HISTORY OF IBICA
The Bible Institute project began to take shape in 2006 after seeing that churches of Christ in Latin America have tended to grow more in areas with full time leadership training schools. Missionaries working in Argentina were especially aware of the examples of the Baxter Institute (Tegucigalpa, Honduras), the Quito School of Biblical Studies (Ecuador), and the Latin American Institute of Biblical Studies (Toluca, Mexico). All of these excellent schools have helped to make the mission works stronger in the areas they are in, spreading the good news of salvation in Jesus, and planting new congregations. Argentina, however, is in the southern cone of South America, significantly far from any of these schools. In 2006 several church leaders in Buenos Aires began meeting to pray and plan for a full time Bible Institute that would train Christian leaders in this part of the world.
Both time and money have been invested with the hope that the Institute could offer an degree accredited by the Argentine government. While the Institue has not yet acheived this goal, the missionaries continue to work diligently for the Institute's accreditation.
Lord willing, IBICA will open in March 2012 as an unaccredited Institute of Biblical Studies with a two-year program. While some had hoped to wait for the Institute's official accreditation, the need to better equip men and women for Christian service is urgent. The story of IBICA is just beginning. All of those involved are excited to see what God can do through this combined effort of the churches of Christ to spread the Gospel in Argentina and the Southern Cone.