Group2Group Can Help Your Ministry Have a Worldwide Impact

Africa is an amazing continent with a large youth population. According to World Population Review, the top 10 countries listed as having the youngest average age are on the continent of Africa. I say this to give you a visual of the impact that youth ministry has through local churches across the continent. We have an amazing team of missionaries who help coach, encourage, equip, pray with, and serve alongside youth leaders and pastors in local churches of the country where they serve.

In Africa, the relationship with youth and opportunity to serve local churches all begins with the relationship with the pastor. Our team actively builds these relationships. What we see now is an incredible open door as we have the backing of the pastor to train the youth leaders and coach them in reaching youth. 

This is where you come in. There are so many international churches that want to use Word of Life Youth Ministries resources but can’t afford it. Recognizing this, Word of Life offers an amazing opportunity called “Group2Group” for you and your ministry to partner with a ministry in another country to help provide materials for their youth.

For just $250 annually, a United States youth ministry may provide a full year of teaching curriculum and digital Quiet Time devotionals for an entire international ministry. The goal here is not simply that a ministry just engages in a financial partnership. Rather, we want to see international churches commit to regular contact (at least once a month) with their sponsor in a growing, nurturing relationship. This can be done through social media, videos, newsletters, or any other form of contact.

Sharing can happen around a variety of topics, including prayer for unsaved students, highlights of social or evangelistic activities, testimonies from students within the ministry, salvation stories, and anything else fun!

Here’s how it works. Pay the $250 annual sponsorship by visiting https://wolstore.org/products/group2group. Word of Life will then match your church with an international church as identified by a missionary in that country. Once we match a U.S. church with an international church, Word of Life will contact both to make the connection. The international WOL missionary will follow up with the sponsored international Bible clubs on a regular basis (please note that international churches have been asked not to solicit additional funds from their sponsor).

The resources you will provide by being a part of the Group2Group International Program will go farther than you can imagine. Let me give a quick glimpse of the opportunity that awaits. In Uganda, we have 147 active church partnerships. Togo has 44 Bible clubs; Mozambique has ongoing training with more than 100 pastors and 170 youth leaders. Nigeria has more than 80 churches they serve. Additionally, in Egypt, we have begun training leaders from 32 churches and are holding two more conferences, reaching an additional 60-plus churches. This is just a glimpse of the need for partnerships in Africa.

It is so exciting to know that you can make a simple partnership through the sponsorship program enabling a missionary to serve a local church by providing the resources to go along with the principles they already teach. 

Christy and I have had the joy of living in Africa since 2006. Our heartbeat is reaching youth through local churches. When we talked to our missionaries and shared this opportunity for resources, they instantly smiled knowing what kind of an impact it will have. They followed with the question: “How quickly can we get these partnerships — and how many can we have?” They have an immediate need. Your investment will be immediate, and the impact will not only be for this generation, but also for the next one. 

For more information on Group2Group, visit https://youthministry.wol.org/sponsor-an-international-youth-ministry/.

John Page

John Page is the regional director for Word of Life Africa. He and his wife of 29 years, Christy, have been living in Africa since 2006, and it is their heartbeat to reach youth through the local church. They have two grown children, C.J. and Chae Marie.