- 30 Years of Ministry

Celebrating 30 Years of Entrust

Thinking back over the last 30 years, all of us with Entrust would echo the words of the author of Lamentations:

The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22,23)

From the founding of the BEE (Biblical Education by Extension) project in 1979 by several mission agencies to provide biblical training to believers behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, through the years of BEE International as a mission agency itself, to today when BEE International has become known as Entrust, it is evident that the lovingkindness and faithfulness of God has carried us through 30 years of ministry.

It has always been the great need for biblical training that has galvanized the efforts of those who have served on the staff of Entrust. Most of the mission agencies involved in the founding of BEE were involved in evangelism and discipleship in Eastern Europe. As they worked in the various countries, it became evident that there was a great need for training church leaders in these countries. Seminaries in communist Eastern Europe, if they existed at all, were tightly controlled by the governments that placed restrictions on how many students could attend. As a result, BEE was established to take biblical training into these “closed” countries to meet the need expressed by national church leaders.

During the communist years, the Entrust staff developed a 16 course curriculum, including over 30 textbooks, and translated it all into six different languages. Materials were smuggled into the various countries and staff teams traveled in circuits, trying to remain unnoticed, teaching small groups of church leaders, both men and women, in cities throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Totally unexpectedly, the “wall” came down in 1989, and the need for training expanded as new churches were planted and existing church organizations tried to adjust to life without the restraints of communism. In many countries the church has multiplied rapidly, making the need for accessible biblical training even more critical. In these countries and those nearby, our staff works alongside nationals who are providing the needed training. These were exciting years as we saw God’s mercies new every morning and His faithful provision for the ministry. All of us who were privileged to work alongside nationals in these formerly communist countries were blessed by their unwavering commitment to the Lord under the harsh restrictions of communism and their faithfulness to minister to their countrymen in conditions we, in America, can hardly imagine.

The need for biblical training in those years was great, but as we look at the world today, it is immediately apparent that the need for biblical training of church leaders is even greater. Churches are being planted around the world, and we have been impacted by estimates that there are two million or more pastors in the developing world who have had no biblical or theological training. Seminaries in the United States (and other developed countries) are providing scholarships to students from developing nations to come to the U.S. to study. While this is an important contribution, three problems exist. First, the number of those who can come to the U.S. for seminary training does not nearly meet the existing need for training. Second, seminaries in the U.S. struggle with the fact that a large percentage of international students who come for training never go back to their own countries. Third, seminary training is a long term solution requiring five to ten years before the student is back in ministry in his or her own country. For those pastors currently planting and pastoring churches in the developing world, the need is now.

It is this need that has again galvanized the leadership of Entrust. After carefully considering the lessons we have learned through 30 years of training in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, we have committed ourselves to collaborate with other national and international organizations to provide accessible, transformational, sustainable training systems that multiply biblical leaders.

Our desire is to help establish training systems, run by nationals, that are sustainable in the national culture, systems that do not unendingly depend on financial help from the West. These systems will make biblical training accessible to men and women who are currently ministering in churches, who have no opportunity to go to a seminary or Bible college—men and women who desperately desire to see the Gospel transform lives in their villages and cities. They desire to see the Gospel transform not only individual lives, but their communities and their culture as well. These are the men and women throughout the world that desperately need biblical training now, because they are leading the church to impact their people and their countries into the future.

Indeed, the Lord’s lovingkindnesses never cease, and we at Entrust are depending upon His faithfulness and daily mercies as we seek to help meet the incredible need for biblical training around the world.

Blessings,

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Andrew B. Seidel
Chairman of the Board
Entrust