An Armenian doctor. A hospital patient in Mongolia. A nonprofit director in Honduras. A Kenyan educator. A Costa Rican marketing executive.

On the surface, Haggai leaders have little in common. They come from different countries, age groups, professions, and upbringings. The diversity of this group illustrates that Christianity is not a phenomenon belonging to one culture or demographic. The Gospel of Jesus Christ transcends our human demarcations to unify people all over the world. Christianity has been a multicultural, multiracial, intergenerational, socioeconomically inclusive movement since its inception.

What Haggai leaders and every other follower of Jesus do have in common is hope — not a fleeting optimism about their own intelligence, personality, health, or ability, but a concrete hope in the promises of God. The same promise that inspired Moses to lead his people out of slavery and caused the disciples to sacrifice everything to follow Jesus is still every Christian’s hope, even in the face of suffering, corruption, illness, or persecution.

This same promise motivates Dr. Robert Wafula to devote his life to serving the children of Kenya and drives Dr. Syuzanna Voskanyan to provide medical care to impoverished people in Armenia. It gave Mongolian Haggai leader Munkhchimeg Enkhee the motivation, despite her own life-threatening illness, to share the truth of Christ’s love with the doctor who saved her life. And it motivated David Garcia to assist the local church in rebuilding a family’s home.

The world may think of hope as an uncertain wish that “everything will work out in the end.” But for Christians, hope is grounded not in luck or chance, but in historic events — the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know He offers forgiveness, healing, and restoration in the here and now — as well as the hope and promise of eternity with Him in the future.

This kind of hope gives believers from all walks of life the confidence to boldly love and serve a broken world and propels us into unknown territory for the sake of the Gospel. We hold our blessings with open hands, assured that God is in control of everything, from worldwide crises to our private concerns.

As you read the stories of Haggai leaders around the world, keep that hope in mind. Praise God for the Good News that gives people in every corner of the world motivation to step out in faith to “attempt something so great for God it’s doomed to failure unless God be in it.” Together with our leaders, anchored in our expectant hope, we WILL end Gospel poverty.