About a year ago, the leadership teams of two Missouri Acts 29 churches—Gospel Life Church in Cape Girardeau, led by Elliott Swoboda, and Gospel Life Church in Jackson, led by Greg Schwab—left a retreat with a shared desire to form international partnerships that would extend their gospel mission beyond their own communities.

While exploring the Acts 29 website, they discovered Church of the City in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, another Acts 29 church. Gospel Life reached out, and, as Elliott recalls, “We just hit it off. The ministry philosophy, the way we view the church—everything. It was amazing.”

Soon after, Elliott and Greg traveled to Brampton to see Church of the City’s ministry firsthand, beginning a strong partnership between the three churches.

Reaching Indian Immigrants in Canada

Jeremiah Thomas, lead pastor at Church of the City Brampton, recalls that first phone call from Gospel Life fondly. “We were pursuing similar mission strategies, and it was God-orchestrated for sure.”

Jeremiah is of Indian descent, born in the Middle East, and immigrated to Canada with his family after high school. While attending university, he came to faith in Christ and felt called to reach Indian people with the gospel. For years, he expected this calling would take him back to India. Instead, in 2019, God called him to plant a church in Brampton.

Brampton is now one of Canada’s fastest-growing destinations for South Asian immigrants. Of its 500,000 residents, approximately 90,000 South Asians have arrived since early 2020. As Elliott describes, “You walk through town, and you feel like you’re in India.”

This cultural context has shaped Jeremiah’s ministry approach. Since hospitality is central to Indian culture, he often begins by inviting people into his home for a meal.

“You have to have a certain level of trust to even eat with people,” Jeremiah explains. “So that is disarming on its own.”

These relationships often lead to invitations to church gatherings and conversations about Jesus. This approach has been effective, as many people from Hindu and other religious backgrounds are coming to faith in Christ.

Ministry in Brampton can be isolating with few like-minded churches around, so the partnership with Gospel Life offers pastoral encouragement, prayer, and financial support.

Mutual Encouragement

The partnership has also encouraged Gospel Life Cape Girardeau and Gospel Life Jackson, broadening their global perspective and challenging members to think more missionally and cross-culturally. Elliott and Greg hope to bring older students to Ontario for missionary and apologetics training, helping them engage a multicultural mission field that differs significantly from Missouri.

Equally important, the relationship has strengthened each pastor personally.

“It’s been really great just to have the encouragement of one another,” Eliott says. Jeremiah echoes this sentiment, “There aren’t many like-minded churches in our city, so having a partnership with someone who understands is huge.”

Through global church-to-church partnerships like this, Acts 29 churches are maximizing gospel impact across cultures, countries, and communities.