Our Vision

Reaching and strengthening English-speakers with the Gospel.

Our Beliefs

• We believe the Bible (66 books) to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).

• We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30).

• We believe in the deity of Christ (John 10:33), His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:35), His sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26), His miracles (John 2:11), His vicarious and atoning death (1 Corinthians 15:3, Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 2:9), His resurrection (John 11:25, 1 Corinthians 15:4), His Ascension to the right hand of God (Mark 16:19, and His personal return in power and glory (Acts 1:11, Revelation 19:11).

• We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of human nature and that men are justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ and that only by God’s grace and through faith alone are we saved (John 3:16-19; 5:24, Romans 3:23; 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5).

• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28-29).

• We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:26-28).

• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (Romans 8:13-14, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20, Ephesians 4:30; 5:18).

Our History

In July of 1994, two families, the Palmers and the Kitchen-Allens recognized the need for an English evangelical ministry in Nicaragua and agreed to begin meeting on Sundays at 8:00 am for worship. The first Sunday there were seven adults and teenagers in attendance. Each Sunday the attendance grew as new families and individuals joined for worship and fellowship.

By the spring of 1995 there were several families meeting regularly. It was obvious that this ministry was meeting a real need for the English-speaking community of Managua. These families represented a cross section of the English-speaking community; missionaries, diplomats, school teachers, and business people. Soon it was necessary to develop a more formal structure for this growing congregation. An ad-hoc committee was formed to suggest a church structure. After much prayer and discussion, the committee wrote a mission statement, objective, and designed a simple structure for the congregation now called the International Christian Fellowship. Rev Jim Palmer was formally asked to serve as pastor in a volunteer capacity and a church council was elected.

The church soon outgrew the small school chapel where it had begun and moved to temporary facilities in the Baptist Mission Offices. That space also proved to be too small and the church moved again to meet in the auditorium of Accion Medica Cristian. In the fall of 1995, the congregation began a children’s Sunday School Bible class, started outreach Bible studies, as well as developed several community service projects. It became apparent that the church must seek more permanent and adequate facilities.

In March of 1997, the church moved into the facilities of Nicaragua Christian Academy. Having more permanent facilities allowed the church to begin to focus on outreach and other ministries and to seek more permanent pastoral leadership. Rev. Steve Waecher assumed pastoral responsibilities beginning in January, 1998. Since that point ICF has been blessed to have had a number of qualified individuals serve as pastors: Rev. Jim Muse, Rev. Scott Martin, Rev. Ray Smith, and Rev. Mike Havlin.

In 2009, ICF formed an elder board, consisting of three to five elders. The current elders and council members are listed here. In the fall of 2013, ICF moved into the newly built Eagle Center, still on the campus of Nicaragua Christian Academy.