on Accrediting confirmed that ITC has demonstrated its financial viability.

[28] In their 2007 book The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States, Eric Patterson and Edmund John Rybarczyk described the ITC as "a major center of progressive, African American theological thought".