GLOBAL IMPACT

BrightStart Learning, Inc.’s mission is to provide disadvantaged students in developing countries with educational opportunities and assistance to help them reach their full potential as productive adults and leaders. BrightStart’s board of directors are devout Christians with firsthand mission experience in Cambodia. Their core values are to honor God in the lives of the people they serve, their staff and relationships with sponsors and partners; equipping and changing lives; and partnering with like-minded organizations. BrightStart provides educational opportunities and assistance to over 500 children and young adults in the province of Battambang, Cambodia and the capital city of Phnom Penh. Their vision is “Brighter futures start today,” recognizing it is never too late to point lives in the right direction. Through education, BrightStart strives to break the cycle of poverty in Cambodia by equipping people with hope, morality, and wisdom for a brighter future.

Design Outreach (DO), headquartered right here in Columbus, OH, engineers life-sustaining appropriate technology solutions to help alleviate global poverty. DO has been working to help solve the world’s water crisis in developing countries by inventing the LifePump, a new hand pump technology that is able to reach year-round aquifers, last years between maintenance, and be monitored with a satellite based remote sensor. The first permanent LifePump, installed in Malawi, has been providing safe water since 2013, and the community has been transformed. DO serves around the world in Haiti, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan, CAR, Zimbabwe and Guatemala. DO desires to serve the millions of people in our world today whose basic needs are not being met. Tools such as the LifePump aid our missionary partners in building trust with community members to share the Gospel. We love because Christ first loved us, and it is this love that motivates our work.

There are a variety of areas within Northern Central Africa where being a Christian is rough, and being a missionary is nearly impossible. Despite this dangerous reality, groups of Christians have been able to enter these communities, along with their families, and begin adapting and making disciples. They’ve worked hard to learn the language and culture, establish relief projects, and become co-laborers within the communities. Given these realities, please pray for these teams and groups, for their faith and endurance, and for the communities in which they’re serving and reaching.

International Friendships, Inc. (IFI) is a non-profit community organization that partners with Grace Fellowship and other churches to promote friendship and hospitality for international students, scholars, and their family members at The Ohio State University and other campuses. There are opportunities for you and your church group to pray for and get directly involved.

For more info visit columbus.ifipartners.org or email recruit@ifipartners.org.

Matt and Jen Daniels represent our only ongoing touch in Japan, the worlds 2nd most unreached country. Because of the unique opportunity of this pandemic, Matt and Jen have the chance to connect with people all throughout Japan through their online ministry during COVID. Their team has spent the last few months developing a 7 part curriculum specific to communicating different aspects of Christianity to a Japanese person who has never heard it before. Some of the topics are about Creation, Eternity, or Sin and all are written in a way that is taking Japanese culture into consideration so they can more effectively connect with their hearts. The Daniels’ are working on getting these lessons translated into Japanese and will start promoting this Zoom class in the next month or so.

Momentum Urban Centers have been training followers of Jesus in effective hands-on evangelism for over 20 years with locations in Philadelphia and Los Angeles! Momentum Ministry Partners offers unique life-on-life training sessions on how to start conversations, how to tell your story, and how to share your faith in simple and life giving ways. They also provide practical, easy-to-use evangelism tools that make engaging with others simple. Their field experiences make our time together practical and profitable by immediately putting the lessons learned through the training sessions into practice!

Hands-on Ministry Field Experiences
Here’s the wide variety of “in-the-field” ministry you will experience at Urban Centers:

• Ministering to the homeless
• Participating in park and beach ministries
• Food distribution to families in need
• Children’s ministries
• Other peer-to-peer ministry opportunities

Roots of Grace Cambodia is a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Cambodia began in 2015 that “Introduces Jesus into broken situations with the hope of changing generations.” The vision of Roots of Grace is to have the children living on the streets of Cambodia and their families (if present) become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The strategy is to help break the generational cycles of living on the streets through expanded opportunities for spiritual investment, education, hygiene, physical and emotional care, and vocational training.

Currently, Roots of Grace has two missionaries, with two more missionaries currently learning language in Phnom Penh, and eight Cambodian staff that regularly minister to more than 300 people living on the streets in Battambang, Cambodia. This is primarily accomplished in two ways: Bible Studies on the streets and providing education for young children. The Bible studies are weekly and take place in 4 different locations across the city having more than 150 people attending every week. There are now dozens and dozens of people that had previously never heard the name of Jesus Christ that are now devoted followers of Him.

Monday through Saturday, the staff of Roots of Grace picks up the children from the streets (25 for school year 2020-2021), takes them to the ministry center, bathes them, helps them change into a clean uniform for school, gives them breakfast and takes them to school. School in Cambodia is half a day/six days a week. When the school day is over, the staff picks the kids up from school, feeds them lunch, helps them with their homework, teaches them the Bible and worship songs, teaches them English and gives them time to play and be kids before returning them to the place they stay. For the 2021-2022 school year, Roots of Grace plans to have 31 kids in the program.

Near future initiatives include expansion of our adult literacy program, an on-site pre-school and vocational training. There are also long term hopes of facilitating foster care (when a relative is not present or a situation warrants), as well as, a potential business as mission training center.

SEEDNet is a church planting movement planting churches in spiritually, emotionally, economically, and developmentally oppressed areas. Through the Gospel of Jesus, we give hope to Spiritually, Emotionally, Economically, and Developmentally oppressed people. This type of ministry can be scary and feels risky to some people who want to help, so SEEDNet builds the bridge between you and those who desperately need hope and your help. By helping us give them a church of their own, you are helping give discipleship opportunities, a place for vital needs to be met, and a hub for personal growth and development over a lifetime. By partnering with us to plant churches, you are having an impact on future generations for Christ.