Training Evangelistic Leadership
"Go quickly and tell...that He is risen from the dead!" — Matthew 28:7
Our Vision
Motivated by Christ’s Great Commission to preach the gospel to every creature, Training Evangelistic Leadership’s primary objective is to recruit, train, and send forth local Gospel teams that reap public decisions for Christ with personalized follow-up. In countries where public preaching is possible, teams are sent forth to publicly proclaim the gospel. In others, personal evangelism is emphasized. Emphasis is always placed on shepherding those who make decisions for Christ into local churches.
TEL teams operate with three primary ministry distinctives:
- SERVING the national culture and local society by leaving the fruit of our evangelism and follow-up within the local churches.
- BLENDING missionaries and nationals together with equal status and opportunities into a mutually uplifting relationship.
- CONTINUING our missionaries on a lifelong basis by their bonding with the language and culture and continuing to develop a living fellowship with Jesus Christ.
TEL labors to train Asian evangelists for the harvest in a home environment. We apply Mark 3:14 by inviting Asians to live “with us” in full-time training programs of several months duration, where they are quipped both in the classroom and on the job for effective evangelistic ministry. Graduates of TEL training programs serve in churches, mission agencies, and as TEL staff. TEL also helps equip church leaders in effective evangelism and disciplemaking through training seminars.
In addition to team evangelistic ministry, all TEL missionaries and national workers labor to multiply their witness through personal disciplemaking.
Our Origins
Training Evangelistic Leadership (TEL) was launched in Singapore in 1970 by Rev. Roy Robertson out a recognized need to develop more full-time Asian evangelists. He invited six men from five Asian countries to live in his home for a year to receive on-the-job training in evangelistic ministry. The vision of TEL continued to expand as Roy and his wife Phyllis conducted similar training programs through homes in Japan, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.
TEL was initially formed by Roy as a project of The Navigators but has since become an independent mission agency that operates with an international board of directors in Denton, TX. Roy, who founded and continues to serve as International Director of TEL, sailed to China in 1948 having been appointed The Navigators’ first missionary by the organization’s founder Dawson Trotman. Roy labored in the ministry of evangelism and disciplemaking through The Navigators in many Asian countries until his retirement in 1986. Upon his retirement, Roy renewed his commitment to continue the ministry of evangelism and training in Asia full-time through TEL. The resultant fruit of that commitment, TEL is now a mission agency which is blend of about half international missionaries and half national workers operating in multiple Asian countries and in the United States.
TEL continues to labor in South and Southeast Asia with a vision to preach the gospel to every creature through direct proclamation and through training others who also desire to labor in this vision. The harvest is still ripe in Asia and TEL is trusting God for full-time missionaries whom God has called to help complete the work of evangelism in Asia through serving in gospel teams and training others to do the same.
For information about serving with TEL, please see our Service Opportunities.
TEL Resources
TEL's ministry is to help equip God's people for effective ministry to others through evangelism and discipleship. Toward that end, we offer several types of materials for purchase and some of our overseas materials for direct download. Thanks to Discipleship Library (External Link), we are also pleased to make available many of Roy Robertson's messages from his 50+ years of missionary service.
May the Lord be glorified, His Gospel proclaimed and His Kingdom advanced through the use of all these resources.
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China
The world's most populous country with over 1.3 billion people, China also has one of the world's most rapidly growing Christian populations. Due to the spiritual vacuum that was left by the ideological upheaval of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960-70's, Chinese are seeking for truth to fill the void. They are responding eagerly to the peace that the gospel provides while economic advancement competes for their hearts.
Hong Kong
The Pearl of the Orient, this former British colony still enjoys the freedoms granted by the British Empire. At the 1997 handover, the Chinese government promised not to change anything for at least 50 years. So there remains total freedom to do any kind of ministry on the streets as well as in church-run schools. An incredibly busy and developed city of more than 6 million souls, it desperately needs to hear that success is measured not in terms of earthly wealth, but by the depth of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Indonesia
Indonesia is the world's 4th most-populous nation. It also has the largest population of Muslims in the world but many of them are animistic in their beliefs. Although the percentage of evangelical Christians in the country is still less than 10%, there has been consistent growth over the past few decades especially among the rural poor.
United States
Despite its long history of Christian belief, the United States is turning away from its foundation. Christianity continues to move toward nominalism and there is interest in alternate forms of spirituality with some based on Eastern religion. The US population is also becoming multiethnic. Young people continue to be the most open to the gospel while there is also openness among people of Asian and Hispanic ethnicity who study or work in the States.
Vietnam
The Vietnamese people have suffered much through the years of conflict that they have endured. They have come out a resilient people. Many are looking to the hope of economic improvement that urban living provides while there is still much rural poverty. Vietnamese are friendly with foreigners and eager to learn English. Although the majority of the population is Buddhist, many are open to learning about the gospel.