Brief History of GCI

What is the Church's greatest need in Asia ? "We need leaders," is the heartfelt response from many Christian workers. For many they have no opportunity for training. They are the 'barefoot evangelists' who travel from village to village to preach the Gospel and nurture the believers. Some of them tramp over hazardous terrain in the Himalayan regions. Some boldly minister in 'creative access nations' where persecution and harassment are never far away. Others reach out in an environment hostile to Christianity.

It was this need for leaders that caused Dr. Paul Kauffman and Dr. David Wang to establish the GREAT COMMISSION INSTITUTE . A small core of experienced and qualified men outlined certain philosophies that are still part of the program today:

bullet Mobile training, going to where the people are
bullet A focus on those who do not have opportunity for training
bullet Short-term
bullet Practical know-how, rather than academic
bullet Life-sharing concept
bullet Each participant will be helped to develop a personal ministry plan



Initially international programs were held once a year, recruiting high caliber leaders from many different countries. The first such program was held in Jakarta in 1986, with subsequent international programs in Singapore , the Philippines , Thailand and India . As participants developed ministry plans, some had the burden to have GCI style training at a national level in their own country. Pastor Lucky was one such leader from the Himalayas, and was the first graduate to hold a national program in northern India in November 1988. Pastor Boon Yeun was another national who caught the vision for the tribal people of northern Thailand . He has conducted three-month training courses for Christian tribal leaders who are church planting amongst their native tribal people. Regular GCI programs began to be conducted in Sarawak and Sabah and now the churches in these regions are sending their young leaders for training, under the leadership of Greman Ujang, another international GCI graduate.

As national programs developed, recruiting for the international programs became more focused and we began to see national programs being held in Indonesia , the Philippines , Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh .

The late Sai Stephen, after attending an international GCI , exclaimed, "This GCI has been like heaven to me, and I want to take this heaven back to Myanmar ." Who would have thought, when GCI was first conceptualized, that national GCls would be held in what were then 'closed' countries, such as Stephen's Myanmar , Cambodia , Vietnam and Mongolia !!

As more and more national programs evolved, we saw that this was the direction God was leading us into: networking with the nationals, to help meet the needs on a local level. This has meant continual evaluation of our curriculum to make the teaching relevant. As we move in to the 1ndochina countries we find that many Christian workers have a full-time job and cannot get extended leave to attend training programs. Some have been prepared to leave their jobs in order to attend the training. "Another job we can find, but this kind of training doesn't come along very often," they exclaim. This has encouraged us to develop a three-level curriculum in two-week segments to meet the needs.

In many cases the majority of the teaching faculty came from the local churches in the country in which the GCI is being held, and we just supplement an area in which they may not have expertise. In recently opened countries, such as Cambodia , Myanmar and Mongolia , we have needed to provide most of the teaching. But God is raising up good leadership in Cambodia that is able to take on more and more of the teaching load. This is our goal: national leadership and national ownership.

As we look back over the years, and see how GCI has developed and changed to meet the needs, we can only say: To God be the glory for the things He has done and continues to do.

By: Jean Harper (1998)
Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 August 2006 )
 
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