GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Partners Worldwide is filling a much-needed niche for Christian faith-based organizations. Their ministry is being a catalyst to help evangelical partners around the world to develop and sustain poverty alleviation efforts. Team members agree that “work and worship shouldn’t be divided.”

The Lord gave us the privilege of bearing His image, in part, by making work one of our responsibilities in Genesis 1:26. Some are called into Christian ministry, but every Christian is called to minister to others through our work, whatever that work might be.

For most believers, our jobs are where we spend most of our time. It is at work, what we do and how we do it, where our light should shine the brightest.

Beyond that, work provides people with a sense of dignity and an income that sustains us.

Work is often the missing element in regions where abject poverty is rampant. Partners Worldwide collaborates with like-minded churches and FBOs to accomplish things they otherwise could not. They do this through training, lending, job creation, and ingenuity.

The Lord has gifted some people with the unique ability to see business opportunities in situations where the rest of us are merely passersby. Partners Worldwide came alongside Isaac Sar in Nigeria after he had seen hundreds of mangoes rotting alongside a road.

Many of us would have grieved the loss of the precious fruit, but Isaac perceived a business opportunity. In doing so, he became one of the nearly 150,000 businesses and farms served by Partners Worldwide in 2018.

Instead of unavoidable waste, Isaac saw the potential for a food dehydration business. The assistance of Partners Worldwide and its local partners assisted Isaac in setting up a company that dehydrates fruits and vegetables, packages them, and distributes them to market.

The new business meant new jobs for locals. Local farmers have benefitted as well because their yield is a much higher percentage of their crop. Ingenious. Productive. Beneficial.

Partners Worldwide was born as Partners for Christian Development in 1997 under the umbrella of World Renew in Kenya. As the mission matured and opportunities for global growth continued to open around the globe, PCD stepped out on its own as the newly-branded Partners Worldwide.

Today, the impact of Partners Worldwide is being realized in 34 countries, engaging with local partners to alleviate poverty by providing an alternative by building and expanding businesses and optimizing their operations.

In 2018 alone, more than 15,000 people graduated from the FBO’s custom Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and Microenterprise curricula. More than 217,000 new jobs were created and sustained.

Pray for the Lord’s continued blessing and multiplication of impacts through Partners Worldwide.

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