In 1952, Mrs. Lillian Dickson opened and dedicated a Vocational Training Institute and a chapel in Taiwan. These were additions to Mustard Seed’s existing Rescue Home for boys. “People will be our kind of work,” she explained. As she watched the beaming children march from the Vocational Building to the Chapel, she reflected: “This is the pathway of Hope”.

In 1971, at the age of 70, Lillian expanded the work of Mustard Seed to Indonesia. Since then, Mustard Seed has expanded to other areas of Southeast Asia and continues to focus on building education programs. in 1983 Lillian passed away, but her legacy and work continued to grow.

In 2002 a model Christian school for Indonesian children was developed, which would later serve as MSI’s Lab School. By 2011, The Lab School grew to exceed 800 students.

Training indigenous youth to become teachers was the most effective way to educate children, especially in remote areas, and so in 2011, the TransformNation (TfN) Teacher-Training Program was born.

In 2018, The Elevate Teacher-Training Program was developed to equip village teachers with an intensive
3-month course. Our Agricultural Training Center, known as Victory Place, opened to help train village teachers in self-sufficiency and agribusiness.

In 2021, MSI’s Lab School was acknowledged by the Indonesian Department of Education as one of the three most influential schools in the country. The lab School is working with the Department of Education to design the curriculum for government schools across the nation.

In the same year, TfN graduates are pioneering Christian schools in the most remote villages of Indonesia.

Today, lives and communities continue to be transformed through life-giving Christian education.