Global Outreach
Our global outreach uses every creative means to share the hope of Christ by leveraging relationships and strengths of local churches around the world. Whether we begin with clinics, building projects, education, business enterprise, each is a means of opening the doors to sharing Christ and seeing life change.
Currently Woodlands Church is projects and partnerships on four continents outside North America in countries like: Haiti, Honduras, Sweden, Kenya, Malawi, India, Burma, Indonesia, Japan, and in strategic Middle Eastern countries.
- Haiti
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Haiti has been the "black hole" of missions for 100 years, mainly due to the lack of outsiders understanding how to best help that culture. Unfortunately, most who have tried to assist have actually caused damage, leaving the Haitian people more dependent on outsiders and handouts. Our approach is radically different. Following the earthquake of 2010 Woodlands Church did significant relief efforts along side the hundreds of "non-governmental organizations" (NGOs) and churches. We built a school, supported scores of orphans & feeding programs. We trained leaders, provided medicines by the tons, and clean water for entire communities. All this was necessary in the aftermath of one of the most devastating cultural tragedies of our time. These, however, were temporary measures we knew would have to give way to more permanent strategies. Many organizations, unfortunately, have not moved from the temporary to long-term solutions.
Our approach today is to relate significantly with a region, affecting every area of life: medically, nutritionally, educationally, agriculturally, economically, and most importantly spiritually. Leveraging relationships with the churches in the area, Woodlands has developed connections with over 2,000 farmers in the Marmelade mountain range, impacting nearly 20,000 people. Our commitment is to build their capacity to sponsor their own children, improve their own homes and businesses through mutual enterprise. That enterprise is coffee, a common language that has connected the Haitian world to ours.
- Honduras
- Woodlands Church shared opening two new church plants over the past 12 months, and our teams are returning to the small villages located in the Lago de Yojoa area. We will continue to support the needs for clean water, children’s feeding programs, education, and construction projects. Working with key pastor leaders, Woodlands Church also sponsored a leadership conference for over 100 pastors and business leaders. Each participant is trained to educate an additional 4-6 leaders who in turn are challenged to do the same. In 18 months our investment in 60 lives has the potential of reaching over 5,000 leaders.
- Maseno, Kenya Project
- Woodlands Church is bringing relief from poverty through education in sustainable farming practices and encouraging personal enterprise in the region of Maseno in western Kenya. The education program includes: Kingdom based Discipleship, how to care for their soil and prepare their land and crops to maximize potential. The Maseno Project has a holistic approach to poverty - treating the cause and not the symptom. It is run by Kenyans for Kenyans and empowers local people through expert teaching and shared experience, enabling people to have a hope-filled future. We currently are seeing 34 farm schools, which is impacting over 40,000 underfed people in the Maseno region, while opening the door to sharing the Gospel.
- Nairobi, Kenya
- We continue to develop connections with families in the Masai villages where we are sharing the hope of Christ while training Pastors in the area. In addition, a young adult movement is happening in Nairobi. We are strongly invested in seeing this movement spill beyond the borders of one city to reach a nation of young hearts and lives.
- Kitale, Kenya
- The Kenyan government has recently provided land from which to base our new farm schools. Like the Maseno project, these farm schools will impact the nutritional plight of the region, but will also help re-cultivate a once thriving coffee enterprise. Over 100 pastors have gathered with our teams, working toward involving their entire congregations in the mountains of Mt. Elgon.
- India
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With a population of 1.2 billion people, India is quickly becoming a global influencer. As a strategic player in the 10/40 window (where most of the world’s population reside and where most unchurched live) we have made our efforts there a new and emerging priority. Woodlands is investing into:
- Church planting efforts, which will total more than 50 new churches over the next 5 years;
- Children’s Clubs, with nearly 900 children involved from Muslim and Hindu communities;
- Women’s Literacy, with over 1,000 who were once vulnerable to human slavery, but now learning how to read, life skills to make a living.
- Sweden
- We continue to provide pastoral training to encourage and support new church plants in a secular culture where fewer than 1% of the population in Stockholm is Christian.
- Indonesia
- We continue to rebuild the tsunami-devastated areas of Banda Aceh and support over 2,500 orphans with food, clothing and school supplies. We look to ramp up and make a continued difference in the lives of poor families in the remote coffee growing regions of Indonesia.
- Burma (Myanmar)
- We continue to track the project in Burma, following a devastating flood, where we have been able to send blankets and needed supplies. To date we have not sent teams. We are also developing relationships with church leaders to provide pastoral training to 1,000 which has the potential to impact 100,000 with the Gospel.
- Malawi
- In one of the poorest countries of the world, Woodlands Church has supported Christian leaders in Malawi, where we have helped establish water wells and a state of the art medical clinic.
- Persecuted Church Ministry
- Woodlands Church supports ministries currently involved in church ministry and church planting in areas hostile to the Christian movement. These leaders are engaged in perhaps some of the most heroic and dangerous of outreaches of any place on our planet. We remain non-specific to guard their safety, but receive continual updates and prayer requests.
