History
International Teams Key Events Timeline
1960
Kevin Dyer, son of an Australian evangelist, founds the organization with the vision of sending teams of missionaries to distribute Bibles and offer correspondence courses throughout Asia.
1961
First team (of six) heads to Calcutta, India, and distributes 100,000 Gospels of Mark in just three months. As others join the team, the work spreads to Bangladesh and Singapore.
U.S. Board of Directors is formed.
1962
An old house in Park Ridge, Illinois is renovated and turned into a training center. Ten adults and 7 children begin training for the first Latin American team.
1963
A team heads to Brazil, armed with another 100,000 Gospels of Mark which are distributed house-to-house.
1964
Thirty businessmen distribute literature at the Tokyo Olympics. They contact an estimated 70,000 people per day (at every Olympic Games since 1964 IT has had a major outreach program.)
Property is purchased in Prospect Heights, IL to be a new training center. This includes 71/2 acres ofland and two run-down houses.
1965
Forty-seven missionaries, plus children, are sent on four teams to Manila, Philippines; Bombay, India; Bogota, Colombia; and Caracas, Venezuela.
In September, twelve people begin the first training program in the Prospect Heights facility. The training is 9 months long and includes courses on language, missionary problems, customs and cultures, and first aid.
1966
In December, between Christmas and New Year, International Teams conducts the first World Missions Congress at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Nearly 1600 young people attend from all over the United States and Canada. Hundreds dedicate their lives to the Lord to be used in His service. These are then held every three years for the next 20 years.
1967
With teams serving in ten countries, International Teams begins a new ministry of carrying Bibles and Christian literature behind the Iron Curtain.They serve the persecuted church in this way for over 20 years.
Early-70’s
The Catacombs CoffeeHouse, an outreach to high school youth, begins in the basement of one of the buildings on the training campus.
King’s Inn begins. This is a ministry to kids who are struggling with drugs or other addictions. Three of the houses on campus are used to provide a communal type setting for kids (8 to 10 per house) to be discipled by house parents.
Church planting becomes one of IT’s stated objectives.
1976
Special programs are run in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. to celebrate America’s Bicentennial. Nearly 100 people dress up in early American clothing to distribute literature through floats and displays.
1976-86
SCOPE conferences are run every year where 50 pastors and their wives are invited to come for four days of spiritual refreshment.
1984
The name of the organisation is changed to International Teams.
1986
International Teams Philippines is founded.
A “Career” option is added to IT’s standard two-year options for service.
Our first team focused solely on refugee ministry is formed in Traiskirchen, Austria. Over the next 6 years, 5 more teams are formed.
1988
Kevin Dyer steps down as President in order to give opportunity to new, younger leadership. Marc Dyer returns from the Philippines and is appointed President of IT USA. Geoff Tunnicliffe moves to Canada and develops IT Canada into a partner organisation with ITP and IT USA. One organisation is becoming three partners.
Late-80’s
The Courier Ministry expands to include evangelism and discipleship efforts in the communist countries of Central & Eastern Europe. Several IT personnel begin living in Hungary, Romania, and East Germany.
1989
Attorney Raineer Chu is appointed by the ITP Board as the first Filipino Director of ITP. The influence of Filipino missionaries begins to lead IT toward defining “compassionate evangelism” as one of our core emphases.
1989-90
Communism collapses in the countries of Central & Eastern Europe. Teams are formed to help churches throughout the region in the development of their evangelism and discipleship ministries.
IT partners with Operation Mobilisation, International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, and Central European Mission Fellowship, to assist in the establishment of International Literature Associates, an association of indigenous Christian publishing houses in the former communist countries of Europe.
1990
IT/Canada launches a major church mobilization effort that grows 600% in five years.
1991
Albania opens to the world. About 20 IT personnel take part in the first ever large outreach campaign in that country. More than 120 people from over 15 different nationalities and 20 organisations and churches work closely together for two weeks. The result is the planting of two churches in Tirana and the forging of a model mission partnership (The Albanian Encouragement Project). From these seeds more than 70 churches have been planted throughout the country since then, and the Albanian Evangelical Alliance (VUSH) was born.
Brian Jose, formerly leading teams in Central & Eastern Europe, moves from Austria to England and is appointed International Director.
1992
IT/Australia is incorporated.
IT USA, Malachi Ministries, and Sonlife Ministries form the Josiah Venture partnership. Josiah Venture’s vision is a passionate movement of church-based youth ministry throughout Central & Eastern Europe.
1993
IT/UK becomes officially registered as a charity in the UK.
Mid-90’s
U.S. Urban Ministries expands to include serving in Philadelphia (among Cambodian and Vietnamese residents), Boston, and Los Angeles (among transplanted Iranians).
An increasing number of people from countries in Europe and Latin America, begin serving in IT teams. Prototype training programs and support systems are designed in order to facilitate this movement.
Europe and Latin America Regional Leadership established.
Filipinos pioneer our first team in Vietnam.
Teams, in partnership with other organisations, are formed in Central Asia.
1996
Stephen Freed assumes role of ITUSA President as Marc Dyer moves to international office in UK.
1998
Partnership formed with Reach Out Ministries, another youth leadership development organisation. Executive Team formed.
1999-2000
East Asia Regional Leadership established.
ACCESS, a standardised, two-week intensive, introductory training program is designed for all people joining International Teams anywhere in the world.
Today
200 teams, made up of 1200 people from 52 different countries, serve in 66 countries including Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Central and Southeast Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and North America.
