01.03.2026 / Graham Aylett
The Increase Association celebrates twenty years this February!
February 2006, a group of some twenty people involved in church-based training came together in Atlanta, Georgia, with a vision for in-context leadership training for churches across the non-western world. But by 2010, the focus turned to Asia, with Increase’s conference in Nepal, entitled 21st Century TEE in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities.
This conference was the first time that most Asian TEE leaders ever had the chance to meet others from across the continent. It generated much energy, leading on to training workshops, the 2012 launch of new TEE programmes across Central Asia, and a curriculum consultation in 2013.
At its 2015 conference Exploring New Horizons, Increase moved from being an informal network to an organized association of Asian church-based training organizations. Currently nearly all these member bodies use TEE materials and methods, but they don’t have to – the key criterion is the church-based nature of the training.
Increase’s definition of ‘Asia’ is rather elastic!
It includes the whole of the Middle East and spills over into Arabic-sepaking North Africa; also the Russian-speaking countries merge into Europe; and TEE follows the path of Asian diaspora all around the globe. Asia remains the focus of Increase’s work.
Increase members unite around the same exciting vision: to see churches equipping all Christ’s followers in their contexts, so that many millions are discipled and empowered for mission, ministry and leadership.
The Increase Association connects and strengthens church-based training movements across Asia and beyond, and its member organizations serve together to:
• build a network of good relationships
• encourage collaborative projects and partnerships
• initiate and catalyze innovative approaches
• identify and share fruitful practice
• provide support, resources, advice and training.
Individuals from Increase’s member organizations give time to serve the wider membership. Some serve as Increase Equippers, giving time each year to serve the wider Association. From time to time, Increase will invite people to join Task Groups, coming together around a particular project that will benefit the whole Association. Some are on the Intercessors’ team, committed to pray regularly for the work of Increase. Some serve on Increase’s Committee, currently chaired by David Burke, and previously by Anneta Vysotskaya, Richard Morris and Zafar Ismail. All these voluntary contributions are coordinated by Increase’s small serving base in Malaysia, with Graham Aylett as the General Secretary.
As well as serving its own members, Increase makes a wider contribution. It seeks to:
• make a global contribution to theological education and adult learning
• connect with other church-based training associations and accrediting associations
• communicate widely the news and stories from Increase members.
Increase is an Associate Member of the Asia Theological Association (ATA), and contributes to its Accreditation and Educational Development Commission. Increase leads workshops in the main conferences of ATA and ICETE (the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education) and takes part in discussions at the interface of residential and church-based training. Increase is also a member organisation of the Global Pastoral Training Alliance, in line with the initial 2006 vision for in-context leadership training.
At the academic level Increase seeks to take forward research and publication on TEE and other forms of church based training. As part of the Langham Global Library, the Increase Association produced TEE for the 21st Century: Tools to Equip and Empower God’s People for His Mission. https://langhamliterature.org/books/tee-for-the-21st-century. At a more popular level, Increase publishes stories to tell the news of what is happening through TEE in Asia, https://langhamliterature.org/books/tee-in-asia.
One really significant initiative over the past few years has been the development of a programme to train a new generation of TEE course writers, and this is now resulting in new TEE courses being written in different contexts for those contexts – that’s exciting!
You can find ten on-online modules to lead a team through that course writing process on the Increase Association website at https://www.increaseassociation.org/course-writers-training.
Over the past two years, it’s been a joy to bring together small leadership teams from Increase Core Member organizations by region: South Asia (April 2024 in Bangkok); West Asia (June 2024 in Egypt); South-East Asia and Oceania (August 2024 in Malaysia); Eurasia (September 2024 in Central Asia) and East Asia (October 2025 in Malaysia).
Important themes in these workshops have been:
• encouraging small group leaders as mentors
• sharpening the focus on training goals
• strengthening whole-person growth and development
• building strong partnerships.
Looking forward, the Increase Association plans a 20th Anniversary Conference in October this year for members and invited guests.
The Increase Association continues – with many others – to work to see churches equipping all Christ’s followers in their contexts, so that many millions are discipled and empowered for mission, ministry and leadership. Thank you for reading this far! Please pause and pray that the Lord will bring about that vision for his Church for his glory!
There’s more on the Increase Association at https://www.increaseassociation.org/.