As 2020 draws to a close in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world, Global Partners reports how God still moved on a global scale despite challenges.

Global Partners, which gives global focus to the mission of The Wesleyan Church, revealed its stories and statistics of how the ministry is having a worldwide transforming presence through its national leaders and missionaries. The 2020 Global Partners Global Update speaks to God’s work.

  • Missionaries Mobilized:
    • 154 in long-term service (4+ years)
    • 27 newly mobilized
    • 15* NEXT participants (mentored cross-cultural immersion experience for the next generation (*with 15 NEXT missionaries mobilized, only one was able to go to the field in 2020 due to COVID-19))
  • Partnerships Engaged:
    • 2 percent North American Wesleyan churches engaged with Global Partners
  • Generosity Inspired:
    • $10,983,548 in contributions
  • Followers Multiplied:
    • 268,604 in attendance
    • 23,151 salvations
    • 20,846 baptisms
  • Leaders Developed:
    • 391 sponsored
  • Churches Reproduced:
    • 2,808 churches
    • 276 new church plants

While Global Partners celebrates growth in many areas, its focus remains on reaching the globe’s least-reached people groups with the gospel.

“As we look toward 2021, we continue to be compelled by the reality that 4 out of 10 still live without access to the gospel. We must pray. We must give. We must send. We must go. Your partnership matters,” said Dr. Dennis Jackson, Global Partners’ executive director. “They live without a church in their community. Many do not even have the Scriptures in their language. As the global population continues to grow, so does the Gospel Gap. In fact, today that gap includes over three billion people — more than eight times the population of the United States and Canada combined.”

As Global Partner seeks to have a transforming presence across the miles, here are just two examples of how God is working in lives around the world.

“On April 1, 2020, the national leaders of The Wesleyan Church in Asia gathered on Zoom to discuss how COVID-19 was affecting each of their countries. Many of our church family members in these areas are day laborers. They work hard, but they do not have consistent employment. They cannot work remotely from home, and they do not have savings accounts at the bank. Due to strict lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus, many church members were left without any money. Their families could not get food. Churches could not take care of their pastors. One of the people on the call — we’ll call her Nancy — is from a creative access country where she cannot be open about her faith in Jesus. She went to her network of house churches and shared about the need. They decided they wanted to help their Christian brothers and sisters and officially began collecting funds for this purpose on April 6. In one week, this house church network had given over $42,000 (in U.S. dollars) to support those affected in surrounding countries! In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

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“I was sitting in a local believer’s living room in rural South Asia remembering God’s faithfulness. We were there to celebrate the family’s new home. It was a big opportunity for them to dedicate their newly built home to the Lord before a small group of friends and family. Santosh* comes from a Hindu family. We first met his wife, Gita*, when she was brought to our house for prayer. She soon became a believer and began praying for her husband. He was not open to coming to church, but he did come to a birthday party where he connected with some of the men from the church. Soon, he became a believer when God came through for their family in a hopeless situation. Since then, the couple has led several other family members to the Lord.”

Global Partners continues to move forward in having a global impact with the gospel as 2021 approaches — in the here, near, far and no matter how hard places — and celebrates every time a disciple makes a disciple and a church multiplies itself.