Thousands of Missions Around the World Desperately Need Pastors

Louisiana Baptist University partners with our missionaries to start and equip Bible institutes around the world. Our purpose is to serve foreign missionaries by providing low cost, quality education for the training of nationals for church planting and world evangelism.  LBU is able to accomplish this by providing curriculum, textbooks and other educational supplies with the primary goal of assisting the missionary in establishing Bible institutes.

Studies show that the biggest return on mission dollars in world evangelism is through educating and training nationals in their own country.

Good-Better, BEST in Missions

1    ...American missionaries educated, trained, supported and sent... (Good)

Average cost of 4 years of education and language school is $40,000-$50,000.

Average deputation time is 2 years with a cost for salary and expenses exceeding $10,000.

Average transportation and moving expense to the field is $10,000-$20,000.

The American-sent missionary is the foundation of missions.

2 ...educating and training nationals in America to go back to their own country.. (Better)

Educational costs, deputation time, expenses and salary needs are about the same as American missionaries.

Re-adapting to their own cultures is much easier and language is already known.

The national trained in America is the fruit and progress of world missions.

3 ...educating and training nationals on the field... (Best)

Education and training costs are about 10% of the real cost of the same education at a Bible college in America:

$0....Deputation Time & Cost
$0....Travel & Moving Expenses
$0....Language School
$0....No Culture Shock
Length of Stay - Usually a Lifetime

The national trained on the field is the final and most fruitful phase that reaches the entire world with the gospel.

 ITS BEGINNING

The INSTEP program started as an idea that LBU's president, Dr. Neal Weaver had to help missionaries in the third world countries train their national students. He and Dr. Roy Wallace discovered that many missionaries had three year Bible Institutes, but were unable to grant degrees. Dr. Weaver and Dr. Wallace desired to help these missionaries by designing a program that would allow their students to transfer into LBU's program for their final thirty hours, and thus receive their Bachelor of Arts degree.

ITS DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Roy Wallace, Academic Dean of LBU, was asked by Dr. Weaver to develop a plan of operation. The INSTEP program will operate as follows:

•  The missionary will train the national in the missionary's institute for three years. This should be the equivalent of ninety-eight (98) credit hours.
  
• The missionary will provide a transcript in English to LBU showing the subjects, grades, and college credits for each student.
  
• The national student will then transfer to LBU for the last thirty (30) hours of his/her B.A. degree.

ITS IMPLEMETATION

Although the national student is enrolled in LBU, the missionary supervises the program at his location.

The training may be implemented in one of three ways:

1. The missionary could teach courses that would correspond to those of LBU's fourth year program.
   
2. The missionary could teach LBU's courses in a classroom setting at his location.
   
3. The missionary could translate the syllabi of LBU (when English is not understood) and have the national do the work in a external setting under the supervision of the missionary.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

Education never comes without cost. Someone, somewhere has to pay a price (make an investment) for the training of students in any setting.

Traditionally tuition is paid in one of the following ways:

• The student pays all or part of his/her education
• Someone underwrites or scholarships all or part of the students education.

LBU INSTEP is set up with a combination plan in mind.

1. The students pays part of the tuition that he/she can afford. This would become the responsibility of   the missionary to set the fee that he feels the student of his country can afford.
   
2. Someone underwrites or scholarships part of the students education. Support could come from the following ways:
   
   • The missionary could encourage his supporting churches to support the students from his work through LBU.
     
   • LBU will encourage friends of LBU to support INSTEP. This would scholarship the student for the tuition cost of tuition.