History

International Cooperating Ministries Church Building Work: 1986 – 2010

All Data Current as of August 2, 2010

The church building work of International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) began in India in 1986 when ICM founder Dois Rosser provided funding to build a church there to honor his father. Today, there are more than 1,100 ICM partner churches in India, alone. In fact, as of July 2010, ICM has helped build 3,621 projects in 56 countries. These projects include not only traditional church buildings, but also church-orphanages, chapels, love homes, learning centers, training centers, and schools. And, as a result of ICM’s “daughter church” strategy, the ministry has seen more than 20,000 additional church congregations established.

Shortly after the initial work in India began, Rosser established a charitable foundation using a substantial portion of his personal wealth to fund the ministry. ICM’s outreach model contradicts many traditional approaches, in that there are no paid overseas staff members. The ministry continues to have a global impact while employing fewer than 25 full-time, local staff. The foundation funds all overhead, allowing all gifts to ICM’s work to go directly to church building and Mini Bible College projects.

According to Pat MacMillan, a consultant with Triaxia Partners in Atlanta, Georgia, the ministry’s founding principles were 20 years ahead of their time. “I knew faith-based ministries, but here was one started by a businessman, and it was violating all the rules of the typical ministry. It talked about results and accountability and leverage. I just loved the sound of it.”

MacMillan contrasted the approach used by many other ministries , which involved high costs in time and financial resources—training and sending American missionaries to the field—with the way ICM started. By teaming up with indigenous ministry leaders around the world, MacMillan said, “… you have ministry impact right out of the blocks, for considerably less money, and it’s considerably more effective.”

This approach (working with indigenous people and leaders; creating strategic networks and partnerships; and leveraging technology) is now being adopted by other ministries. ICM has been at the forefront of what is now an emerging trend in missions work. “[If] you took a look at ICM, it started by doing all of those things, whereas many of the older, more [traditional] … missions [agencies] are having to retrofit themselves as they confront emerging trends … around the world,” MacMillan said.

ICM’s strategy consists of working together with indigenous partners to build “mother churches” in each country. The mother church strategy involves building new churches approximately 25 miles from one another. Each of these “mother” churches, in turn, commits to planting at least five “daughter” congregations nearby. ICM’s goal is to “blanket” each nation with churches and other projects. Using this multiplication strategy, ICM and its partners have seen more than 20,000 congregations, to date, established worldwide. The churches are the catalysts that facilitate the ministry’s primary purpose: nurturing believers.

ICM nurtures believers primarily through the teaching of the Mini Bible College (MBC), a clear, systematic Bible curriculum developed by Pastor Dick Woodward. MBC consists of more than 400 individual lessons in audio, print and other formats. The teachings include an entire survey of the Old and New Testaments; the Sermon on the Mount; the Gospel of John; studies covering First Corinthians, Romans, the Values of Christ, Family and Marriage; and more than 20 teachings on various aspects of Godly living.

Woodward served as senior pastor of the Virginia Beach Community Chapel, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for more than 20 years. Rosser became acquainted with Woodward in the late 70s. In 1982, when Woodward was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease of the spinal cord, he began creating MBC.

MBC was first aired in English locally in Virginia Beach, and then via Trans-World Radio (Bonaire) in 1986. Later, it was translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin.  In 1991, the Telugu translation for India was released. Today, MBC has been translated into 26 languages and is currently broadcast via radio in 16 of these languages. It’s delivered via the Internet and through digital audio players and CDs. Booklets, leadership materials and study guides are also available.  Internationally, ICM churches use the materials for evangelism, pastoral teaching and nurturing believers in Bible study groups.

Expansion of the Church Building Work:

In 1988, just two years after beginning work in India, God opened a door for ICM to build churches in China. Then, in 1994 the ministry started construction on churches in the country of Vietnam.

In the mid-to late-1990s, ICM’s outreach began to accelerate rapidly. Ministry staff saw greatly expanded opportunities for projects in 12 additional countries. These countries were located in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and the Caribbean.

In 1995 ICM began work in Russia, Ukraine and Zimbabwe, with the Democratic Republic of Congo following in 1996. Cuba, Tanzania, and Uganda saw ground breaking for projects begin in 1997, and Ghana followed in 1998. Four countries came online the next year (1999), including Cambodia, Haiti, Nepal and the United States.

Over the course of the next decade, ICM added new countries worldwide on a rolling basis. By 2010 the ministry had expanded the work by another 42 nations.

The 22 projects for the first half of this period include: Brazil, Kenya and Nigeria (2000); Liberia (2001); Argentina, Malawi, South Africa and Thailand (2002); Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Pakistan and Zambia (2003); Belarus, Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iraq (2004); and Bangladesh, Colombia and Peru (2005). 

Nineteen countries joined the ICM roster in the years 2006-2010, including: Kyrgyzstan, Mexico and the Philippines, (2006); Burundi, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan (2007); Ecuador, Egypt and Tajikistan (2008); Costa Rica, Mali and Moldova (2009); and Central African Republic, Honduras and Turkey (2010).  All told, ICM ministry partner projects now exist in nearly 29 percent of the world’s 195 countries.

According to Janice Rosser Allen, ICM Executive Chair and Rosser’s daughter, the demand for teaching materials and church buildings continues to increase as the global outreach expands. ICM growth plan is evaluated annually. Each year ICM establishes projections by region and/or continent. The 2010 goal includes the approval of 525 new building projects, with 158 for all of Africa; 127 for all of Latin America; and 240 for Asia, which includes India, China, Vietnam, and other partner countries in the region. The approval stage is defined as a project that has successfully completed an application and is awaiting the first payment.

The approval process for ICM to partner in a church building project requires that the partner organization have at least 100 congregants who are already meeting regularly, as well as a full-time or dedicated pastor. The congregation must also own the land where the new church will be built and provide proof of ownership by submitting a copy of the title deed. In addition, to be approved, the congregation must agree to plant a minimum of five daughter congregations within three years of their church’s completion, provide periodic progress reports with supporting photos, and use a portion of their tithes to help fund additional church construction.

ICM’s major 2010 initiative for Vietnam is to build 100 more projects, including larger churches, which range in cost between $15,000 and $40,000; chapels, which cost $5,000 each, and “Love Homes” for church planters at $1,500 each. The target completion date is December 2011. This initiative is being undertaken in honor of the 100th anniversary of Protestantism in Vietnam.

The major initiative for China, which began last year, is the approval of 200 church building projects by the end of 2011. To date, ICM has 292 churches in China either built or under construction. The churches are built for congregations of 100 – 400 members. Funding needs are approximately $30,000 per church.

In Colombia, ICM is on the cusp of expanding its work there in a substantial way. To date, the ministry is now partnering with the leaders of seven major ministries strategically working throughout the country. Collectively, ICM has the capacity to supervise the construction of more than 34 church projects in that country simultaneously.

Finally, in 2010 ICM is partnering with a large ministry in India that is working throughout the entire nation. The focus is creating Cluster Complexes. Each cluster will impact 125 villages and consist of churches, learning centers, orphanages and training centers.  ICM has three of these complexes currently under construction and plans to begin two more over the next six months.

To construct each complex, ICM must raise $320,000. Additional funds are contributed by the in-country indigenous partner organization.

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