Feeding Fishermen

While the pandemic has continued to make life difficult in India, our team is busier than ever finding creative ways to equip leaders and serve hurting communities. Lately, this has involved feeding fishermen—both literally and figuratively.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we have been able to continue providing emergency aid to families who have been devastated by the impacts of the pandemic. Most recently, we were able to supply 88 day-labourers, primarily fishermen, with life-giving food packages for their families. These fishermen and labourers lost the ability to work due to lockdown restrictions and market closures, and their families have been going hungry as a result.

One grateful fisherman shared:

“I have heard that Christians are kind people, and today I witnessed it. Your God is good. Thank you so much for caring for my family.”

What makes these food packages so meaningful is that they are given by local pastors and ministry leaders, who are able to continue caring for the families in the long-term. Global Action student, Pastor Ravi, is pouring into a fisherman named Gopal and his family. Gopal couldn’t believe that a pastor would come to his home with food right in his time of need. Overwhelmed by Pastor Ravi’s kindness, Gopal opened his home to the Gospel. He said:

“I don’t understand why you are giving this to us even though you know that we are not Christians! But we want to thank your God, and we are also very thankful for your kindness.”

Without well-equipped local pastors and ministry leaders like Ravi, these families would still be going hungry. That’s why we focus on “feeding” fishers of men with the Word of God. By helping local leaders gain a strong foundation in understanding, teaching, and living out the Gospel, we are able to touch countless lives through a powerful ripple effect.

Thank you to all our supporters for helping us feed fishermen and fishers of men!

World Christianity and the Unfinished Task

While I was a senior pastor in the upper Midwest of the United States I travelled frequently to the non-Western world to see the work our missionaries were doing. I noticed something. There were churches everywhere—Africa, Asia and Latin America—and many of them were much larger than the rather large congregation I was leading in the United States. 

I was fixated on finding out what in the world was going on. This led to more frequent travel, then living abroad in Africa with my family, and doctoral studies in World Christianity. This finally led to an assignment at a study centre in Cambridge; and in an unexpected twist, I accepted an offer to serve with Global Action, a mission organisation that is devoted to equipping Christian leaders in the developing world.  

I wrote World Christianity and the Unfinished Task for ordinary Christians. Scholars began working overtime in the late 1960s to understand the rapid growth of the church in the non-Western world. We now know that during the twentieth century something remarkable was happening that many people still do not know about. The church was growing rapidly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and it was growing more rapidly than in North America and Europe.  

Between 1968 and 1980 a Cambridge-educated scientist-turned-missionary named David B. Barrett (1927–2011) moved to Nairobi, Kenya and travelled to every country in the world to count Christians. His work was published by Oxford in 1981 as the World Christian Encyclopedia. It was hailed by Time magazine as “the miracle from Nairobi.”  It revealed, among other things, that the church was growing most rapidly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

Other scholars had been noticing the same things—and soon study centers emerged to study these findings. We now know that in the year 1900 some 80 percent of the world’s Christians lived in North America and Europe—while today the majority of the world’s Christians (nearly 70 percent) live in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We also know how this happened—and the work of Western missionaries is only a very small part of the story.  

I wrote this little book to help ordinary Christians understand what scholars are calling the most remarkable transformation (secular and religious) in the world during the twentieth century.  What is even more surprising to me is how many Christians still don’t know about these seismic shifts that have happened (and are continuing) in the world. I’ve seen the surprising work God is doing around the world with my own eyes—and have spent years studying World Christianity at major research centres. 

And because I spent so much of my life as a pastor, my love is taking complex ideas and communicating them so that ordinary people can enjoy them. That is exactly what I do in this book. I talk about what has changed and how it happened.  And in the conclusion, I argue that what we have learned about World Christianity should dramatically change the way we engage in missions in the world today.

Lionel Young
Executive Vice President
Global Action USA

Roma Reaching Roma

Global Action student Viacheslav has been transformed as a leader. He is from a primarily Muslim Roma tribe that is centred in Crimea. They are traditionally very poor, and many lack education. Viacheslav is no exception. He leads a Roma church in Merefa, Ukraine, and when he had the opportunity to enrol in Global Action’s training program he was thrilled!

Since Viacheslav struggles to write, he faced a big challenge in taking the classes. But he was determined to learn for the sake of his church! He recorded all the teachings, and then would study them more thoroughly at home.

Viacheslav’s dedication paid off. Learning to faithfully interpret the Bible completely transformed his ministry. His preaching and evangelism look nothing like they did before, and now he feels that he is able to understand and apply Scripture much more effectively. Praise God!

Viacheslav is serving and reaching people with the Gospel that you and I could never reach. As a Roma himself, he understands the unique challenges facing the people in his community. He is able to speak to people’s hearts in a way that an outsider never could. And now he is equipped to understand, teach, and live out the Gospel faithfully in his context!

Your partnership with Global Action helps make solid biblical training accessible to pastors like Viacheslav, who would otherwise be limited by their socioeconomic status or education level. These leaders are already serving, but they lack the training they need to lead healthy churches.

Will you help us train more leaders like Viacheslav? Right now, you can take advantage of a special opportunity to have your gift MATCHED by a generous donor. Please consider giving sustainable community transformation by equipping ministry leaders in hard places.

Reaching the 90%

At Global Action, one of the great blessings we get to enjoy is partnering with God’s people around the world. Ian Amess from the Harare Theological College in Zimbabwe is one of those blessings.

Ian came to Christ as an adult, and soon afterward he began studying at Harare Theological College (HTC) to learn more about his new faith. Over time, he began working at the college as a lecturer and eventually left his career in the business world in order to serve at the college full-time.

Ian has a passion for equipping leaders with the Word of God. One of the challenges that he faced at HTC was reaching the 90% of pastors and ministry leaders who lack access to the training they need. It is very difficult for many pastors and leaders to leave their area of ministry and travel to Harare for college, and the financial cost would be far too great for the majority of these leaders. While the solution of online training may work in some contexts, it is not viable in the Zimbabwean setting where the cost of data is prohibitive and people learn best in a group setting.

In 2019, God began using Global Action to help meet these needs in Zimbabwe. In partnership with Ian and HTC, we are now able to offer training to the 90% who previously lacked access. HTC offers our training as a certificate-level program through their college, and we already have seven classes meeting in different locations (2 classes outside Harare, 2 in communal areas nearby and 3 in high density areas in Harare) with a total of 82 students.

Ian and HTC have been so excited about getting our training into the hands of leaders that they have they have had the materials translated into the main indigenous language of Zimbabwe, and plans for other translations are in place. These translations will allow us to reach many additional leaders in their heart languages. Praise God!

Partnering with HTC connects us with a strong network of instructors, churches, ministries, and other essential resources for our program. Their local reputation also lends credibility to our classes, which helps us make inroads when we first begin operating in a new country.

“ChatterBoxes”

Zimbabwe is also where we are debuting a new platform for our training. Ian at HTC has developed something called a “ChatterBox” (CHurch Activities, Theological Training & Education Resource Box), which is a solar-powered wifi-router that is preloaded with content that can be accessed by anyone with a wifi-enabled device (such as a smartphone). It doesn’t cost the user anything to access the content!

Ian has set up ChatterBoxes in various locations (usually in a church) and loaded them with our Foundations program. Our Zimbabwe classes meet together weekly in those locations with their facilitator. While together, they use their phones or tablets to access the Global Action training manuals on the ChatterBox and go through the material together. The training is having a big impact already!

In addition to our Foundations materials, the ChatterBoxes also include useful resources like audio Bibles, the Jesus Film in 12 local dialects, Bible Project videos, and a large set of community resources which range from children’s schooling material to health worker manuals to instructional videos on good farming practices. These resources are a blessing to our students and to their local communities!

We couldn’t do any of this without our supporters. Right now the need for well-equipped pastors and ministry leaders is greater than ever—and you can help us reach them!

Through the end of June, any one-time donations will be matched by a generous donor. We invite you to join us in giving sustainable transformation by training leaders in places like Zimbabwe and around the world. Every gift makes a big difference, no matter the size!

New class in Epsworth, Zimbabwe!

DOUBLE Your Impact

From now through the end of June, you have an exciting opportunity to have your gift MATCHED by a generous donor! Doors are opening around the world, and we are receiving urgent requests for us to begin training in new strategic places and languages. From translating our materials into Russian for ministry leaders in Belarus, to launching our training program in the isolated Andaman Islands, the opportunities are great.

But we need your help.

Will you join us in raising $50,000 in matched donations this spring? These funds will provide the critical support we need to expand our reach and respond to the urgent requests for training and COVID-19 assistance. As the world continues to reel from the long-term effects of the pandemic, godly pastors and leaders will be more important than ever in shaping the future. Please help us in this pivotal moment.

From Painting to Planting Churches

Pedro is a gifted artist and painter from Guatemala. Although he never considered himself a strong leader, God is using him to transform his community with the Gospel!

Pedro received Global Action’s training in 2019, and his life has never been the same since. While he was studying in the program, he would come home each time and immediately teach what he learned to his family and neighbors. He conducted a Bible study in his home, which he also shared with his mother. His mother was strongly opposed to Christianity, and for a long time she refused to leave her room while the Bible study was taking place. But week after week she began inching closer and closer, listening from the outside. Eventually her heart was softened and she accepted Christ along with the rest of the family!

Pedro’s Bible study group has grown into a small house church of 30 people. Filled with a passion and vision for spreading the Gospel, Pedro took an additional church planting course and is now actively planting other house churches in the area. Pedro’s vision is contagious, and his oldest son and cousin are currently studying with Global Action themselves.

Pedro also continues to use his skills as an artist. In fact, he painted the beautiful new cover design for our class manuals in Latin America (see pictures below).

Right now, you can double your impact by giving to support ministry training for more leaders like Pedro. From now until the end of June, a generous donor has pledged to match up to $50,000 in donations. Will you join us in equipping leaders to transform their communities?

Reaching the Ends of the Earth

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located approximately 1,000 miles off the coast of India, are the home of many isolated tribal communities and unreached people groups. There is little infrastructure on the islands, and they are considered “backward” by the people of India. There are no Christian seminaries or Bible colleges on the islands, and the poverty and geographic isolation prevent pastors and leaders from getting the training they need.

We have dreamed of reaching these islands with life-changing biblical training for many years, and now that vision is spreading even within India! A large Baptist church in northeast India shares our passion for equipping local ministry leaders with solid biblical training, and they partner with us by providing financial support to some of our Indian staff members and strategic projects for reaching the unreached. And this year, they are fully sponsoring a new Global Action staff member to move to the Andaman Islands to begin training leaders!

Lipok, our new missionary to the Andamans, recently graduated from a renowned seminary in India with a Masters in Theology. His heartbeat is to use what he learned in order to raise up more pastors and leaders, and to strengthen the church on these islands where Hinduism is predominant. The work will be challenging, and the Andamans are not an easy place to live! But Lipok and our India team have a vision to train 250 leaders from the islands over the next 5 years. Not only that, but we will also be launching a multiplication program in which each graduate will equip an additional 10-15 leaders. This means that 3,000-3,500 pastors and leaders from these isolated islands will be receiving life-changing biblical training!

These leaders have the potential to completely transform the Andaman Islands with the Gospel. But we need your help to make all of this possible! Right now through the end of June, your gift will be doubled by a generous donor. Leaders in hard places like the Andaman Islands are asking for our help. Will you join us in doubling our impact today?

Overcoming Obstacles

Lester Argueta is a 33-year-old pastor who serves in a small community in Retalhuleu, Guatemala. When his pastor and mentor died suddenly 7 years ago, Lester knew God was calling him to step up and serve as a pastor—even though he had never had any theological training. He was a new Christian at the time, but he was the only one with some sort of education (high school) and nobody else was stepping up to lead.

Lester has been pastoring this small congregation ever since. His dream has been to go to seminary so that he can feel equipped to lead the congregation God has entrusted to him. Global Action represents the opportunity for him to finally receive the training he has been longing for!

In fact, Lester is so determined to study the Word of God that he travels over 200 miles on a small motorcycle to get to his monthly training with us! He couldn’t wait for our training to be offered closer to his home, because he knows how important this is for the health and growth of his church.

There are hundreds of other pastors and ministry leaders just like Lester in our program around the world. They are hungry to learn and willing to face great obstacles so that they might pour into others for the sake of Christ!

In Latin America, we are currently training over 639 pastors and leaders across 6 countries! In Cuba alone, we plan to have 17 different classes meeting regularly by the end of the year. We recently relaunched our program in Nicaragua, where leaders are so eager for biblical training that we already have 85 students in just one class! We have also successfully launched Zoom classes for the first time in Panama and Honduras, where ongoing COVID restrictions have limited our ability to gather in groups. Additionally, yesterday we held our first class in Costa Rica! In Guatemala, we are planning to have 5 different training locations across the country, many of which are taking place in very remote locations for indigenous Mayan pastors and leaders. Global Action is on the move in Latin America!

Thank you to all those who partner with us to make life-changing biblical training available to pastors in hard places. You have made Lester’s dream a reality, along with the dreams of hundreds of other pastors and leaders. Thank you!

A Future For the Roma

The Roma people are Hungary’s largest ethnic minority, and Global Action biggest ministry field in Eastern Europe. The Roma (often known as gypsies) are a diverse group of people who are often associated with poverty or crime. For hundreds of years, they were enslaved, persecuted, sterilized and systematically exterminated in many European countries. Even today, they face many barriers of discrimination. These are the people that many of our Global Action pastors are ministering to.

Josef is just one of many pastors who has responded to God’s call to share the hope of the Gospel with the Roma. Josef has established a Roma church network that now encompasses Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. As recently as two years ago, there were 18 churches in the network. Today there are 40! These churches are located in places of great need, where there is little to no access to biblical training. And the pastors are hungry to be equipped for the work of ministry. Josef estimates that through this network with its rapid growth and extensive reach, over 500 Roma pastors and ministry leaders could be trained within the next few years!

God is on the move in Eastern Europe. The pastors and leaders we have equipped there over the last two decades have been reaping exponential fruit, and countless lives and communities have been changed forever. By giving local pastors and leaders access to biblical training, we are investing in sustainable transformation that can withstand all the changing currents of life—even pandemics!

2021 is a year of growth, and we are so encouraged to see how God is using leaders like Pastor Josef to turn the world upside down for the Gospel. Thank you to all our partners who are helping us reach under-resourced Roma pastors and leaders with biblical training that will change their lives—and the lives of those they serve—forever. Thank you for giving the Roma a bright future by equipping pastors and leaders!

Touching Hearts in India

We have been so encouraged by God’s answers to our prayers, even in a season of unknowns. And he has continued to amaze us! In January 2021, we conducted training in Amritsar (along the border with Pakistan) for 50 leaders! We had our second leadership seminar in East Godavari with another 40 leaders, and in February we conducted a youth seminar among the Banjara people group. We are prayerfully planning to train many more leaders from ten additional locations across India.

Your support during this pandemic has also allowed to us to touch many lives through our Good Samaritan projects. Here in India, one of the pastors we have been partnering with to serve those in need is named Kiran. Kiran graduated from our training program in 2016, and he and his wife Suneetha have dedicated their lives to serving HIV+ people with the Gospel and healthcare. Our team partnered with Kiran and Suneetha to provide food packages to some of the women they have been faithfully serving. Here is one testimony from a single mother named Taj:

“As a sick person with no source of income for our livelihood, our family goes through many financial struggles. We worry throughout the day and night…in times like this, we are helpless. We have no idea what to do, and we didn’t have any food…My own father and my husband’s family abandoned us due to my sickness. Being a Muslim widow, it is very difficult to survive day-to-day life with my children. Brother Kiran and his family have always been kind to us. I thank you very much for providing food packages through the Good Samaritan Project. You Christians are kind and helpful people. I am so blessed and touched by your kindness. Thank you so much!”

Sofia, an elderly HIV+ widow who was also blessed by Pastor Kiran and the Global Action team, shared:

“No one from my community or family helped me—but you did. Thank you very much Global Action for your compassion and for providing this food to a destitute woman like me. This is what we are in desperate need of at this time. I lack the words to express my gratitude to you. I always thought there is nobody to help us, but you have shown so much compassion and mercy to us through this food package. May God protect you and bless you even more than what you have given to us.”

Thank you for partnering with us to raise up leaders like Kiran and Suneetha, who are sharing the love of God with the sick and hurting. God has already done so much through your generosity, and we look forward to all that God will do in the days ahead!

In Christ,

Amit Mondal
Director of South Asia

P.S. Watch this video to get a closer look at our Good Samaritan projects in India!

A Strong Start in Zimbabwe

To see the Gospel at work is the most exciting answer to prayer! Across the world, our Global Action leaders are preparing for a year of ministry – training leaders, feeding orphans, providing for the homeless, and being the hands and feet of Christ.

This month, we are thrilled to highlight our work Harare, Zimbabwe. Here in Africa, we have begun our partnership with Harare Theological College and our students are full of anticipation. The pilot class began a few months ago, and the students are eager to learn and grow! We are also overjoyed that all modules have now been translated into the local Shona language, and the Ndebele translation is underway. It feels as if God is answering prayers every day.

Our partnership with Harare Theological College has already proven to be a work of God. Due to the pandemic, they have started an online Foundations Certificate class using the Global Action materials. Module 1 began the last week of February on Zoom. Few things fill us with so much joy!

Our excitement is building, and we are looking forward to beginning classes in three other locations as soon as the COVID-19 lockdowns lift. We would appreciate your prayers, as we hope to commence as soon as possible!

Thank you for your support as we begin many endeavors and eagerly await all that God will do. Places like Zimbabwe are changing the world and we are so excited to be witnesses of this Gospel work!

With immense joy,

Buhe Mativenga
Director of Africa