What if every chair in the Northwoods Auditorium represented a church planted somewhere in the world? We can make that dream a reality when global pastors have access to the resources they need.
Spreading the Message of Hope
We believe that local churches can be the wellspring of hope in every community. To that end, by the year 2030, we will plant 20 regional churches in the United States and 3,000 churches around the world!
Meet Our ECAC Strategic Partners
Northwoods is connected with church planters on the ground in regions around the world. A church plant can start with as little as $3,650, which supports its planting pastor for one year. Costs vary by region.
Each region below introduces our partner there, what their ministry does, and how Northwoods serves alongside them. A progress bar shows how close Northwoods is to funding the next church plant in that region. You can give alongside others in our church, or fund one or more plants on your own. When a church plant's funding goal is reached, a new church plant begins in that region.
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Give any amount toward the next church plant.
Complete This Plant
Give the balance needed to finish funding the next church plant.:
Fund a New Plant
Fully fund a new church plant in the region.
Africa - Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Zambia
Africa Church Planting Initiative (ACPI)
Since 2019, Northwoods has partnered with the Africa Church Planting Initiative (ACPI), led by Matt Boyers. ACPI recruits local pastors to plant churches in rural communities across much of Africa, and Northwoods partners with them in Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, and Zambia. Our teams travel to Zambia and Kenya to spend time with these pastors, and those trips are how we’ve come to know them in their own churches and villages. On each visit, we see the fruit firsthand: new believers gathering, young churches taking root, and communities being changed by the gospel.
Albania
Expect Hope
Albania is a predominantly Muslim nation, with Christians representing a minority of the population, making the local church especially important in providing spiritual guidance, community, and a place for believers to grow in their faith. Christian churches can also serve as important centers of education, humanitarian support, and outreach, particularly in communities where access to these resources may be limited. Because Christians are a minority in Albania, establishing healthy, Gospel-centered churches provides an opportunity to reach people who may have little exposure to the Christian faith while creating a strong community for those who do believe. In Albania, pastors follow the same process for being considered for church planting and funding: they typically serve in ministry for at least one year, complete Bible School training, and actively evangelize their community, leading at least 10 people to Christ. Once these requirements have been met, the pastor can be considered for church planting, and approved pastors receive a ministry profile through Expect Hope where supporters can provide the funding needed to enter full-time ministry. This support helps provide transportation and other practical ministry needs, allowing pastors to travel throughout their communities, share the Gospel, disciple new believers, and establish churches that can continue serving and reaching their communities for Christ.
Asia - Protected Region
Ministry Name Unlisted
As we see in Scripture, God is often at His best, helping His people share the Gospel message in places where there is much opposition and/or persecution. Northwoods is grateful to work alongside faithful ministry partners who God positions in areas of the world hostile to the spread of the Gospel.
Brazil - Manaus
Igreja Presbiteriana de Manaus (IPM)
Our connection with the Global Leadership Summit in Brazil was instrumental in connecting Northwoods with Igreja Presbyteriana de Manaus (IPM), a church in Manaus, which is enabling Northwoods to help reach tribes and villages along the vast Amazon River, providing medical care, and sharing the gospel message to those they meet.
Brazil - Rio de Janero
ILAN (Light to the Nations Church)
Our mission team heads down to Rio de Janeiro to serve our ministry partners at ILAN (Light to the Nations Church). There, we receive church-planter training from experienced church planters in a metropolitan context. We learn how they've planted churches, how they make disciples, and learn from some of the hardships they've experienced. We also serve alongside ILAN in social outreaches and evangelism in Rio, while loving and encouraging them in their labors for the Kingdom of God. Team members can use gifts and talents in teaching, speaking, encouragement, prayer, as well as serving with our hands with service and construction projects and spreading the gospel with evangelism and sharing our testimonies.
Brazil - Paraná
ZOE
Content needed...
Dominican Republic - San Juan de La Maguana
Central Mennonite Church (CMC)
Our longstanding partnership alongside Central Mennonite Church in San Juan de La Maguana is rooted in their vision by seeing churches planted all across the Dominican Republic. Northwoods partnership helps support their identifying of church planters, the training needed to lead a plant and a space to help those encounter the love of Christ in surrounding communities.
India - Visakhapatnam
ZEC (Zion Evangelical Ministries)
Northwoods partners with Zion Evangelistic and Care Ministries (ZEC) in southern India. Pastor Syam and his wife Esther raise up, call, equip, and send individuals who would plant churches in Visakhapatnam, India and the greater region of Andra Pradesh in south India. Syam & Esther are very intentional about reaching the next generation of Christ-followers in India. Their young adult sons, Joy and Jesse are actively engaged in ZEC Ministries, leading worship, youth and children’s ministries. Through ZEC, they hold large children’s camps to evangelize the youth, but they also train young adult leaders to host these camps where thousands of children have been exposed to the gospel. They have hosted conferences that have reached and trained over 800 pastors. Syam is a Pastor’s Pastor, having training thousands of Pastors within India.
Nepal
Expect Hope
Christian churches in Nepal play a vital role in providing spiritual guidance, community support, and practical care to believers in a country where Christians make up less than 1.5% of the population. As a minority faith, Christians can face significant opposition and persecution, particularly in communities where strong Hindu beliefs and traditions are deeply rooted. Indigenous and remote communities can be especially difficult to reach, and pastors seeking to share the Gospel may face resistance and backlash from groups who strongly oppose the Christian faith. This makes church planting especially important, as it creates opportunities for trained pastors to go into communities that may otherwise have little or no access to the Gospel. Through these churches, believers can be discipled and strengthened while new communities are given the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus and respond to the Gospel. In Nepal, pastors follow the same process for being considered for church planting and funding: they typically serve in ministry for at least one year, complete Bible School training, and actively evangelize their community, leading at least 10 people to Christ. Once these requirements have been fulfilled, the pastor can be considered for church planting, and approved pastors receive a ministry profile through Expect Hope where supporters can provide the funding needed to enter full-time ministry. This support helps provide transportation and other practical ministry needs, allowing pastors to reach remote and indigenous communities, share the Gospel, disciple new believers, and establish Christ-centered churches that can continue reaching people who may otherwise never have the opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Philippines
Expect Hope
Christian churches play a significant role throughout the Philippines, providing spiritual guidance, community, and practical support to millions of Filipinos. Because churches are an important part of many communities, church planting provides an opportunity to bring the Gospel to areas where there may be limited access to a Christ-centered church and to establish a lasting community of believers. In the Philippines, we identify pastors who demonstrate a genuine calling to ministry and a desire to reach their communities. Before being considered for church planting, pastors typically serve in ministry for at least one year, complete Bible School training, and evangelize within their community, leading at least 10 people to Christ. Once these steps have been completed, they can be considered for church planting, and approved pastors are given a ministry profile through Expect Hope where supporters can help provide the funding needed for them to enter full-time ministry. This support helps provide transportation and other practical ministry needs, allowing the pastor to travel throughout the area, share the Gospel, disciple new believers, and establish a growing church that can serve and reach the surrounding community.
Poland/Europe
Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT)
Northwoods began working alongside Jan Barczuk in 2025. Jan directs Pioneer Bible Translators' work across Europe, and our connection with him grew out of a decade of Northwoods mission teams serving Jewish communities in Poland, where he was raised and still bases his ministry. Much of Jan's year is spent on the road, meeting church planters introduced through his network of trusted contacts. Most arrive already equipped for the work, so Northwoods comes alongside with funding plus relational and personal support. Today those planters are starting churches in two Polish cities and in Ukraine, Romania, Estonia, Italy, and Germany, and we expect the partnership to keep growing.
Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi
Church Planting Institute (CPI)
In Vietnam, Northwoods partners with CPI (Church Planting Institute) and Dr. Hendrik Vorster to train local Vietnamese pastors to plant churches around the country. Most recently Northwood's mission teams have been involved in some of this training as we seek to help the pastors get free from anything that might be hindering them as they get ready to plant. Along with that, we hope that this "Setting Captives Free" training will continue on in their churches.
Church Planting Institute (CPI) pioneered by Dr. Hendrik Vorster, is a church planting and discipleship-making organization with a vision to equip those who are called, to plant disciple-making churches in all the nations of the world. Dr. Vorster and his team equip church planters globally by providing training courses on the essentials of church planting and the process of discipleship, as well as an implementation plan to launch their God-given church planting dreams.
My Church Planting Dashboard
Have you helped fund a church plant? Log in to your dashboard to see the churches your generosity has helped start around the world.
Meet Your Church Planter
Get to know the pastor you're supporting, their family, and their calling.
Updates from the Field
See photos, stories, and prayer requests shared by your church planter.
Your Placard Location
Find the chair in the Auditorium that has your church plant's placard.
Where Your Church Is
See your church plant on the map and learn about the community it serves.
Available to anyone who has given to a church plant.
Haven't given yet? Choose one of our strategic partners above to plant a church.
Get More Information
Sign up for the “Every Chair A Church” newsletter to read updates and stories from around the world.
Global Ministries that Northwoods Supports
Solid Rock International
Northwoods' denomination, the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FEC), has been involved in the Dominican Republic for over 80 years. The FEC's first missionaries endured long travel and hot, dusty roads to reach people with the gospel and to plant churches in many remote villages in the San Juan de la Maguana area. Today, we partner specifically with Solid Rock International (SRI).
Hope Partners International
Northwoods has a shared heart and agenda with Kirk and Violeta Nowery to see children not just rescued but redeemed, set free, and their lives changed. The value of forgiveness and freedom is lived out through Hope Partners in northern India. Within the seven-acre compound in Ajmer, India, young ladies who are rescued from sex trafficking are introduced to Jesus where their own sins are forgiven and they are discipled into a life-changing relationship with the One who can set them free from the bondage they have encountered so young in their lives. Hope Partners is not only a safe place but is a space where children receive an education, food, clothing and medical care to equip them for an effective life of service in Jesus' name.
Immanuel Church
Northwoods is partnered with a vibrant and courageous body of believers in Bethlehem led by Pastor Nihad and his wife Salwa. Immanuel Church is one of the few gospel-preaching churches in a region of the world that not only is opposed to the message of Jesus Christ, but sometimes can be quite hostile. However, this brave group of Christ-followers is undeterred because they know that God has raised them up for such as time as this and has called them to be a light shining in the darkness.
Hamayaan Congregation
Northwoods is privileged to be partnered up with the Hamayaan Congregation in Kfar Saba led by Tony Sperandeo and his wife, Orna. This congregation is carrying on an amazing ministry throughout their local area, sharing the good news of the Messiah with many Jews who don't know Christ, serving the poor, helping unwed mothers, and being a leading voice for life in the fight against abortion.
Seeds of Hope
Khader Ghanim, known as "The Son of Jericho," was born and raised in the city he now serves. After working alongside the ministry's founder from its earliest days, he was named CEO of Seeds of Hope in 2018 and continues its legacy of planting hope in the Holy Land. Northwoods partners with Seeds of Hope to make a difference in the lives of children and families in the Middle East, showing them the love of Christ in real and tangible ways.