Equipping Disciples Among Displaced Peoples to Reach Communities Across the Globe

Release International Mission is dedicated to making disciples who make disciples among the most vulnerable and least reached people groups. Seeking to reframe the idea of displacement into one of Divine placement, our wholistic strategy empowers individuals to meet their needs, give back to the communities around them, and care for the environment, creating lasting change where it matters most.

Get Involved

Our Story

You can’t tell the story of Release without telling the story of its founders Victor Mikebanyi and Simon Nkundabantu. Born in Congo, in a time of war, Victor and Simon were born again as children despite resistance from their parents who were Catholic. Both Simon and Victor felt a calling to mission work at a young age and quickly gained experience preaching the Gospel to the people in their community. Victor’s calling led him to attend Bible College where the Lord graciously provided the means to graduate as well as a network of believers that have come alongside Victor as partners in the Gospel eventually leading him and his family, in 1994, to Nairobi, Kenya to start an ESL class (English as a Second Language) in the town of Kasarani. Bishop Simon, along with his family, would join him in Nairobi in 2002.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Our Impact

What started as a small ESL class, quickly grew into a full school, that currently trains over 250 students. From the beginning, the vision of Victor and Bishop Simon, was to have a global impact for the Kingdom. Victor’s calling took him from his home in Congo, across the continent, to preach the gospel to refugees in the Horn of Africa, and eventually to plant the first Release church in Kasarani, Kenya. It was at that church where the Lord revealed a twofold vision to Victor and Bishop Simon. First, to translate the bible into Kinyamulenge, and second to establish Release International Mission to take the Gospel to unreached people groups across the globe. To date Release has established over 15 Churches in Kenya, 3 in Australia, 2 in Canada, and 1 in the US. Over 50 churches have been started by Release church members who have been trained and equipped to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.

Along the way, Release, through its focus on community engagement, has created a network of partner churches and businesses, to address the needs of the whole person. Displacement doesn’t care about class or the skills a person had prior to becoming a refugee. The strategy has two components: adaptation and integration. Some people need to learn how to translate current skills into new opportunities. Some need help developing new skills to provide for themselves and their families. RIM teaches displaced people how to find decent jobs, or to start businesses of their own, as well as offering micro loans to finance those opportunities. RIM provides agricultural training for pastors who will be serving communities facing food scarcity. The Church is then able to take care of its members as well as the surrounding community.

Romans 10:13-15

13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Our Mission and Vision

At Release we endeavor to be disciples who make disciples that plant churches, care for the people and the environment. Release envisions people from every nation and language fully released from the bondage of evil, and transformed in every aspect of life, and establishing the Kingdom of Heaven within their communities, and nurtured through new and/or existing churches. We stand out because of our wholistic approach. We place the Gospel at the center of everything we do, and we believe that the Gospel calls us to meet the needs of the whole person. We train and equip displaced people to meet their individual needs as well as the needs in their communities, and to do it in a sustainable way, and we believe this creates a lasting change in the places where it matters most.

Romans 15:20-21

20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

We can’t do this without your help.

“The harvest is ready, but the laborers are few.” Luke 10:2