Formerly known as Gospel Missionary Union, Avant Ministries is one of the oldest missionary sending agencies in the United States and Canada. Early Avant missionaries were some of the first North American missionaries to travel to distant places, entering Ecuador in 1892 and Mali in 1913. They suffered illness, persecution, separation from family and friends and sometimes death in order to share the gospel with people who had never heard it. We're proud of the legacy we inherited from them.Today we demonstrate our commitment to the church through planting churches in unreached places, partnering with established churches and participating in church support ministries. We believe the church is God's instrument for preserving and proclaiming the gospel, uniting believers and transforming communities. It is through a local church working in its own culture that the greatest problems of our time can be addressed, as the gospel first changes an individual's life and then spreads throughout the community.