In addition to meeting academic requirements, each student must plant a church in an area with no existing church, in order to graduate.
ETSI is noted for the very high quality of biblical training offered.
As the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia represents a strategic place for ministry. Indonesian Christians have researched and identified 129 distinct people groups where less than one percent of the population are believers. These include a variety of tribal groups scattered across Indonesia.
By developing young leaders, the ministry is able to send teams of graduates to people groups without Christian witness.
The string of islands that make up Indonesia form a tapestry of peoples and cultures. But the surface appearance of a tropical Pacific paradise belies a great deal of ethnic and religious strife, creating an environment in which Christian life and ministry is notoriously hard.
Yet as a result of our partner’s approach to ministry, ETSI students have planted more than 3,200 new churches.
MINISTRY LEADERSHIP
Chris Marantika was born on the island of Nila in eastern Indonesia. At 12 years of age he had gained all the education the island offered, so he left to live with relatives in Java. As a teenager, through the witness of Baptist missionaries, Chris heard the Gospel for the first time and put his faith in Christ.
After graduating from a seminary in the USA, Chris returned to Indonesia to serve as a pastor and seminary instructor. Yet, his heart burned for greater impact and to see a powerful church-planting movement sweep across Indonesia. In the 1970s, that passion would grow into a vision for a new and unique seminary that strongly emphasized evangelism and church planting.
This dream came to be known as Vision Indonesia 1:1:1, which Chris continues to serve as president. He is married to Saria and has one son.
PROJECTS
(Click on the links to see details of the projects of this ministry partner)
227116 - Unreached Peoples Team
227210 - Student Sponsorships
