In 1990, Grain of Wheat International reached out to Russia with the intention of inviting children from poor families to come to their camps in Switzerland. A year later, two special camps for children from a boarding school in Moscow along with Ukrainian children from large disadvantaged families were held in Jura Rosalie and La Bessone. In 1992, another camp was held for children from the Chernobyl zone in Belarus. At this point, we decided it would be more efficient to hold camps in Russia. In preparation for this, we held our first training seminar near Moscow and equipped sixty young Christians who were captured by the idea of leading children’s camps.
We had planned to organize a few pilot camps in the summer of 1993, but as it turned out, we were able hold 15 official camps! Shortly after this, we joined the GWI Foundation and incorporated Belarus and Uzbekistan into our ministry. When the foundations of these countries was shaken and their ideologies collapsed, we were there preaching the Gospel. We gave ourselves completely to serving the next generation and cultivating their spiritual life.
From the beginning until now, over 300,000 disadvantaged children as well as those with special needs, have enjoyed a nice holiday at camp. Through hearing the Gospel, many received Christ and now their communities are being impacted by their God transformed lives.
Our mission is to bring the Gospel of salvation to all children. Our aim is to help children be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ and become agents of transformation to their families and community.
We work in partnership with local churches to nurture children’s faith, spiritually, morally, and socially through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is accomplished through summer and winter outreach camps, weekly/monthly Bible clubs, and evangelistic events.
We equip our staff and volunteers to minister with excellence to children and their parents through a variety of training and coaching events.
