Global Mission

A large number of people gathered uner a celebratory canopy.
During May, 2023, two church buildings were dedicated in the Dang region of Gujarat state, India. The photo is from a dedication ceremony of the Brethren Church Tekpada. Photo provided by Darryl Sankey

The Global Mission office works with autonomous Brethren bodies  in various countries around the world through mutual encouragement, sharing resources, and supporting each other’s efforts. It also supports emerging and ongoing missions and projects.

Global mission prayer updates and signup

Global mission prayer updates primarily share prayer requests received from the global Church of the Brethren and our partners around the world.  See a sample prayer update here.

You could be a Mission Advocate!

Learn about the Mission Advocates Network at congregational and district levels. Check out ideas and tools to support Mission Advocates.

 

Vision for a Global Church of the Brethren, 2018 Church of the Brethren Statement

Global Church of the Brethren Communion

For the Global Mission office, an area of particular energy and growth is the Global Church of the Brethren Communion (GCBC). We are part of a fellowship with eleven other Brethren denominations around the world: Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Honduras, India, Nigeria (general Nigeria page & history) (Nigeria Crisis Response), Rwanda, Spain, Uganda, United States, and Venezuela.

Brazil: One fellowship. Community outreach programs and family therapy.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): 32 churches, 8,000 members.
Dominican Republic (DR): 15 churches, 10 fellowships, 2,800 members (including two districts).
Haiti: 22 churches, 8 stations, 4,500 members. Haiti Medical Project.
Honduras: Formally affiliated with GCBC on December 5, 2023. Details to come.
India: 29 churches, 39 worship centers, 10,000 members.
Nigeria: 605 local church councils (congregations), with additional preaching points and church plants under most councils, 750,000 or more members. A full denominational program including women’s and youth programs, agriculture program, educational institutions and a seminary, missions in neighboring countries.
Rwanda: 4 churches, 724 members, 12 choirs, 2 schools. Significant outreach to the Batwa community, preschool, and Bible school.
Spain: 6 churches, 275 members. Open-air revivals, community gardens.
Uganda: 15 churches with 732 members. Orphanage.
Venezuela: 40 churches, 1,611 members. Outreach to Indigenous people.

Project sponsored by the U.S. Church of the Brethren

South Sudan: This mission project sponsored by the Mission and Ministry Board has one full-time Global Mission staff person and several local staff working in the areas of agriculture, reconciliation, trauma healing, prison ministry, and evangelism. Two churches have been planted.

Emerging missions and projects

In addition to the countries where churches are members of the GCBC, there are emerging missions and projects in the following places:

Burundi: 50 churches and 6,000 members since 2006. Registered in Burundi but not yet formally recognized by the Global Church of the Brethren Communion.
Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic, and Togo: Missions of EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria.
China: Hospice and autism projects (China is a former Church of the Brethren mission).
Colombia: Churches started by refugees from Venezuela.
Ecuador: Agriculture project (Ecuador is a former Church of the Brethren mission).
Kenya and Tanzania: Churches planted by the emerging church in Burundi.
Mexico: Long-term Church of the Brethren-founded community project in Tijuana (Bittersweet Ministries).
Ukraine: One fellowship.
Vietnam: Vision project for retinopathy of prematurity treatment (a former Brethren Volunteer Service location).

Other worldwide connections

Other worldwide connections not listed here include Brethren Volunteer Service projects and disaster recovery grants give through the Emergency Disaster Fund. Global Food Initiative partnerships are located in many of the countries listed.

Global mission ministries

The ministries of Global Mission seek to integrate faith and service as they challenge and equip Brethren to respond to human need and grow the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Global Mission ministries include:

  • Global Food Initiative
  • International ministries (this page)
  • Global Church of the Brethren Communion

The programming of Global Mission falls into six broad categories:

  • church development
  • health and well-being
  • education
  • peacebuilding
  • economic empowerment and
  • agriculture development

Global Mission envisions the development of a global Church of the Brethren consisting of autonomous groups that witness to their broader communities while mutually encouraging one another as branches from the denomination vine. It seeks to deepen faith and relationships with established mission points, promoting outreach ministries and developing leadership. With emerging mission points, it seeks to promote core Brethren beliefs and practices while building organizational capacity and deepening faith.

Marcos Inhauser, GM staff in Brazil, has created an eight-minute YouTube video explaining the beliefs and practices of the Church of the Brethren. It is in both Spanish and English. We invite you to view it here:

  • Global Food Initiative grants aid food security and related work of church partners

    The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) has issued a recent round of grants supporting work for food security and related needs including $15,000 for purchase of farmland in Uganda, $6,470 for a well project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, $825 for a farming project of the emerging Tanzania Church of the Brethren, $5,000 in continued support for the Soybean Value Chain project of Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria, and $15,000 for the Wings of Blessing and Hope Farm Poultry Project of ASIGLEH, the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela.

  • There is still time to contribute to the South Sudan Matching Gift Campaign

    The South Sudan Matching Gift Campaign that celebrates the Church of the Brethren ministry that is growing in South Sudan is in its last weeks. We are raising funding to help support a variety of projects in South Sudan that include agriculture, community development, theological training, and equipment for ministry.

  • EYN program in Maiduguri, Nigeria, aids flood survivors

    On Sept. 10, Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, Nigeria, and its surrounding areas were hit by a devastating flood, leaving thousands of people in dire need of immediate assistance. The disaster, caused by the overflow and breach of the Alau Dam in the neighboring Konduga Local Government Area (LGA), has affected an estimated 1,020,340 individuals across four LGAs: Maiduguri, Jere, Mafa, and Konduga.

  • Sharon Norton hired as executive director of Global Mission

    Sharon Norton has been hired by the Church of the Brethren as executive director of Global Mission. Her previous mission work spans 27 years, including 9 years in multiple positions and the most recent 4 years as co-administrator for Europe and Africa with the Mennonite Mission Network, which is related to the Mennonite Church USA.

  • A report from the 10th annual conference of l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti

    I bring greetings from our brothers and sisters of Church of the Brethren in Haiti (l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti), from the general secretary, the moderator, the National Committee of the church, and from the delegates and nondelegates!

  • International guests at Annual Conference come from churches in Burundi, Dominican Republic, India, Nigeria, Spain, Venezuela

    International guests at the 2024 Annual Conference include top leadership from several Church of the Brethren sister denominations around the world as well as a number from B.E.S.T. in Nigeria.

  • Mission Advocates networking session open to those wanting to learn more about mission

    Want to actively support the Church of the Brethren in mission? Come to the Mission Advocates Networking Meeting at the 2024 Annual Conference! The session will be Saturday, July 6, at 12:30-1:30 p.m.

  • Storm causes damage at EYN refugee camp in Cameroon

    We have been hearing of a storm and need at the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) refugee camp in Cameroon, called Camp Minawao. The new EYN director of Disaster Relief Management, Bitrus Duwara, investigated and found out the following: