Hope Builders Ministries (HBM) developed from The Calling (2 Timothy 2:2) received by four men, one of whom was Johan Gous, working with Open Doors in Southern Africa in 1984. This began the "Timothy Project" to address the acute shortage of trained pastors in Mozambique. The "Timothy Training Institute" was established in 1990. In 2002 Johan began work with Hope Builders. Since 2010 Johan serves as the President of Hope Builders Ministries with headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Since its inception, Hope Builders, in partnership with the Indigenous Church in Africa has established 11,000 village churches with trained pastors in eight African countries since 2001. HBM has enrolled pastoral leaders in a three-year Pastor Training Program, a diploma course completed by 25,000 graduates (over and above the 13,000 students served between 1985 and 2001 by Timothy Training Institute).

In 2013 Hope Builders began working with two Indigenous Missionaries in India. Along with their dedicated co-workers, they are coordinating pastor training and Disciple Making in over 4000 local churches. There have been over 1000 new churches established through the HBM India ministry. HBM is also training indigenous missionaries in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Working with the Indigenous Church in Africa and Asia, Hope Builders Ministries endeavors to also encourage its partners by providing Bibles, training literature, transport and Dignity Projects.

  • Through the Bibles for Disciples program, nearly 600,000 Bibles have been distributed in Africa to faithful disciples through a network of indigenous partner churches (many in their native languages).
  • The Disciple Makers Program is HBM's  "tip of the spear" ministry. Working through local church leadership entire congregations are being purposely discipled to maturity and the propagation of the Gospel throughout local communities.
  • Multiple thousands of training manuals have been printed and delivered to the various countries to train the indigenous leaders in the Word of God.
  • Hope Builders has also provided bicycles and motorcycles to increase the indigenous missionaries to reach remote and difficult areas.
  • Through the Dignity Project thousands of orphans have received sustained material and spiritual care while hundreds of widows have been trained and equipped to care for these orphans.
  • Many other practical tools have been given to the indigenous church to give the indigenous church a "hand up." These include vegetable seeds, garden tools, and water wells.

If you delight in the idea of rapidly winning whole communities to Christ in rural areas of Africa and Asia, we invite you to join us in this exciting and fruitful ministry!