International Cooperating Ministries

Description

The vision of International Cooperating Ministries is to see a world with a church within walking distance of every man, woman, and child.

History

After completing a four-year Bible study curriculum (Mini Bible College) written and taught by Pastor Dick Woodward in the early 1980s, businessman Dois Rosser saw an opportunity. He wanted others to have access to the same life-changing material. In partnership with Trans World Radio, Rosser funded the translation and radio broadcast of MBC in Latin America, China and soon, India. In 1986, Rosser traveled from Hampton, Virginia, to India to evaluate the impact of the radio broadcast. There, he saw the people’s desperate need for church buildings after coming to Christ through the study of MBC in their own language. Rosser sensed a God-sized opportunity at hand.

The church building work of International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) began in India in 1986 when he provided funding to build several churches there to honor his family. Shortly after the initial work in India began, Rosser established a charitable foundation using a substantial portion of his personal wealth to fund the ministry. ICM’s outreach model contradicts many traditional approaches, in that there are no paid overseas staff members. The ministry makes a global impact while employing a small local staff, and private foundations continue to fund all overhead, allowing all gifts to ICM’s work to go directly to church building and Mini Bible College projects.

Today, there are thousands of ICM churches around the world. These projects include not only traditional church buildings, but also church orphanages, chapels, homes for church planters, learning centers, pastoral training centers and schools. And, as a result of ICM’s church planting strategy, the ministry has seen tens of thousands of additional church congregations established.