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PTIA began as a vision of Pastor Robert Manda. He longed to see the hunger for theological education among African pastors met in an affordable and culturally relevant way that also encouraged them in the mission of planting churches.  Pastor Manda was burdened by the idea that the African church was, “As long as the Nile river, but only one inch deep.”

In 2012 as he met with Pastor Larry Smith from the US, they began to conceive of a partnership between the US and Africa that would enable Africans who were called to plant churches to receive discipleship and training while not being sidetracked from the mission of church planting.  The vision was also to see at least 80-90% of the training and discipleship come from other Africans.  The US would help supplement training and provide resources, while the decision-making on how to best utilize resources would always be made by African leadership.  In this partnership Americans serve under Africans for the benefit of the African church. 

Specifically the vision was to see that church planters who would otherwise have no access to quality theological education and discipleship would be able to get this at almost no cost.  Also, the emphasis is on finding leaders who will plant churches in areas of greatest need.  

The first cohort of PTIA began in 2015 and graduated in 2017.  The second cohort graduated in 2019 and the third cohort is now in it’s second year of training. The US non-profit PTIA serves the African Church by providing funding, consultation, and organizing short-term mission trips to help more people see the exciting opportunity to serve the global church.  As the African church grows exponentially, PTIA will train and equip godly church planters to plant healthy, reproducing churches for the glory of God.   

How can you get involved?

If you are an existing church or an individual that shares this vision for church planting, and think we might be able to help you, we would love to connect and see how we can partner together for the fame of the Savior.

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Through your prayers and donations thousands of lives are being transformed. With God's blessing, and the continued help of faithful partners, the growth of PTIA can be exponential in the coming decade.