What is TEAM Network?

One of the most common questions Larry and I are asked about our trip to Ethiopia this summer is, “What is TEAM Network and what do you do?”  Great question!  Hopefully this post will help provide some answers.    The Ethiopia Aid Mission (TEAM) is a network of churches, individuals, and faith-based institutions who are partnering together to grow the kingdom of God in Ethiopia.  TEAM engages in holistic ministry by addressing spiritual and physical needs, with the ultimate goal of seeing the Gospel spread among the Ethiopian people.   TEAM partners with the local Ethiopian evangelical congregation to assist in church development, church planting, and to aid in the alleviation of the physical effects of poverty.  Strategy coordinators for TEAM are Dr. Jim and Viola Palmer, career IMB missionaries with 30 years of experience on the mission field.

In rural Ethiopia, 59 million people do not have access to safe water.  Almost 74,000 children under the age of five die each year from preventable illnesses due to water-borne parasites.  73 million people do not have access to sanitation, perpetuating illnesses such as Trachoma.  Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world and is spread by the improper disposal of human excrement.  64 million people cook on open fires inside the home with no ventilation, causing lung damage for women and children and numerous incidents of childhood burns.  TEAM addresses these issues of extreme poverty with three health initiatives: the rehabilitation and installation of clean water wells, the construction of sanitary latrines, and the installation of fuel efficient, clean burning, safe cooking stoves.  In addition, TEAM operates medical mission trips, de-worming programs for children, and Meals 4 Multitudes nutritious meal packets production and distribution.

The Evangelical Christian community represents less than 1 percent of the population in the Bantu, Tole region of Ethiopia.  Believers are persecuted and socially marginalized.  These physical ministries help provide a clear witness to the commitment of the Evangelical church to the health and welfare of the community.  As a church-based ministry, these projects are focused on appropriate ministry, evangelism, and growth of the local church.  TEAM’s presence in this region helps the local church get their foot in the door for physical ministry that leads to the possibility of spiritual ministry.  Spiritual ministry is the ultimate goal: growing churches, planting new churches, and seeing the Ethiopian people come alive with the joy found in Christ.  TEAM mission trips lead Vacation Bible Schools for children, engage in women’s discipleship within the local communities, and assist with new church construction.  One of the most exciting components of TEAM is the Rural Pastors’ Bible Institute, a three-year program to train village lay-leaders to become missionary pastors in church-plant congregations.  TEAM currently supports five local pastors in vocational ministry and is training 30 more through the Bible Institute. 

We would love for you to be involved in TEAM.  You could join a short term mission trip through one of the partner churches, support the network financially, support us as we serve in an extended capacity for TEAM this summer, or even get your church involved in a long range mission endeavor with TEAM.  We would love to talk more with you about this…please contact us for more information!   

“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder.  From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings.”  Zephaniah 3:9-10 (NASB)