Open Doors of Opportunity

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) assumes the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world AND mandats us to disciple those who respond to the Gospel. The local church pastor plays a pivotal role in this process as he equips the church body through the preaching and teaching of God's Word (Ephesians 4:11-16). The fulfilment of the Great Commission in Africa is dependent, in part, on the hundreds of thousands of pastors who live there. These pastors already know the language and culture and are best positioned to evangelize and disciple their respective countries

African pastors lack two basic elements to maximize their ministry: 1) Training, and 2) Bible study resources. Estimates indicate that 90 - 95% of pastors in Africa have little to no formal training and few or no study resources. Many have not been able to study in Bible schools or seminaries. The great majority lack the most basic study resources to get the job done. They have limited, if any, access to Christian bookstores. Good commentaries and study Bibles are beyond their reach financially. Yet many of these pastors may preach and teach multiple times each week. This often results in superficial and erroneous preaching. This is why Africa is often described as being biblically and theologically "a mile wide and an inch deep."

God has raised up African Pastoral Training and the International Thompson Bible Institute to respond to this urgent need. Our goal is to encourage and equip pastors in Africa by providing fundamental training along with a resource tool that will enable them to preach God's Word accurately and effectively. We equip pastors to develop biblical, life-related messages that grow out of their own personal study of the Scriptures and that are relevant to their own culture. These pastors shepherd churches that range in size from 25 to 2500 (and larger). Regardless of the size of their church or the extent of their training, pastors tell us in every workshop, "I wish I could have received this training at the beginning of my ministry!"

In our three-day workshops, we give each participating pastor a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. With this study tool any pastor can learn to study a subject or passage from Scripture, comparing Scripture with Scripture in his interpretation of the Word of God. Our training teaches a pastor how to use his Thompson Bible to develop Bible based messages directly from Scripture. A pastor in northeastern Nigeria said, after using his Thompson Bible for 4 months, "This Bible is a software program in hardware form!"

Last year (2022) we saw 3,768 pastors and church leaders trained in both English and French speaking Africa. Since the ministry began in 2008, nearly 25,000 have received training in how to study and preach God’s Word using the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. This impact is due largely to our commitment to a ministry of multiplication by training national pastors who in turn train others (2 Timothy 2:2). The map above shows where we are currently training church leaders as well as the countries where we have a standing invitation. Today we are in a position to train well over 10,000 pastors and church leaders a year!