Dear Friends,
Partnership. One small word that is absolutely essential for the work of World Outreach. There are many ways partnership plays into World Outreach’s work, and one of those ways is the partnering of local, indigenous believers around the world with WO’s ITEN, the International Theological Education Network.
ITEN serves national Christian leaders in places where the gospel is largely unknown and education is limited. These leaders are equipped to holistically share the gospel with their own people, and Sierra Leone is one of the various ITEN sites throughout the world.
The EPC’s work in Sierra Leone began more than 20 years ago with Memorial Park Church from the Presbytery of the Alleghenies spearheading the effort. Throughout the years of investment by the EPC, local people began to profess faith in Christ, and they eventually formed their own EPC denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sierra Leone (EPCSL), which is active in the Muslim majority villages of north Sierra Leone.
With the formation of the denomination came the urgent need to educate and equip local Christian leaders. So, in 2018, ITEN began working with the local churches of Sierra Leone. World Outreach ITEN workers such as Bruce Anderson, Mike Kuhn, Ed and Nan McCallum, and Steven Woodworth helped teach the nine courses required for graduation from the program.
Two local believers, Pastor Thomas and Pastor Abraham, graduates from the program themselves, are now facilitating the education with the support of ITEN. The program is not accredited by an academic institution, but EPCSL recognizes the ITEN training, called by them the Pastor Training Program (PTP), as their own ordination prerequisite. This education model, known as “non-formal theological education,” has become essential for training the rapidly growing churches of the developing world. In fact, theological seminaries and schools can produce only a small fraction of pastors and leaders needed to keep pace with church growth in the developing world. Thus, there is a great need for non-formal theological training.
Pastors in the EPCSL identify people they believe to be good candidates for the program. These candidates become students who attend 5-day course intensives 2-3 times a year. The EPCSL has produced two cohorts of graduates from this program, most of whom are now serving as evangelists, Sunday school teachers, and outreach leaders in their various communities.
Sierra Leonean Pastor Thomas said that the program focuses on equipping pastors for the holistic development of the people they will be ministering to—both the spiritual and physical needs. He says, “Most of the churches are engaged in little developmental projects like rice farming, groundnut farming, Bennie [local version of sesame] farming, local chicken poultry and many more. The inspiration to do all this comes from the PTP community development module.”
The work of ITEN in Sierra Leone is tangibly changing lives. The EPCSL, which began with 6 churches, now has 26 churches in the process of being planted by PTP trainees. While ITEN comes in as a partner to the EPCSL, it is the local church that oversees and runs this program. Believers from this corner of the world are taking up the mantle—they are discipling their own people, planting reproducing churches, and proclaiming the gospel to those who have never heard. Praise the Lord for the work He is doing!
Want to learn more or get involved with the work of ITEN? Click here to give to the work of ITEN and learn more.
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