Institut Théologique de la Grâce
Training the Pastors Haiti Needs
A 3-year Bible education program equipping men and women to plant, lead, and serve churches across Northern Haiti.
A 3-year Bible education program equipping men and women to plant, lead, and serve churches across Northern Haiti.
"And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."
— 2 Timothy 2:2
Institut Théologique de la Grâce — Grace Theological Institute, or ITG — didn't begin in a seminary boardroom. It began in a local church in Cap-Haïtien that believed one simple, radical thing: the local church is the hope of the world.
For years, Pastor Elysee Joseph and the congregation of Eglise Evangelique de la Paix watched gifted men and women in their community sense a calling to ministry — and have nowhere to go. Haiti's formal theological education options are limited, expensive, and often far from the communities that need trained leaders most. A man in a rural neighborhood of Cap-Haïtien with a heart for the gospel had almost no path to become a pastor equipped to serve well.
ITG was founded to close that gap. Rooted in the conviction that every community in Northern Haiti deserves a healthy, Bible-grounded local church, the institute opened its doors to students who carry a calling and a community in their hearts.
Since its founding, ITG has produced four graduating classes of trained church leaders. These are not men and women who moved away to pursue careers elsewhere. They went back home — back to their neighborhoods, their villages, their people — and planted churches. They are preaching, counseling, discipling, and serving in communities that were, before them, without a pastor.
That is the multiplying effect the institute was designed to create. One student trained does not equal one life changed. It equals a church planted, a congregation formed, hundreds of lives in a community touched by the gospel over decades.
And that work is still multiplying. Each new class adds to that number.
Haiti is facing one of the most severe crises in its history. Gang violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Political instability has left communities without functioning government services. Inflation and food insecurity have pushed ordinary families to the edge. In neighborhoods across Cap-Haïtien and beyond, people are desperate for stability, meaning, and hope.
In that context, the local church isn't a nice addition to a community. It is often the only institution left standing. A pastor who can preach truth, counsel the grieving, organize relief, and hold a community together is not a luxury — he is essential. That is the man ITG trains.
The ITG curriculum moves students from foundational knowledge to active ministry — rooted in Scripture, built for Haiti.
Students spend the first year building an unshakeable foundation in God's Word. Courses cover the full sweep of Scripture — from creation to consummation — and introduce the tools of sound interpretation. Every student leaves Year One knowing how to read and trust their Bible.
The second year moves from the page to the pulpit and the community. Students wrestle with the great doctrines of the faith and begin applying them in ministry contexts. Homiletics and pastoral care courses prepare them for the real demands of serving people in crisis.
The final year equips graduates to go and plant. Students learn the practical art of establishing a new congregation — from evangelism strategy to leadership development to financial stewardship. They graduate with a plan, a calling, and the tools to execute both.
A monthly gift of $100 can sponsor a theology student's education for an entire month. That student will go on to plant a church, preach the gospel, and serve a community for decades. The return on that investment is impossible to calculate.
