Global Bridges is a Christian compassion and relief organization bringing practical help and enduring hope to some of the hardest places on earth. Since 1998, we’ve served in the world’s most restricted regions to provide emergency nutrition, safe care for children, clean water, and community-strengthening projects. Through trusted local partners, we go where many cannot, delivering urgent relief and building long-term stability.
Our work flows from a living, personal, and active Christian faith, and from the call to love God and neighbor. We believe in one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We confess Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, whose life, death, and bodily resurrection bring salvation, and we rely on the Holy Spirit who gives life, forms Christlike character, and sustains hope that endures. We gladly affirm the Nicene Creed (AD 325) as a trusted summary of this historic faith.
With that conviction, we gladly serve every person regardless of background or belief. Every act of compassion is a story changed.
118M+ Meals Delivered
700+ Orphans Rescued
3,000+ Leaders Trained
It all began with bread in a country effectively closed to outside help. Our ovens turned out millions of loaves so families wouldn’t go hungry. From those first ovens, the work grew: emergency nutrition and safe care for children, clean water and local food security, and leadership training that strengthens communities. We serve primarily across restricted regions of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, with select work in open contexts like Brazil, all delivered with discretion and accountability.
Today we raise up leaders through The Fortress at Global Bridges, our discipleship and leader training program.
Global Bridges was founded in 1998 by Leland and Fran Paris, whose work helped catalyze more than 200 initiatives across 140 nations. Earlier, in 1974, Leland conceived and co-founded a global discipleship movement that has since shaped the lives of over one million graduates. In recognition of his contributions to global ministry, he received four honorary doctorates. Leland went home to be with Jesus on May 15, 2026, after a long and faithful life. His quiet leadership shaped this mission, and his legacy continues to guide it today. The fuller story of Global Bridges can be found in Leland’s book, Love Shines.
Today, Global Bridges is led by a trusted board and our CEO, bringing decades of experience in international relief, education, and leadership development. Together, they ensure that every act of compassion is carried out with integrity, security, and hope.
We work side by side with local leaders in both open and restricted nations: women and men who serve with courage in the hardest places, transforming their communities from within. Today, partners like you carry this work forward in the hardest places.
Paul is a social entrepreneur with decades of experience in global relief and higher education. Before launching one of the nation’s top-ranked online Christian college programs with his wife, Angie, Paul served in relief and development efforts across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He now leads Global Bridges with a vision rooted in compassion, courage, and hope for the world’s most vulnerable, standing on the shoulders of those who pioneered before him and carrying forward their legacy of faith and service.
Our compassion is shaped by the life and teaching of Jesus, who calls us to care for the vulnerable and seek the good of our neighbors. When we feed the hungry, clothe the cold, welcome the stranger, or guard the future of a child, we do it as unto Christ, remembering His words that whatever we do for “the least of these,” we do for Him (Matthew 25:40).
We serve every person with dignity and respect, believing every life is inherently valuable. Compassion is our first action and our lasting posture.
We look beyond crisis to restoration, changing stories where freedom is limited and resources are scarce. Hope is our direction and our promise.
We go wisely and securely into difficult regions, protecting partners while taking bold steps to meet urgent needs and build long-term change.
We equip trusted local leaders to transform their own communities, because change is most durable when it grows from within.
