By Brooke Helder, GACX Content Creator
“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12: 27 (NLT)
Global Assist: Supporting Indigenous Partner Ministries
Global Assist is an organization that provides resources (financial support, leadership training, strategic planning, prayer, and encouragement) to indigenous partner ministries. Their Global Ministry Partners (GMPs) are skilled in understanding their cultures and raising and training their church planters.
Expanding Horizons: From India to Global Impact
Global Assist began in India and has expanded to support over twenty partner ministries in Ethiopia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Brazil. In the last 20 years, Global Assist has provided resources to over 2,000 local field workers as they train church planters and continue to plant churches in their country.
James Kirchner, President of Global Assist, states:
“Global Assist’s work is unique and at the forefront of today’s Great Commission work in that God has called us to come alongside these existing native ministries to help them improve their organizational and operational structures, elevating them to higher levels of efficiency and therefore effectiveness.
Our GMPs are organizations started and developed by native apostolic leaders that God has called and raised into service in countries all over the planet. They have their teams of church planters. Global Assist does not look to develop, train or directly work with individual church planters.
That’s the beauty of what God has done in engaging these native leaders in developing their teams in their own countries. We believe we represent the model of the future of empowering and resourcing native-led church planting ministries by being a catalyst.”A youth conference through Global Assist in Kenya.
Collaborative Stories: Strengthening Partnerships
Global Assist works collaboratively with GACX member organizations to resource indigenous partner ministries, including Community Health Evangelism, Jesus Film Project, and Reach Global.
During COVID-19, a Global Assist partner in southern India was struggling with the health needs of their village. In response, CHE provided that Global Assist local partner with health-based resources and sent CHE staff to assist the ministry partner in their village outreach.
Global Assist is a communication bridge between the Jesus Film Project (JFP) and Global Assist Ministry Partners. This relationship saves Global Assist’s partners time and energy when requesting resources from JFP while ensuring Ministry Partners receive the necessary outreach tools.
In Indonesia, Reach Global introduced Global Assist to a local Indonesian ministry. That introduction resulted in a partnership between Global Assist and the Indonesian church that continues to thrive today.
Global Assist is seeking additional organizational partners that can help them meet the needs of their Global Ministry Partners as they engage in holistic witness and church multiplication around the world.
Kirchner reflects on the power of collaboration: “There’s no single organization, denomination, or entity in the body of Christ that can accomplish the global work. We have to collaborate. Otherwise, our efforts will be shortsighted.”
