Representation in missions
GLD on Mission
Charles Chapman, the Alliance Missions Candidate Development Specialist, is working alongside current international workers to recruit and bring more people of color onto their teams.
One of our very own GLDers, Shameka Armstrong, has been selected to participate in a vision trip this summer visiting aXcess teams and national church partners in Paraguay and Uraguay. Shameka attends L.E.A.D. Community Church in Toledo, OH where her brother, Rev. Mykel Pollock, pastors.
The Background
When I, Charles, started as the Candidate Development Specialist for Alliance Missions in 2021, I noticed a significant disparity within Alliance Missions in sending people of color to the field. Only about 17% of our missionaries were non‑Caucasian, and only 0.3% were African American/Black. After discussing this with leadership, they shared a document created by our IWs from Indonesia expressing their desire to recruit and bring more people of color onto their team.
After conversations with them, we decided to launch a different kind of Vision Trip—one where primarily African American/Black missions candidates, pastors, and mobilizers would visit a C&MA mission field together. The purpose was to encourage our own minority candidates in pursuing their call to ministry (locally or globally) and to give them exposure to all that God is doing around the world.
Another goal was to assess whether our largely Caucasian IWs were truly ready to receive more people of color onto their teams. How would they treat us? How well could we work together? Lastly, we hoped to encourage local Indonesian Christians that missions is also for them—not only for Caucasians. Seeing darker‑complexioned people serving in ministry and missions is critical for mobilizing and empowering the national church.
After the success of the first trip to Indonesia, we took a second trip to Cambodia in 2023, then to the Middle East in 2024, and most recently to Senegal this past summer. With each trip, our participants have gained deeper exposure to the work the Alliance is doing overseas and have become champions for missions within their own communities. Participants have also been affirmed in their gifts and how much those gifts are needed overseas for effective ministry. And perhaps best of all, local Christians in each country have been encouraged to consider cross‑cultural missions themselves after seeing members of our team leaning into missions.
2026 Vision Trip
With that backdrop, we are planning another trip in the summer of 2026 to Latin America with a similar purpose in mind. We will be traveling to Paraguay and Uruguay from July 21 to August 2, 2026.
As someone who has been engaged in urban, domestic ministry for 20 years, I know the value international trips have had on expanding and strengthening my local ministry footprint. Each time I’ve traveled overseas, it has deepened my understanding of God’s heart and His work around the world and has significantly enhanced my ministry upon returning home.
My prayer is that this will be true for each participant—perhaps even sparking a call to long‑term missionary service. God desires people from every nation, tribe, tongue, and culture to be His ambassadors. And while God equally calls all His people, His people are not equally equipped or sent. This trip will provide exposure to individuals who have traditionally lacked access to overseas missions opportunities, and I hope it becomes a catalyst for greater missions involvement among people of color.
Support Alliance Missions
Be praying for the team during their trip to South America. Below are specific ways to pray for the team.
Pray for our travel and logistics, as each person is coming from a different part of the country
Pray for strong team bonding
Pray for health during the trip
Pray for meaningful connections while overseas
If you would like to financially support this vision trip, you can give directly to Alliance Missions. The cost for each participant was $4,000.