ITEM not only serves the larger church through training Christian leaders for churches in other countries. ITEM also wants to serve North American churches. We are adding a new page to our website called “Missions Tool Box” to feature “best missions practices.” If your church has discovered a great idea for missions conferences, a good way to raise funds for missions, new approaches or policies for mission committees, or any other good ideas relating to missions, please send them to us. Share them by email lwhesterberg@gmail.com or by phone (618-939-4836) and give all the pertinent details you can.

Raising Missions Funds:

Concord Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Waterloo, Illinois, developed a missions funding policy of not charging during any missions funding project. For example, each fall the women in the church put on a Missions Sale where church members can contribute new or gently used materials (clothing, games, books, furniture, decorating items, etc) which are then offered free to the community that comes to shop. Shoppers may make any sized contribution they want for the items they choose. For each of the last 4 years, the women have collected enough funds to care for 3 children in India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Concord members also do a free Krispie Kreme Donut giveaway and Chick-Fil-A giveaway to fund mission trips to Belize.

Here are some of the quotes from ITEM professors/pastors who went to teach at seminaries and Bible schools in the various locations of the former Soviet Block:

 “There are huge needs in the realms of theological education, general Christian education, and publications across Central and Eastern Europe. The challenge is to communicate the opportunity to a large group of supporters and a team of educators who will carry out the work. Supporters need to hear a combination of vision, need, and stories of individuals.

I think that Europe is really the Dark Continent with regard to the gospel, and that the reason for the secularization of Europe which led to the current resistance to the gospel is closely tied to the loss of a historically Protestant academic voice and witness in Europe. The vision has to be more than training a few pastors; it has to be to make classical Protestantism a viable intellectual and spiritual option for millions, which includes a lot of theological education. I am praying for a new Reformation in Europe, and I have already invested a lot of years in working toward that goal."

 Thomas K. Johnson, Lithuania Teaching Trip

  “In the midst of a society which lacks a focused ideology-a vacuum created with the demise of communism-a true and lasting ideology in Christ’s eternal kingdom invigorates the nationals with a purpose above and beyond the discouraging poverty and corruption of their land. Sergei, a student at Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine (ERSU), in his zeal to serve the Lord, had already planted a few churches, though having very little theological education. As he began studying at ERSU, he gained a whole new understanding of the Church, God and His Kingdom. Now Sergei is eager to use his passion for planting churches with a solid theological foundation.”

 Rev. Rod Gorter, ITEM Missionary Professor from 1998 till 2007, Odessa, Ukraine

 “I found students [at Romania Reformed Institute, Bucharest, Romania] engaging, eager to learn, and enthusiastically committed to Reformed, Covenantal, Presbyterian doctrine. They are warm, respectful, helpful, and also fun-loving. They quickly learned the concepts and the practical applications of the course on Hermeneutics and Homiletics that I taught for two weeks. They definitely require and desire more theological education, but they know their Bible and the Reformed faith. They definitely need more training in Christ-centered preaching and teaching, as it appears that most preaching/teaching throughout Romania and the former Soviet satellite countries appears to be legalistic, moralistic, and exemplary. These students have tasted the doctrines of grace, seen the damage legalism has done in many churches, and are eager to proclaim the gospel of grace in Romania and beyond.”

  Rev. Will Hesterberg, Concord Presbyterian Church (PCA)

“The professors that I.T.E.M. sends have heard the call of God not to follow trends and cultural fancies but to abide in the Word. The widely accepted character of I.T.E.M.’s recruitment and emphasis tells the emerging church leaders that it all comes from and goes back to the Doctrine of the Word. That comforts me as an occasional instructor. I don’t have to hit a home run every time up to the plate. I can do my best in the context of playing small ball, knowing that the blessing of the team is greater than any one of its players. As long as I.T.E.M. continues to insist on classes grounded in the Word and solid exegesis on the part of those sent to teach, we are all part of a bigger program to encourage the re-emerging European Church to abide in the Word. That is a pretty significant niche that God has given to I.T.E.M. and its supporters. The ministry of I.T.E.M. fills a void in the emerging church of Eastern Europe. With the ministry of I.T.E.M. what blessing the Lord of the Church continues to pour out! You and I get the pleasure of being a vessel from which God pours the truth of His Word. What prayers and gifts might the Lord be prompting from us so that I.T.E.M. can continue to plant the historic Reformed standard in other church leader’s paths, here and abroad?”

Rev. Perry Tinklenberg, New Hope Christian Reformed Church (CRC)