A Commitment to Train and Equip
Dear ministry partners and co-laborers in Christ,
Thank you for allowing God to work through your generosity. Your faithful support has carried numerous mission-critical projects through to completion as together we strive to see a thriving church for every people.
Today, even as new, towering challenges lurk on the near-term horizon, the Lord gives great cause for rejoicing, because He will once again provide for His ministry through His faithful servants. He will glorify His name, renewing our faith and perseverance in the process as we trust Him together through these challenges.
We feel as Peter did when called out of the boat to walk upon the water to Jesus. When we fix our eyes on Him, our confidence is strong, and our faith propels us forward, undaunted. When we lower our eyes to the waves, the financial challenges we face threaten to overwhelm us. Can you relate?
It is no secret that costs have skyrocketed in recent days. These financial pressures have been felt in every aspect of our work: in foreign fields, in aviation and across countless projects. However, nowhere are these financial obstacles more formidable than at Ethnos360’s US mobilization and training sites: Ethnos360 Bible Institute (EBI) in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Ethnos360 Training Center (ETC) in Camdenton, Missouri. The ministry’s vital training infrastructure at these locations is being stretched to its very limits.
In partnership with you, we wish to keep you in the loop on these critical matters.
Ethnos360’s distinctive training methodology is an indispensable part of missionaries’ success and longevity in the field. Ethnos360 is seeing God move profoundly among unreached people groups (UPGs)in years and decades, not weeks and months. This is why a recent analysis was so encouraging: we learned that Ethnos360’s current missionaries’ tenures, on average, exceed 25 years. Glory to God for their dedication and perseverance!
To continue sending forth well-prepared laborers, candidates are put through a thorough three-phase training: short for “Equipping,” these phases are called E1, E2 and E3. Phases E2 and E3 take place in destination countries, but missionaries would not be prepared for these intensive stages if not for the vital preparatory training that takes place stateside in phase E1.
Phase E1 is a four-year training protocol, beginning with a full chronological Bible study and intensive discipleship across two years at Ethnos360 Bible Institute (EBI), and then two years at Ethnos360 Training Center (ETC), cultivating skills in culture and language acquisition and off-grid living while immersed in church planting training and education.
These four years of preparation are, indisputably, central to the entire work of the mission. This became apparent early on. In the first years of New Tribes Mission, passionate candidates were sent out into the field after a far shorter training period. However, it became apparent to mission leadership that more intentional biblical instruction and linguistics study were needed to accomplish the work God had set before the mission. This remains the case today; through the foundational missionary training at EBI and ETC, the Lord continues to provide unparalleled results from the missionaries’ work. Over the years, ministry partners like you have played a key role in this aspect of the ministry.
To maintain this level of training, significant expenditures at both EBI and ETC have unfortunately become unavoidable. Estimates indicate that over the next several years, these projects will command $13 million, to be addressed in stages. The ministry has evaluated moving, merging, or other courses of action as impending costs have piled up,
… but the analysis indicates there is considerable benefit to staying the course and investing into these two properties. With a legacy that spans nearly a century between the two locations, we are confident and undeniably thankful to be able to forge ahead with you to continue to build on that legacy for further decades of God’s work.
A few needs rise to the top as priorities when considering the Bible Institute and the Training Center, and we are humbled to share these four projects with you today.
First, the Bible school in Waukesha. The 115-year-old former hotel is a certified historic landmark and exudes an agreeable vintage charm, but with its intriguing history comes an antiquated infrastructure that the school must continuously update. Two pressing safety issues have recently arisen.
Safety Issue #1: As a hotel, the property was originally heated by coal. Today, though the smokestack and original coal-burning furnace are gone, the hollowed-out underground coal room remains. Structural deterioration within this room threatens the soundness of the building’s foundation and the ground above it. A structural engineer enlisted to safely reinforce the space indicated a cost of $100,000 to address this pressing concern.
Safety Issue #2: A recent analysis of the building’s fire detection and suppression systems indicates that significant updates are required to stay up-to-code and to keep the students, staff and families safe. These updates are slated to command a $200,000 investment.
Another critical issue at EBI relates to staff infrastructure. The advancement team does extraordinary work: managing all visits to EBI from prospective students, building and curating EBI’s website content and handling all graphic design, marketing, and outreach for the school. This work is essential to highlighting what God is doing through Ethnos360 and the Bible Institute; however, for years this robust team has labored under severe spatial constraints, persevering from a way-too-small room within our childcare area. The plan is to rectify these difficulties by converting two rarely used guest apartments into a new, united office space for the team to accomplish their important work collaboratively. This undertaking has been quoted by a local Christian construction partner company at $250,000, an investment into the EBI staff that is well-deserved and will pay dividends in the years to come.
The final Stage 1 project exists at Ethnos360 Training Center (ETC) in Camdenton, Missouri. Right now, a gaping hole exists at the heart of the campus, hindering the mobilization and training efforts. ETC is in dire need of a central campus hub, to be called the Vision Center. The ETC team has a powerful vision: an immersive, challenging, enlightening venture into the unreached world for all who visit the center. The team envisions a life-size urban and tribal village setting where visitors, training candidates, area churches, youth groups and many others can see and experience God’s heart for the unreached around the world. This type of eye-opening experience is imperative to reach and educate today’s generation. When New Tribes Mission launched in 1942, finding passionate missionary candidates to go to the nations was a challenge, but the mission founders were at least operating within an environment that understood a biblical and missional worldview. Today, Scriptural literacy and knowledge of the Great Commission can no longer be assumed within current generations. Many today, even believers who attend church, are blind to the stark urgency of the call to share the gospel with all nations.
Gifted missionary training instructors at ETC will build and act out an immersive experience that brings this call to the forefront for all who visit the Vision Center. We desire to expose, educate and challenge those who attend, illustrating why the work of Ethnos360 and the training is so important. Imagine this: a place to cast the vision of that great multitude in Revelation — every tongue, tribe, and nation, gathered before the throne. This engrossing immersion into unreached cultures will help visitors understand the critical need for missionaries. In order to develop the building that will house the future Vision Center on the ETC campus, $350,000 is needed. You are invited to come and see first-hand what God is doing.
In 1942, the mission founders laid their lives down for the call that they received. “By unflinching determination, we hazard our lives and gamble all for Christ until we have reached the last tribe, regardless of where that tribe might be.” Their commitment and sacrifice laid the groundwork for all that New Tribes Mission and Ethnos360 would become. Today that same burning passion persists: to sustain that commitment, to train and equip laborers dedicated to this vision and to send them out to those who have not heard. None of this can take place without continued investment into the Ethnos360 Bible Institute and the Ethnos360 Training Center.
Thank you for prayerfully considering these critical needs. A litany of glaring needs within the E1 training infrastructure will be the focus of this publication for the next two-plus years. Together let’s see how God moves to accomplish these goals. Please pray together with us that the first $900,000 benchmark will be met by the release of the next issue of Partner to Partner. What a delight it will be to share that these most critical needs have been met in a few short months!
Thank you for partnering with Ethnos360 to reach the nations. Over three billion people remain unreached across the world today. Let’s not rest until every people group has heard. May God bless you for your continued generosity.