The arrival of nineteen seventies saw the exit of most foreign missionaries from North India. The last of the men to leave realized the urgent need to bring more Indians into ICAATS, train them, and entrust the work to them.
Several of them took initiative to induct more Indians, but at the same time they insisted that the work remain non formal and at the level of guiding Bible schools and seminaries to attain quality education and training. By the early seventies even the last non Indians connected with this work left India.
Most of the Indians were new to such a work and this resulted in a long-term stagnation at the level that the missionaries had left. What is more, a couple of the team members left India for jobs and two key men Isaiah Edwin Parmar and Jacob Joseph met untimely death.
The work continues at a slow pace till 1994 when some of the men decided to seek the advice of Johnson Philip, an educator. He came from a University background and had served as Honorary Visiting Professor of physics at the School of Studies in Physics, Jiwaji University. He also had considerable experience in theological education because of his involvement with the Brethren Bible Institute at Pathanamthitta, India.
Since he was nominated by BBI, he was also a General Body Member of ATA (an evangelical accrediting body with work all over Asia). He was also an examiner for ATA accredited institutions. He gave many suggestions and guidelines for ICAATS for the direction that ICAATS had to take.
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