October 14, 2024
by Greg Henson, CEO and President, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½
If you find yourself wondering what is happening in the Body of Christ around the world, I would recommend gathering stories from (GTP), one of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s partner organizations. The Spirit of God is moving in exciting ways all around the world. Over the past five years, GTP has connected with followers of Jesus in 130 countries around the world. GTP describes its purpose in this way: In obedient service to Jesus Christ, GTP multiplies faithful stewards and mobilizes peer accountability groups to build trust and to grow local generous giving to God’s work.
This past week, I had the opportunity to participate in GTP’s annual Global Gathering. During that time, I had the privilege of facilitating a session on education but, more importantly, I heard powerful stories of God’s work. From stories of local churches in Malawi creating local missions funded through local resources to examples of God’s amazing provision in unexpected ways, the common theme was “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.â€
Our first connection with GTP came through . He and I co-authored The Council alongside Wes Willmer. Gary also worked with us to craft two of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s recent grant projects within Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. As part of that work, we invited GTP to create several self-paced learning experiences on the topics of faith and finances, Christian leadership, generosity, stewardship, and fundraising. As of today, followers of Jesus from around the world have been blessed through these experiences through Kairos and through the on-demand learning opportunities facilitated by GTP.
During our time together in Istanbul, we engaged with leaders from 30 different countries to talk through biblical guidance around faith and finances, local and contextualized funding models, and developed plans for empowering local leaders to cultivate followers of Jesus who flourish in their vocations for the sake of the world. We concluded our time with a commissioning service in which we prayed for each other and celebrated the work God will do in and through the Body of Christ.
On my last day, we considered opportunities for continued partnership. This could involve launching a shared certificate program, creating new resources, and continuing to empower stewards in local contexts as we celebrate the distributed nature of the Body of Christ. It takes the entire Body of Christ to participate in the one mission of God.
Below are a few photos from the Global Gathering.
Prayer during commissioning service
Facilitating a discussion on education
Meeting with a community of participants from South Africa