Our call is to bring grace to both the church and the world because we know that grace is for both the believer and the unbeliever.
About Global Missions at Grace
Our call is to bring grace to both the church and the world because we know that grace is for both the believer and the unbeliever.
We believe that in Christ all national and cultural divisions can be overcome and will one day disappear. Since we believe we are one in Christ and that all are equally valuable before God, in our mission work we represent Christ and His kingdom, not America or evangelical western sub-culture. Christ's incarnation is our pattern - we leave our 'heaven' to enter another world. Though we may never leave our culture completely, we can value others and work for unity in Christ. We cannot compromise the core message of the gospel, but we are called to translate that into the new cultures God calls us into.
Relationships are central to our calling, to the way we work together with others in missions, and to those we seek to draw to faith. Relationships are a tangible way we express the love that comes from our faith. In mission work we are committed to loving others by working in teams, sharing ministry with other denominations and boards as an expression of our unity in Christ and building partnerships with indigenous leaders where we work as students, peers and servant leaders to strengthen local works.
Missions is done in many ways with many strategies. Often mission workers, national pastors, and boards tend to 'compete' for affection and money by claiming that their way is best, exclusive or is what God is currently doing. Grace is committed to a unified rather than a competitive approach. Grace supports short-term workers, missionaries, boards and national pastors/workers. We believe that mission work can best be done when each kind of effort cooperates with each other and ideally has some functional and supportive relationship.
2024 Global Missions Team
Front Row: Byron White, Kathleen White, Pam Lessig
Back Row: Shelley Buchwald, Elaine Lindsey, Allison Rickman, Donna Cannone, Adam Knechtel
Join the Grace Missions Team
As We Touch People’s Lives...
Through Praying, Giving, and Going
This team…Your team… has been touching people’s lives around the world in some incredible ways:
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Bringing People to Christ
Helping create multiple church plants and discipleship programs. -
Building Relationships Across Cultures
Connecting with locals using culturally appropriate art, music and literature to build lasting relationships. -
Supporting Christian-Based Education in Schools
Helping to build schools and provide tuition and supplies for students in Honduras and Uganda. -
Missionary Apprentice Program (MAP)
Supporting this SERGE program designed to train and prepare apprentice missionaries. (Visit serge.org to learn more about their MAP program)
If you have questions or interest in Grace Missions, please contact us.
Meet Our Global Missionaries
Scott Rayl
Nigeria
As an Arts Specialist serving Wycliffe in Nigeria, Scott Rayl is a member of an EthnoArts team that works alongside local artists while researching community art forms. Their goal is to help spark new artistic creations that communicate God’s message in powerful ways. These artistic creations address community needs such as scripture engagement and translation, worship expressions, language and arts preservation, literacy, and evangelism. Scott's specific role is to incorporate local visual arts into this process. If you'd like to follow Scott’s journey or would like to help support him, follow "Scott's African Art Adventure" on Facebook.
Josiah & Barbara Bancroft
Global
Josiah is the Director of Ministry with Serge working with Field Directors to oversee Serge missionaries and the mission's ministry through the Gospel Resource Network. Both Josiah and Barbara look to God's grace to unfold how their practical experience in pastoral partnerships, supporting leaders and marriages, training new pastors, preaching and pioneering new ministries will best serve in Serge.
Joel & Cindy Hylton
Prague, Czech Republic
Cindy and Joel have a passion for seeing men and women captured by the good news of Jesus Christ so that they are challenged and motivated to give their lives for the sake of others. It is to that end, Joel and Cindy serve as Area Directors for Serge Apprenticeships worldwide. They provide leadership and support for current and growing Apprenticeship opportunities in Europe, Africa, and South Asia. The apprenticeships they lead offer hands-on ministry service with personal mentoring and training in discipleship, prayer, world religions, missiology, ecclesiology, evangelism, mentoring, cross-cultural living, and relationships. In 2004, the Hyltons moved with their four daughters from Asheville to Dublin, Ireland. Ongoing immigration issues led then to London in 2009 with Serge, and to Prague, Czech Republic in 2017.
Ann Kieser
Uganda
Ann Kieser serves in Bundibugyo, Uganda, an isolated district in the far west between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the beautiful Rewenzori mountains with Serge. Her focus is working with interns and short-term groups, working some with orphans and vulnerable children at Christ School, and leading the Missionary Apprentice Program (MAP) in Uganda. The MAP program exists to equip, train, empower and mobilize missionary apprentices for effective leadership, developing their love for the gospel, the kingdom and other cultures.
Edward & Christine Isingoma
Uganda
Edward and Christine are partnering with Grace to assist in the work God has called them to do in Edward’s hometown of Hoima, Uganda. They have started a church and a small primary school that meets at the church. Edward is training a group of young elders to carry on the leadership of the church and also start new churches in the surrounding villages. Their vision is not only to plant churches with the Gospel message, but to also reach those in his community by meeting tangible needs, such as medical care, finding employment, starting small businesses, and essentials like food and clean water. Edward also invests time in the local schools to encourage students to learn while sharing the hope of the Gospel.
Chip & Meredith Jones
Chile
Chip and Meredith, along with their three kids – Cobi, Micah and Zeb, have just returned to Chile to continue their mission sponsored by Serge (formally called World Harvest Mission). With their success in influencing individuals and church leadership in Chile, they are refocusing their efforts to encourage the preaching and more importantly, the living of the Gospel within Chile instead of reinforcing existing programs that support the Law and prescribed ways for Chileans to behave within the church and in their real lives.
Gary & Ashley Helms
London
Gary & Ashley Helms are currently raising support to join the Missionary Apprenticeship Program (MAP) staff of Serge. Why would a predictable, stability-loving couple choose to leave the serene mountains of Western NC for a bustling city of 7 million where over 300 languages are spoken? The answer is that God has given Gary and Ashley Helms a vision to invest long term in building His Kingdom in London. Before they married in the autumn of 2003, they had separately served for various lengths in Amsterdam, Belize, Kosovo, and London. Ashley served for two years in Senegal. They deployed in 2015 to London as full-time staff, helping to lead an apprenticeship and internship program in London. Having had careers in management, administration, and sales, Gary and Ashley draw from these rich life experiences while using their gifts to help train and mentor apprentices and interns. They say that experiencing the richness of God's grace daily is what gives them the confidence and passion to take these risks.
Yobani Alas
Honduras
Yobani Alas is a national pastor serving with Fuente de Vida in Taulabe, Honduras. Dariela, his wife, is the assistant principal of the Fuente De Vida school of 450 students. Fuente de Vida is the Honduran sister organization of which Honduras Fountain of Life (HFoL) submits to the leadership. Our Honduran family is the group of believers that fulfilling the mission of "Helping Hondurans Help Hondurans."
Colin P Thornley
Global
Colin Thornley served in ministry with Grace Mills River for over 25 years as in various roles such as: Youth Pastor, College Pastor and Pastor of Discipleship & Equipping. While serving at Grace, he continued to pursue training and ministry opportunities with Serge as a mentor and eventually a Sonship Coach, who trained other mentors. He traveled to several Sonship Week events where he served as a Sonship Mentor. Colin’s passion for mentoring and equipping people who want to mentor others led him to begin assisting Serge in a minimally part-time capacity and finally to join the Serge Renewal Mentoring Team in January of 2020.
Colin has one son, a granddaughter and a rather large Great Pyrenes named Spurgeon.
Knickers for New Life
Uganda
Knickers for New Life impacts the future for girls (and boys) in rural Uganda through Health & Hygiene programs in Christian schools that give them a healthier, more secure future. Our mission is to raise awareness in the US of the barriers Ugandan girls face to health, education, and economic opportunity, and to work towards the removal of those barriers. We seek others with a heart for the girl-child to join us in this adventure. Contact Watha Kollmeyer to learn more.
Life 107
Life 107 works to eliminate sex trafficking and empower those affected by the sex trade industry to live free, abundant lives.