It is the intention of Global Action to glorify God through our ministry – to always make the name of God great, and to never elevate ourselves. Our ultimate aim is not evangelism, but worship. We want God to be glorified in all we do.
Global Action is dedicated to equipping pastors and leaders with a solid foundation in the Word of God, so they can lead healthy churches that transform their communities and reach the world with the Gospel.
Global Action was founded in 1998 by the Swedish evangelical leader Lars B. Dunberg (b. 1944). As a young boy, Lars attended an evangelistic crusade in Stockholm, Sweden where he was deeply impressed by the soul stirring music of Cliff Barrows (1916-2016) and the powerful preaching of the American evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018).
Dunberg received his theological training at William Booth College in south London and was greatly influenced by the Salvation Army’s nondenominational ethos and its passion for working with the poor. Lars went on to serve as an evangelist with Youth for Christ in the 1960’s, and went on to become the president of the International Bible Society, which is widely known for the New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible.
Shaped by the vision of its founder, Global Action has remained committed to evangelical essentials, interdenominational cooperation, and proclaiming the gospel to the poor throughout the world. It has been engaged in leadership development, disaster relief efforts, church planting, medical missions, and care for orphans and widows. Global Action has provided theological education for more than 11,500 pastors and leaders who live in the world’s least developed nations.
In an effort to respond to what Operation World is now calling one of the greatest needs in missions today, Global Action now focuses most of its efforts on training leaders in the non-Western world to impact their communities. In the spirit of the Lausanne Covenant (1974), its leadership is committed to partnering with “the whole church, to take the whole gospel to the whole world.”
Global Action equips leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, South Asia, Eastern Europe. It is now laying plans to expand its work in South America, Africa, and Central Europe. Learn more about how you can help train more leaders to change the world.
It is the intention of Global Action to glorify God through our ministry – to always make the name of God great, and to never elevate ourselves. Our ultimate aim is not evangelism, but worship. We want God to be glorified in all we do.
We are dedicated to carrying out the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28, by equipping church leaders to lead disciple-making churches. We strive to make our training transferable by keeping it simple, practical and focused. Our desire is to disciple the disciple-makers. Evangelism is the beginning, but not the end. We ultimately are trying to help people follow Christ forever.
We value the Word of God as our final authority and use its wisdom as the basis for all we do. We are committed to a biblically-based evangelical theology. Evangelical theology may be defined as a belief in the Apostle’s Creed, a faithful commitment to Scripture and constant emphasis on the Gospel. We hold to traditional Evangelical theology without excluding those from various denominations of the larger church.
We equip leaders to change their communities and countries. We believe that developing leaders is the best investment of our time and resources. Good leaders can mobilize churches to do important Gospel work (evangelism, discipleship, etc.) and social work (drilling wells, saving orphans, feeding the hungry, working in prisons, etc.) in their communities. Training a leader can transform a community.
We want abundant resources to flow to the areas of greatest need. We believe that we have been called to serve those who are living in the most desperate places in the world. We do not shy away from those who live in poverty or those facing persecution. We move toward them, just as Christ has moved toward us in our time of greatest need.
Theological education should not just be the privilege of those who live in the Western world, or for those who can afford the cost of post-secondary or graduate education. Education is becoming more expensive, and therefore less accessible to the most vulnerable. We are driven by the conviction that theological training should be made accessible for all men and women in the world who have been called to serve the church, regardless of their socio-economic status.
We don't just teach anything - and we don't just let anyone teach. We want our students to get the quality training they need to help them change the communities they serve. We strive to carry out our work with excellence because we believe this glorifies our God, blesses the people we serve, and is an example to those we teach.
Financial integrity is at the core of who we are. We are committed to being faithful stewards of the resources that have been entrusted to us, for the express purpose of training leaders who will help us change the world.
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His present rule as Head of the Church and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the person of the Holy Spirit, and by His indwelling, the Christian is enabled to live a godly life, and to overcome the attacks of the Evil One, Satan.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe that a theological education should be accessible to any person who has been called by God to serve the church. We do not believe that sound Biblical training should be available only to the privileged few. Unfortunately, we live in a world where there is significant income inequality. Half of the world’s 7.3 billion people live on less than $6 a day, which means that most ministry leaders in the non-Western world must often choose between caring for their family and pursuing theological training. Global Action is committed to making theological education accessible by offering module-based courses for ministry leaders to attend once a month within their own countries. Students pay a modest tuition fee, but most of our education is funded by the generosity of the global church.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word written for us, which has the power to transform lives. We are committed to making sure our students have a foundational theological education that is rooted in the Scriptures. Our core curriculum includes courses on important topics like: The Life, Ministry, and Uniqueness of Jesus, Introduction to the New Testament, Introduction to the Old Testament, Biblical Interpretation, Preaching so that people Encounter God, Solid Doctrine: Speaking the Truth in Love, Healthy Church, and Biblical Leadership. Our courses are practical because we believe the Bible is practical. Biblical grounding is essential to multiplying disciples, planting churches, and protecting the people of God from unhealthy teaching that is prevalent in the world today.
We believe that God loves culture and that he calls people to follow him from every tribe, nation, and language (Revelation 7:9). From the very first century, the church has always carried out its work in various cultures. We reject the view that Western cultures are superior to other cultures. We embrace the Biblical teaching that all people are created in the image of God, that we are one in Christ, and that we are equal participants in the Gospel. We therefore work hard to be sure that the unchanging message of the Gospel is translated into every culture in the most relevant way possible. We employ non-Western staff members and scholars to assist us in this endeavor, translate our materials into many of the world’s languages, and only send instructors who have a deep understanding of cross-cultural work.