Your Kingdom Come: Richmond
Our Hope for Richmond
Richmond, the capital of Virginia, is one of America’s oldest major cities. Historically known as the capital of the Confederacy, and more recently known as a city with an incredibly artsy flair as well as fantastic cuisine, Richmond could be seen as an unlikely choice for a missions organization. 
With over 121 different nations represented in the city, our Global Frontier Missions’ staff recognized Richmond as an unassuming city of untapped global potential. In the decade prior to GFM planting a stateside hub in the “River City”, the foreign-born population doubled, resulting in rich and vibrant cultural diversity. Many of these immigrants, international students, asylum seekers, and refugees are from countries that have limited or no access to the gospel. We have viewed their presence as a God-given opportunity to share the love of Jesus with them.
And yet even as we have celebrated the presence of other ethnicities in Richmond, we realize that such a posture of welcome is historically abnormal in this city.
From one of the highest points of the city, you can look out over the rushing James River and glimpse the area where ships filled with enslaved African peoples would dock and sell their “cargo”. Throughout the 1800’s, slave trade became the largest industry in the state of Virginia, and Richmond itself became the largest slave-trading center in the Upper South. The dehumanization of African and non-European peoples is a heartbreaking reality, and while there have been efforts made to reverse racist policies and systems, the roots of racism run deep in this city.
When Richmond fell, so did the Confederate cause... No other city had experienced so much concentrated fighting in its environs as Richmond during the war, or anything like the drama of its final days. In a city with such a diverse population, these events meant different things to different people. To some, they meant the end of a hope for a separate new nation; to others, they meant emancipation; to still others, they marked the beginning of a new, strengthened Union. One thing is certain — few people ever forgot where they were and what they witnessed during those fateful days of April 1865.

Signage along the James River
Following the Civil War, Richmond struggled to reconstruct a city that had formerly been structured around slavery but now found itself without a definite foundation. In the decades since, the effects of slavery and racism have rippled on and continued to affect the neighborhoods and opportunites of Richmond’s residents. Years of wounded hearts and homes have shaped lives, families, and communities.
Yet in the midst of these strongholds, there has been a presence of prayer throughout the generations, a cry from God’s people for restoration and reconciliation. Even in the past twenty years, groups of faithful believers have gathered to pray and worship in some of the darkest corners of Richmond, eager to see a movement of God for the advancement of His Kingdom.
Global Frontier Missions planted a base for training future missionaries and engaging with the nations in Richmond in the midst of this spiritual legacy. As our pioneer team surveyed the land and mapped out the city, they found a handful of like-minded organizations, churches, and individuals praying and working for unity and redemption not only in the city but in the nations represented here. Our team entered Richmond with a vision to equip laborers to go to the nations and to invest in the international community.
Over the last six years, GFM Richmond has trained over thirty individuals who came from across the U.S., from California to New York, all with a passion for unreached people to know the glory of the gospel. In groups ranging from two to eight, these gospel-ambassadors, “few in number but mighty in spirit”, lived incarnationally in the heart of Richmond’s West End which has become increasingly multicultural, as neighborhoods transition to culturally diverse households of established, middle class immigrants.
The Missionary Training School (MTS) in Richmond was designed to equip students to enter global cities with a diaspora (movement of peoples) mission strategy. Whether the focus was with unreached peoples in America or overseas, our long-term staff trained students to work in places with high populations of unreached peoples. Throughout the training, students were immersed in a gospel-centered community, participated in one-on-one mentoring, engaged with topics ranging from church planting to team dynamics, and invested in the lives of the refugees, immigrants and international students living nearby.
Along with our staff, MTS students have participated in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs hosted by local churches, tutored immigrant and refugee children, and befriended international students from Virginia Commonwealth University all the while forming deep, heart level friendships and sharing the Good News of Jesus with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and non-religious peoples. They have invested hours prayer walking through apartment complexes and in downtown Richmond, crying out for the unity and wholeness that Jesus asked for when He prayed “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).
We celebrate our interactions with people from over 77 countries, the countless Bible stories shared, and the gospel proclaimed over the last six years.
Global Frontier Mission’s dedication to mobilizing, training, and multiplying disciples and churches has led us to close GFM Richmond and centralize our MTS training in Clarkston, Georgia.
Though we feel the loss of the Richmond base and its unique assets, we celebrate that this decision will ultimately further and strengthen our programs in Clarkston. We are thankful for the role we had in Richmond during our time here and rejoice that the Kingdom of God is not limited by our lack of presence here in the future.
GFM has never thought of ourselves as the solution but rather as part of God’s bigger plan to advance His Kingdom. We are thankful for the privilege of being present in this unique city, of linking arms with other believers, churches, and organizations, and of impacting the nations from this unsuspecting corner of the world. We see ourselves as simply a piece of the greater, grander story that is still being written, a story that we are expectant to watch unfold.
The redemption that was set in motion decades ago is still continuing. We live in a unique moment of time when the lives of unreached people and believers are intersecting in Richmond and other cities across the US. It is our duty as the church to recognize and engage in God’s sovereign orchestration of our cultural moment.
Our greatest desire and prayer as we close GFM Richmond is to see the church of Richmond carry on the torch of gospel proclamation to the nations here and beyond.
Christopher J.H. Wright famously said, “It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission – God’s mission”.
The same opportunities that our MTS students experienced are available to any Richmond believer. This diverse city provides unlimited opportunities for believers to welcome refugees, immigrants and international students. Shopping experiences such as the Royal Bazaar, an impressive Indian supermarket, New Grand Mart, your supply for Asian and Latino foods, or Bosna Market, a colorful eastern European store can be incorporated into your regular shopping rhythms. An incredible array of ethnic foods are sure to satisfy your cravings whether it’s authentic tacos from Habaneros, shawarma from the Mediterranean Bakery and Deli, chevapi from Bosna Restaurant, Indian curry from Turmeric, or biryani from Noorani’s Kabob House.
Besides these food attractions, Richmond offers residents many opportunities to assist refugees who have been resettled within the city limits, helping them to acclimate to life after fleeing war-torn homelands and refugee camps. In addition, the largest 4-year public university in Virginia is located in downtown Richmond and attracts an international student population that hails from over 108 different countries. Establishing friendships with inquisitive young people from all over the world who are eager to meet Christians and learn about America is an outstanding opening for the Gospel!
As GFM bids Richmond farewell, we want to say thank you. To our staff, thank you for faithfully serving amidst the joys and challenges of ministry. To our alumni, thank you for investing in the lives of countless internationals during your brief time here. To our foreign-born friends, thank you for all you have taught us, for the privilege of knowing you. To the believers in Richmond, thank you for being the continued fragrance of Christ in the River City.
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). Let our prayer for Richmond be that the life and power of the Spirit of God would rush through the city transforming lives and families and continue flowing on for the healing of the nations.
The Kingdom of God has come! Let us labor to advance it until it comes in its fullness and we worship the King of Kings with people from every language, nation and tribe proclaiming together “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelations 5:11).
Written by Laney Mills