Global Missions
Global Missions
Serving Across the World
University Presbyterian Church currently supports individual and family missionaries serving in more than 33 countries around the world.
Learn how our missionary partners are bringing hope to their neighbors by sharing God’s Word, providing clean water, caring for people living with HIV/AIDS, developing local church leadership, and much more.
Global Task Forces
Our lay-led Task Forces provide long-term support to strategic ministry partners sharing the hope of Christ through culture-specific ministry.
The Balkan Task Force’s purpose is to glorify God by responding to the expressed needs of the people of the former Yugoslavia whose lives were affected by war and ethnic strife. Since 1996, more than 12 mission teams and missionaries have been sent from UPC to the region.
The Task Force has funded partners in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, including churches, church planters, missionaries, and two organizations involved in reconciliation, leadership training, and evangelism: InterVarsity Serbia (EUS) for training interns and Renewing Our Minds (ROM), which sponsors conference gatherings in the region for young potential leaders.
The Ukraine Task Force supports vulnerable people and equips ministry partners in Kyiv to spread the gospel. These ministry partners are committed to helping widows, orphans, people displaced by war, people with handicaps, and children with HIV. They are sharing the gospel by establishing a church, training medical professionals to share their faith, equipping local nurses to provide physical and spiritual care, and more.
The Holy Land Task Force exists to equip our congregation to help promote reconciliation, justice, and peace in the Holy Land. This happens through facilitating dual-narrative travel to the Holy Land in partnership with Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and Mejdi Travel, prayerfully responding to the needs of Christians in and Palestine, providing opportunities to learn about the region’s history and current events. Email us to Learn More.
Gather with others who are passionate about missions and committed to prayer and service to reach the nations for Christ.
North America
Alan & Marsha Barr
Seattle
As staff members with Bridges International (the international student ministry of Cru), Alan and Marsha work closely with UPC’s International Ministries to win, build, and send international students and scholars to as ambassadors for Christ in their homelands. bridgesinternational.com
Anna Seeger
Seattle
After graduating from UW Bothell, God directed Anna’s path to cross with China Outreach Ministries. In the spring of 2020, she joined their mission of “Giving Christ to China’s Future Leaders” (current university students, research scholars, and professionals) at universities and research centers. Approximately 400,000 Chinese students and scholars are now on North American college and university campuses. Anna specifically works to make Christ known among the students and scholars in the Seattle area. She helps them grow in Christlikeness and equips them to influence others for Christ through leading English classes, Bible studies, and local trips. chinaoutreach.org
Kathy Giske
Turkey & Egypt
Kathy mobilizes congregations to participate in building God’s kingdom among people groups that don’t yet have an indigenous church of their own. Her international focus is the Muslim world, with special emphasis on Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and the immigrant Muslim community in the United States. kathygiske.com
Caribbean
Bruce & Deb Robinson
Haiti
Bruce and Deb work in community development, helping with water, irrigation canals, drainage and clean drinking water, spring capping, dams, and more. They also support local infrastructure by building churches, schools, and latrines. Serving the people of Haiti in this way is their testimony for the gospel and opens doors to share Jesus. crossworld.org
Europe
Zefjan & Edita Nikolla
Albania
Zefjan is the teaching pastor of Emmanuel Reformed Church in Tirana and is ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the Santa Barbara Presbytery. He’s also the national director of BSKSH, which is the IFES student movement in Albania, and oversees staff, volunteers, and student leaders.
Ryan Andrews
Spain
Ryan’s ministry is focused on sharing the gospel through relationship building, coaching, and discipling through Church Resource Ministry.
Bojan Ruvarac
Serbia
Bojan is the Director of Renewing Our Minds (ROM) in Fuzine, Croatia. The ROM project was born in Croatia in 1999, in the aftermath of the 90s post-Yugoslavian war that called for the education of young generations of leaders in the areas of peace building, reconciliation, and leadership development through service, modeled by the person of Jesus. ROM is a ministry of Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation.
Africa
Marta Bennett
Kenya
Marta chairs the Department of Leadership Studies at the Nairobi International School of Theology/International Leadership University (NIST/ILU-Kenya). She trains Christian leaders for service in churches, parachurch organizations, business, and government, integrating leadership with discipleship and mentoring. theantiochpartners.org
Betsy & Eugene Meyer
South Africa
Betsy Meyer is the co-founder and Executive Director of Thembalethu Care Organization, a South African nonprofit organization caring and providing hope to a rural Zulu community hit hard by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Their programs focus on home-hospice care for the sick, assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children, and community mobilization. ourhope.org.za
Francis & Anne Omondi
Kenya
Francis and Anne live in their home country of Kenya to serve communities affected by drought. They’re strategically placed both geographically and relationally to respond to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people around them, and they serve with community elders and NGOs to distribute food as efficiently as possible. faith2share.net
Gideon Ochieng
Kenya
A pastor, Gideon works to develop a community of grassroots leaders in the informal settlements around Nairobi and to empower youth through job placements and leadership training. ctmkenya.net
SCOPE Health
Ethiopia
SCOPE Health unites medical and faith communities to improve health for the most vulnerable people through innovative partnerships, leadership development, and measured impact. scopehealth.org
Asia
Prem & Rita James
India
Prem serves as Partners International’s area director for South Asia, where he helps more than two dozen indigenous partner ministries. Rita started Asha Kiran, a school that has more than 100 children and 25 staff. partnersintl.org
United Presbyterian Church of Vietnam
Vietnam
In the past several years, UPC’s mission partners in E. Asia and Thailand have completed their ministries and returned home. UPC’s Global Missions Department felt it imperative to keep our connection to Asia. In 2023, we established a new partnership with the United Presbyterian Church of Vietnam (UPCV) to benefit and enrich both ministries mutually. UPC is excited to join Jesus in his mission in Vietnam.
Meet Our Mission Partners
Vacation with a Purpose
Have you considered Vacation with a Purpose for your summer travel plans? Combine your vacation visits to foreign countries with UPC Global Partners to learn how our missionary partners are bringing hope to their neighbors by sharing God’s Word, providing clean water, caring for children, developing local church leadership, and much more. University Presbyterian Church currently supports missionaries serving in more than 33 countries around the world, including Spain, India, Vietnam, Kenya, and more. For more information, contact Pastor Ken Sunoo at kens@upc.org
