Global Connections: Fostering a Desire to Connect Globally within the Kingdom of God

By Jessica White and Dr. Jo Anne Lyon

As Christians, we have a sense that we belong to the Kingdom of God, reaching beyond the walls of our local church. Often, however, we face obstacles to connecting globally with others in the Kingdom. Since Jesus commands us to go into all the world with the Gospel, we have to ask: how can we proactively spread the gospel beyond our local roots? Founder of World Hope International and General Superintendent Emerita of The Wesleyan Church, Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, believes it isn’t just an ideal, but a responsibility for believers to practically direct time, energy, and resources to live as global Christians.

Dr. Lyon offers a few key practices for helping us live as globally related members of the family of God.

Practice 1: Remember Your Global Family

Part of human nature is a hardwired loyalty to the country we’re from, or to the people we call family. Dr. Lyon invites us to recognize that we are one big family in the Kingdom of God, with brothers and sisters stretching into all parts of the world. Grasping that the Kingdom of God includes the whole world, undivided, as one body of believers is the first step in being intentional about connecting globally with one another. God has chosen to use the church with all of its vulnerabilities to bring hope to the world. It is vital to remember we are ambassadors for Christ.

Practice 2: Storytelling and Story-Listening

Sharing and listening to the stories of other believers internationally is one of the most practical ways we can learn to live and connect globally. At the start of World Hope in the late 1990s, with war raging in Sierra Leone, Africa, social media was not in common use. However, when World Hope was able to share pictures and stories of believers involved in the war, those made a connection with the church.

“We were able to help people see these are your Wesleyan brothers and sisters in refugee camps, these are your Wesleyan brothers and sisters who are running for their lives behind rebel lines. We were able to really help people make the connection to their brothers and sisters through pictures and stories, and it moved on hearts,” Dr. Lyon shares.

When we listen to and share the stories of believers in other countries who are in war, in poverty, in persecution, in whatever circumstance they may be, it will make a visceral connection in our hearts, helping us stay curious and empathetic toward those we can easily forget about from afar. In our current day and age, with an onslaught of information, we must make the choice to tune out the noise and be intentional about knowing what is going on with our brothers and sisters across the world. When Dr. Lyon watches coverage on events happening around the world, she makes the association that “our people” are in the areas where all of these things are taking place.

Practice 3: Intentional Prayer

When we make connections through stories and realize our call to be ambassadors for Christ, it will create a desire to direct time and resources to the people who need it. Dr. Lyon suggests that one of the most practical ways we can connect with the global church is through prayer. Praying for the Kingdom of God as a whole places us in a posture to see God’s work in circumstances near and far. Dedicated time to prayer for the global church creates a space where God can show up and connect His family.

Dr. Lyon shared a story about sending medical kits to first responders at the start of the war in Ukraine. Christian first responders in Ukraine asked for The Lord’s Prayer to be sewn into each medical kit that was being distributed for the war so they could be reminded to pray for the people who were being cared for and the people who sent the kits. In the midst of the war, a bomb hit in one of the cities where the kits were distributed; one of the lead first responders wrote to share how God had heard their prayers through the kits and they suffered a loss of 20 people instead of the thousands who should have been lost given the circumstances. God’s people were united through prayer and the story of a miracle in the midst of a war.

All of these practices – small as they may seem – help us stay connected to our global neighborhood in ways we often forget.