Crossing Cultures International Trains Native Church Leaders

The ministry has already trained nearly 22,000 indigenous church leaders.

David Nelson went to the Philippines as a western missionary following the usual path—seminary, language school, then outreach to the Philippine people in a rural area.

But he quickly saw a better way. He could train the indigenous Filipino people to lead their churches. That is how Crossing Cultures International (CCI) began.

Training indigenous leaders has several advantages, Nelson said. “They have the knowledge of the culture and the language, and already have relationships in the country.” In many cases, they can also be trained at a fraction of the cost of western missionaries.

“I learned a long time ago not to send western people to do the work that nationals can do or they will become passive and uninvolved,” Nelson said.

Three million pastors around the world don’t have affordable access to theological training, Nelson said, so CCI is working to help solve that problem.

According to Nelson, CCI has now trained nearly 22,000 pastors and lay people in theology, doctrine, and leadership in 37 countries. Currently there are 7,865 people in 665 training classes across the globe. About 95% of those are led by nationals.

About 35% of those taking the theological and leadership training are pastors and church planters. Women who want to serve the church by leading studies or children’s ministries make up 35% of students, and the remaining 30% are men of various occupations who just want to serve and make a difference in their community.

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CCI brings in-person training that is accessible and reproducible to pastors to locations near them, lowers the cost to a feasible level, and translates the materials into the native languages of the pastors needing training.

Generally CCI students pay for courses at about the cost of printing the materials in their country. For example, Nelson said it only costs about $2 to print course materials in Vietnam so students would pay $2 per course. Some partner ministries who use the course materials determine their own charges for students, Nelson clarified.

The training is held in-person so the students not only learn the theologically conservative, evangelical content, but also so they can develop relationships with their teachers and be discipled and developed as leaders.

Nelson also believes the in-person format strengthens accountability because the students get to know one another, grow spiritually together, and are transformed by the content and the mutual relationships.

The 14-course content, which is non-denominational with a slight dispensational bent, usually takes between three and five years to complete, depending on the length and frequency of meetings. Most pastors meet for three to six hours at a time once a week and finish in two to three years.

When CCI has at least seven training classes in a given area, it looks to hire an area coordinator to oversee the classes. These coordinators are given ministry funds and must provide three reports each month on the ministry, activities, and finances they are overseeing.

The Philippines remains CCI’s largest program, but it has national training directors in countries throughout Southeast Asia as well. Nelson’s goal is for these countries to reach the point of having their own board of trustees and become an independent entity.

It costs $10 per month for CCI to train one person. Nelson welcomes new supporters as CCI looks to grow the ministry in coming years, adding more country coordinators, a development director, and a vice-president over international ministries.

It plans to continue expanding in Africa, Central and South America, but will increase its focus on the 10/40 window, a heavily populated area of the world that includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.

Nelson plans to travel to a Central Asian country soon—one he would not name for security reasons—to start a training program in coordination with another ministry group.

“We are asking God to open doors,” he said.

“I want to steward this ministry so that when I walk away in 10 or 15 years, it will continue to have a legacy for years to come of equipping God’s servants around the world,” Nelson said.

CCI’s income has grown steadily since Nelson founded the ministry in 2006. Last year, revenue crossed the $1 million mark by “God’s grace and goodness.” CCI is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and is “certified transparent” by Excellence in Giving.

Main photo: A pastor in Bohol holds a God’s Financial Principles seminar with 32 participants / Photo via Facebook