A Crisis of Leadership
Recently, the Gospel Coalition reported that “During the past century, the number of Christian believers worldwide has grown dramatically. You may not be aware that 75% of these now live on the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America. This is great cause for thanks, but the growth of the church has outpaced the supply of pastors and elders equipped to shepherd these followers. An estimated 85% of the 2.2 million evangelical churches worldwide are led by pastors with insufficient training.”
Responding to the Need
Training Leaders International is a Christian nonprofit organization that trains church leaders in the developing world. A growing gap in theological education leaves the global church susceptible to false teaching, decay and collapse. We offer solid training that is culturally appropriate, effective and reproducible.
Evangelism is Only Half the Job
Spreading the gospel is crucial work, but it’s only half the job. Without nourishment and growth that comes from a deep understanding of God’s Word, a believer won’t thrive. Without solid discipleship, training and leadership, the church falters. False teaching leads the people astray, new Christians never move beyond spiritual milk to solid food, and the church becomes immature, weak and barren.
Theological Failure = Practical Failure
Consider the great success of one African country where 85% called themselves Christians. Then in 1994 more than a million people died as neighbors killed one another in the Rwanda genocide. Missionaries brought them Christ, but no one taught them to love their neighbor.
The Church is Starving
Without solid teaching the church faces malnutrition, starvation and ultimately death. The body of Christ craves theological training. Consider a world without theological depth:
- In Nigeria large churches are known to sacrifice cows in animistic ritual ceremonies to attract and sway crowds.
- In India proper theological education is prohibitively expensive and time consuming, resigning poor congregations to poor theology.
- The prosperity gospel is rampant around the world, resulting in unscrupulous pastors fleecing their already impoverished flocks.
- In Southeast Asia we met pastors who had never experienced expository preaching, a standard preaching method rooted in the Bible.
- Before our training one student who serves as a pastor admitted to believing the Bible contradicted itself.
- One leader in Burundi told us that people determine truth based on the qualities of the person and the size of their following.
How Training Leaders International Serves the 
Church
Short-Term Ministry Teams. We send teachers on short-term trips to train church leaders around the world. We teach pastors in non-formal settings using TLI curriculum or in formal school settings at Christian universities and colleges.
Long-Term Ministry. Long-term commitments have developed from our short-term trips. We serve as a sending organization for those who wish to teach or help plant schools around the world.
Learn more at TrainingLeadersInternational.org
MAGNIFY CHRIST 