The ministry of IBAC is an opportunity for local churches in the United States to equip pastors and church leaders in developing nations through a long-term commitment and relationship with a geographical region of the world. The broad purposes of the ministry are to provide biblical, theological, and pastoral training to pastors / Church leaders who are in desperate need of such training, but who have little or no access to such training, AND to mobilize and encourage the Church in the United States to deploy personnel and financial resources with the intention of giving the U.S. church a significant opportunity to be purposefully and strategically engaged in advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
IBAC is led by Dr. Jim Wilson who serves as a missionary with the Latin America/Caribbean division of ReachGlobal.
IBAC is a network of Bible Institutes, focused on providing mobile/modular biblical and theological education. The ministry began in 1998 as an effort of a local church (Hope Evangelical Free Church of Madison, Alabama) to meet the need of pastoral training for church leaders in rural Nicaragua. After years of growth and expansion, the ministry is now a part of ReachGlobal. IBAC works to join local churches in the United States with local churches in developing nations to form strategic partnerships with the joint purpose of training pastors and Church leaders and mobilizing U.S. churches.
IBAC (Institutos Biblicos de America Central) as a network of Bible Institutes is within the framework and under the leadership of ReachGlobal. ReachGlobal is the International Missions arm of the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America). IBAC holds to the EFCA Statement of Faith.
Adopted by the Conference on June 26, 2008
The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches united around these theological convictions:
God
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
The Bible
We believe that the Holy Scriptures consist of 66 books –39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament–. We believe that God has spoken in both testaments through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
The Human Condition
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Work of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Church
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
Christian Living
We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Christ’s Return
We believe in the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
Response and Eternal Destiny
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
