India Gospel Outreach

Summary

India Gospel Outreach ("IGO") is dedicated to evangelizing all 3,000 ethnic groups of India by planting churches in all zip codes. IGO, an indigenous Indian ministry, serves as an important link between western and Indian Christians.

Contact Information: [ Back to top ]

Organization Details [ Back to top ]

Purpose [ Back to top ]

The backbone of IGO is its 16 Bible colleges and training centers spread throughout India. There, native Christian Indian individuals teach, preach and effectively spread the gospel to their own people in their own languages. Upon graduation, students go out into every state of India and either plant new churches or join a larger work.

IGO also operates a number of other programs. For example, women who develop keen leadership skills at our Bible colleges have gone on to help poor uneducated women learn job skills, such as sewing and knitting. When a woman is left by her husband in India, she often has no options for supporting herself. Our sewing/tailoring centers teach the message of Jesus Christ through songs and bible studies while these women learn a valuable life skill, and often (much to their families amazement) are able to send money back home.

In addition, IGO has a bicycle/motor scooter and a van ministry. Bicycles provide an important means of travel for evangelists/church planters, and vans transport film and literature teams to remote locations throughout India.

A complete list of programs can be found on IGO's website: http://www.indiago.org/IGO-Projects.html

This organization is a 501©(3) nonprofit. Contributions to it are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. It is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

Mission Statement [ Back to top ]

IGO expresses its mission as follows:

"India Gospel Outreach is dedicated to evangelizing all 3,000 ethnic groups of India by planting churches in all 27,000+ zip codes."

Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]

- Over 12,000 churches planted.

Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]

India Gospel Outreach subscribes to the following statement of faith:

We believe the Bible to be the only infallible authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His visible personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, that regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live an empowered life of fruitfulness according to God's calling.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe that Christ commanded the Church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing and teaching those who believe.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

History [ Back to top ]

In 1984, Rev. T. Valson Abraham founded India Gospel Outreach (IGO) to inform Christians around the world of needs and opportunities among India's unreached peoples. IGO's roots go back to 1923 when Pastor K.E. Abraham (grandfather of Valson Abraham) began training Indian corss-culterual evangelists in a teaching ministry that grew into India Bible College, which helped to produce India's largest indigenous ministry.

IGO's main training center is Inda Bible College (IBC) & Seminary (http://www.ibc.ac.in/) in Kerala, India. India Bible College & Seminary is a unique school whose sole purpose is to train and send Indian cross-culteral evangelists and church planters to unreached places.

Because of India's great size and diversity in language and culture, IGO has helped found and sponsor eleven Bible training centers thoughout India, and five Bible Colleges, beginning in 1988. They adapt the philosophy and program of IBC to local conditions. IGO plans to open a training center in every India state as God provides the resources.

Ministry Needs [ Back to top ]

Evangelists/Church Planters IGO sponsors full-time Indian evangelists/church planters who plant dynamic churches among India's unreached peoples. Sponsorship is needed in early phases of church planting. Our evangelists plant churches in new areas with no previous church. There is no congregation to support them. When you support an evangelist, you receive a brief bio about the evangelist and his ministry, along with prayer suggestions. Student Sponsorship Sponsor dedicated Indian men and women preparing for church-planting ministries. IBC trains Indian evangelists to reach India's unreached peoples. About 60% come from non-Christian backgrounds. Without family help, they depend upon people like you to meet costs. Every year, more than 200 new places are reached by IBC graduates, 95% of them continuing in ministry 20 years after graduation. When you support a student, you receive a brief bio, with prayer suggestions. The IGO Campus at India Bible College The newly expanded India Bible College and Seminary campus makes it possible to increase the number of evangelists trained and sent to India's unreached peoples from 350 to almost 550. The IGO campus needs just over $600,000 (as of 1/5/12) to fulfill all financial obligations for the new dormitories, library, adminsitration, classrooms, dining and kitchen and chapel. Your gift will help meet these urgent needs.

Research Analysis

Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]

MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]

Ranking Category	Rating	Overall Rank	Evangelism Support Sector
Overall Efficiency Rating		216 of 348	26 of 37
Fund Acquisition Decision		216 of 348	27 of 37
Resource Allocation Decision		of 348	7 of 37
Asset Utilization Decision		of 348	7 of 37