Dr. Dennis Jackson
Executive Director
Dear Global Partners Family,
Like you, my life has never been the same since I met Jesus. I long to see people from every nation experience the transforming love of God. Together, we have the honor of joining Christ in His mission to share the gospel with everyone everywhere. I’m celebrating the exciting ways this mission advanced in 2023.
New missionaries have been mobilized and launched, a refugee has been blessed with affordable housing, the Asian Church is sending missionaries to the Middle East, missionaries have started discipleship journeys with local friends. People have heard and responded to the Good News of Jesus!
But the reality is, there are still so many people who have never heard the Good News that the Father deeply loves them, Jesus died to save them and the Holy Spirit can live within them.
4 in 10 people live without access to the gospel; we exist to reach them.
Stepping into such a monumental mission can feel paralyzing, but it doesn’t have to stop us in our tracks – everyone has a role to play. Some go, some equip and many give.
As you read this report, I pray that you are encouraged and inspired by how He is using you.
Thank you for your generous giving and faithful prayer to reach the 4 in 10 who live without access to the gospel. Because of your investment, many are experiencing the transforming power of Jesus.
In H+S Service,
Missionaries Mobilized
We celebrate stories of joy-filled, fully surrendered living—stories of giving our lives away for the global mission, just as Christ gave his life for the world.
ONE YES AT A TIME
When I was eleven years old, God clearly called me to missions. I remember standing and coming forward to the altar during one of my local Wesleyan church’s mission conferences to say “yes” and commit my life to serving the Lord, no matter where.
Gradually—over time—my heart has been shaped by many, small “yeses.” Saying “yes” to youth trips (local, national and international) instilled a healthy scope and sequence of the Great Commission. Saying “yes” to teaching experiences in both a Native American reservation school and in a public school setting set a foundation in my career field as a teacher and revealed the possibilities of using teaching as a legitimate presence and ministry overseas. Then a two-year opportunity in the Caribe-Atlantic area permanently solidified the call to use my gifts to go “to the ends of the earth,” but first God asked that I pursue a master’s degree in special education in order to equip myself for long-term ministry more fully.
Now, I’ve officially been mobilized for my first term overseas in Central Asia and am in the initial throes of language learning and cultural acclimation! I praise God for His faithfulness over many years and for bringing me to this place to reach the unreached who live without access to the gospel.
*Name withheld due to security guidelines
Partnerships Engaged
We look for partnerships that are both relational and strategic. Relational means regular, ongoing contact. Strategic means a long-term investment with a clear aim in mind.
Join Team Amplify by setting up a recurring monthly gift today! By joining the team, your gifts help to clear financial hurdles for every Global Partners missionary.
Visit gponline.org/teamamplify for more.
A WELCOMING, CREATIVE COMMUNITY
Last winter, after several years of reaching out to immigrants and refugees, mostly via organic relationships, our team prayed, “Lord, in addition to what we’re already doing, how can we add value to the community?” God answered in the form of a partnership engaged.
Our colleague Riley* also serves among immigrants and refugees. We have partnered together on refugee ministry projects outside of the city, but Riley has long had a vision for a ministry in the city where Christ-followers can build bridges across cultures through creativity. Last January, we met with Riley to discuss partnership and making this vision a reality. In January, we had no building, no established team and few resources. Since then, God has provided a facility, a team of nine individuals representing five organizations, additional volunteers and ministry supplies.
The vision of the center is to be “a welcoming community of people from all cultures who come together to learn, share and express their creativity.” We recently hosted both a dedication service and a grand opening and are now launching programs such as homework help and music classes. Through these programs, we pray that relationships develop in which people share both creativity and God’s truth.
*Name changed due to security guidelines
Generosity Inspired
Regardless of where your mailing address says you live, we all joyfully leverage all our resources for the sake of the mission.
AN UNCONVENTIONAL GIFT BLESSES MANY
I was quite shocked and humbled when a couple from the Great Lakes Region contacted me, telling me that they had felt led to personally invest in our field. Of course! We can always use family support! However, they knew the greatest need we had was affordable, reliable housing on our site.
The Waha field is a NEXT site, we also regularly host short-term teams and often receive requests for short-term housing for refugees resettling in our area. These all require dependable housing. This call was an incredible answer to many prayers.
This birthed the Habibi Haus, which, in the last couple of years, has been used to house many interns and countless short-term teams. This past year it has also been used to provide affordable housing to a refugee woman who attends the Arabic-English fellowship that we are a part of. She resettled in our area without any family and with some limitations to her being able to immediately provide for herself.
The Habibi Haus has become a safe and affordable place for her to live, but also a place where some of our team meet with her regularly for Bible study. Praise God for this unconventional investment that is having an immediate impact on our field, but also in the spiritual life of this dear woman. Giving comes in many different forms and affects in many different ways!
Name withheld due to security guidelines
Followers Multiplied
As a result of partnering with Global Partners, your church will play a key role in more stories — stories of personal transformation and stories of the transformed being gathered into newly planted church communities.
SPREADING HOPE THROUGH DISCIPLESHIP
“It’s been two years since I’ve discipled anyone,” I whined (yeah, for real, I whined) to my friend and teammate Wendy. “What about Nada?” asked Wendy. Nada, our hairdresser, is not involved in a church and I was unsure if she was a believer.
Wendy went on to remind me that Nada is more than just my hairdresser, since we’ve been building a friendship for more than 25 years. “And just think of the ministry she could have,” said my pastor friend, Erica. “She’s got a daily ‘captive’ audience.”
I prayed about this for two months, and the Lord kept bringing her back to mind. In February, I pitched the idea to Nada, explaining what discipleship is. I added that this wasn’t something for her to just hold onto and keep for herself—but to give it away.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she said, “This is what I’ve been waiting for. I just didn’t know what to call it.”
Please pray for Nada that she will continue to grow, that the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to her and that she will be joined in her faith by every one of her family members. By the way, her name, “Nada,” means hope.
Leaders Developed
As the gospel takes root in an area, we are eager to turn over responsibility and authority to well-equipped local leaders. We are continually working ourselves out of a job.
PROVISION OF CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
The early missionaries of the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Zambia established three key initiatives: planting/building churches, building schools and establishing a hospital.
The Pilgrim Wesleyan Church built 74 primary schools as a contribution to the nation, along with a seminary in Jembo and a college of Nursing and Midwifery in Zimba. Many students who have passed through our education system have served in both public and private sectors, as well as in politics.
Establishing Africa Wesleyan University in Zimba has been years in the making. Once open, the college is set to offer a wealth of relevant and contemporary knowledge through a combination of remote learning and in-person sessions as well as opportunities for exams.
Africa Wesleyan University will offer degree qualifications in three programs: Theology, Education and Nursing. These three academic programs find their genesis in the colleges in Jembo and Zimba, and the many primary and secondary schools around the country.
These three programs are only a beginning, with additional programs in agriculture and business to follow.
The long-term vision is to have distributed campuses in Choma, Jembo, Lusaka, Chipata, etc., where different programs will be provided to meet the growing demand of Christian higher education in Zambia and beyond. This is indeed a new day in the provision of Christian Higher Education for the Church in Africa.
Churches Reproduced
Global Partners’ missiology seeks to move each field through five phases—the fifth and final phase being “Multiplying Movements.” A church reaching this phase is not only mature enough to be self-supporting, but it is also parenting new works by planting churches and sending missionaries.
OBEDIENCE LEADS TO CHURCH MULTIPLICATION IN INDONESIA
At the age of 18, a young Indonesian man named Yosman Banu from the island of Timor became a follower of Jesus. He joined The Wesleyan Church, where he was discipled by experienced pastors. When Yosman sensed God leading him into full time ministry, he enrolled at Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Magelang (Magelang Theological College), a Wesleyan Bible College started by missionaries that is now fully run by Indonesian scholars. During this time, Yosman sensed the Lord telling him to move to the island of Sumatra to plant a church in the Karo regency.
So in 1998, following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Yosman moved his young family from Timor to Karo, a distance of approximately 4,000 kilometers. While Indonesia is one country, it is spread across 6,000 inhabited islands. Culture and language vary from island to island. When Yosman arrived in Sumatra, he struggled to learn the customs of the people he was serving. But he and his family worked tirelessly to plant a church, learning from their failures. On October 17, 1998, The Wesleyan Church was successfully established in Karo with six initial congregations.
Today, those churches have multiplied, and multiplied again, and again! There are now 37 Wesleyan churches in the area with over 3,000 members. God takes the little we give him and multiplies it to bless the nations.
Nations Transformed
We are convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to transform lives, families, communities and entire nations. Historians tell us that the Wesleyan revival transformed 18th century England, saving it from the bloody revolution France experienced. We believe God can use us in our day to see nations made new.
FROM EVERYWHERE TO EVERYWHERE
A portion of the Asian* Church passionately desires to join with God’s mission around the world. It’s a good thing too, because in some parts of the world like the Middle East and South Asia, missionaries from the West have a hard time gaining access or trust with local peoples. Asian* missionaries, using medical or business platforms, are filling gaps, some of which are created when Western missionaries can’t reach into previously accessed fields of service.
The Wesleyan Church through Global Partners is active in training some of these missionaries. Four (along with their families in some cases) are already on the field and one more will deploy to the Middle East. Through sensitive relational coaching and contextualized curriculum, these missionaries, and others who will follow them, are learning how to lay a foundation for missionary sending from Asia that potentially could, geopolitical factors permitting, lead to a sustainable Asian missionary movement. Let’s pray that this happens. Not only can the Asian Church change the world, but also by participating in His mission, they have the opportunity to be transformed more into Jesus’ image, of walking closer to God and getting to know Him better.
*Country and personnel names omitted for security
