What is a parachurch organization?

A parachurch organization is a Christian ministry that works alongside local churches rather than being a church itself, usually focused on one task such as relief, missions, Bible translation, or student ministry. At its best it draws its people and support from churches and sends people back into them.

What are some well known Christian organizations?

Well known examples include the Salvation Army (founded 1865), World Vision (1950), Compassion International (1952), Samaritan's Purse (1970), Wycliffe Bible Translators (1942), the Gideons International (1899), the YMCA (1844), Young Life (1941), Cru (1951), Open Doors (1955), and the Baptist Missionary Society (1792). They are named for information, not as endorsements.

Is The Living Bread affiliated with these organizations?

No. The organizations named on this page are examples to help you understand the landscape. The Living Bread is not affiliated with them and does not speak for them.

How do I find a Christian organization to get involved with?

Start with a local church, then explore the wider family by what you are looking for: hands-on service, volunteering, missions, nonprofits, or education. Look into any organization's statement of faith and finances before you give, and ask your church which ministries it already trusts.

I lead a Christian organization. How do I add it?

The Living Bread welcomes churches and Christian organizations to be discovered by searching people. It is an honest invitation: you describe who you are in your own words, with no fabricated programs or numbers, and claiming a profile is free. Start with the for-churches page.

Serve Christ

Christian Organizations and Ministries

Christian organizations are churches, ministries, charities, schools, and agencies that exist to follow Jesus Christ together and to serve people in his name. The main kinds are local churches and denominations, relief and development charities, mission agencies, Bible translation and Bible societies, campus and youth ministries, ministries to the persecuted church, and Christian schools, camps, hospitals, and community services. Well known examples include the Salvation Army (founded 1865), World Vision (1950), Wycliffe Bible Translators (1942), and Young Life (1941).

What is a Christian organization?

A Christian organization is any body of people who have joined together, under a shared confession of faith in Jesus Christ, to do a particular work. The first and most basic one is the local church, a congregation that gathers to worship, hear the Word, share the Lord's Supper, and care for one another. Around the churches stand thousands of other organizations that each do one thing with focus: feed the hungry, translate the Bible, send missionaries, teach students, or stand with believers who suffer for their faith.

Those other organizations are often called parachurch ministries, from a Greek word meaning alongside. The name is a good reminder of their place. They do not replace the church; at their best they serve beside it, drawing their people, prayer, and money from local congregations and sending people back to them. Most are registered charities or nonprofits with a board, a published statement of faith, and annual accounts.

What makes an organization Christian is not its name or its logo. It is whether it confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, works in his name, and does its work the way he did: truthfully, humbly, and with love for the people it serves.

One body, many members

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”

1 Corinthians 12:12

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-5

The Living Bread is building an honest, connected map of Christian community, so that a searching person can find a real church, ministry, or place to serve, and so that the good work being done everywhere is easier to discover.

What are the main types of Christian ministries and organizations?

Local churches and denominations. Congregations, and the wider families of churches they belong to. Every other kind of ministry depends on them. Find a church near you.
Church ministries. The ministries inside a congregation, organized around a group (youth, men, women, families) or a need (prayer, recovery, marriage). See the kinds of Christian ministry.
Relief and development charities. Organizations that answer disaster, hunger, poverty, and disease, and help communities stand on their own feet. See Christian organizations that feed the hungry and Christian organizations helping refugees.
Mission agencies. Organizations that recruit, train, send, and care for missionaries, near and far. See missions and mission organizations.
Bible translation and Bible societies. Groups that translate, print, and give away the Scriptures.
Campus and youth ministries. Ministries to students and young people, often working with local churches and schools. See youth ministries and campus ministries.
Ministries to the persecuted church. Organizations that pray for, supply, and speak up for Christians who suffer for their faith.
Education. Christian schools, colleges, Bible colleges, and seminaries. See Christian education.
Care and hospitality. Hospitals and chaplaincies, camps, and retreat centers, where people are cared for in body and soul.

Well known Christian organizations, by kind

These are named so that you can understand the landscape, not as endorsements, rankings, or partners. The Living Bread is not affiliated with any of them and does not speak for them, and this is far from a complete list: for every well known name there are thousands of faithful local ministries no one outside their town has heard of.

Relief and development

World Vision: Founded in 1950 by the American evangelist Bob Pierce, after he saw children orphaned and abandoned in Asia. It works through child sponsorship, emergency relief, and long term community development.
Compassion International: Founded in 1952 by Everett Swanson to care for children orphaned by the Korean War. It is known for one to one child sponsorship carried out through local churches in the countries it serves.
Samaritan's Purse: Founded in 1970, also by Bob Pierce, as an emergency relief ministry. It later moved to Boone, North Carolina, and responds to war, disaster, disease, and famine in the name of Christ.
Habitat for Humanity: Founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller as a Christian housing ministry. Volunteers build and repair homes alongside the families who will live in them.

Mission agencies

Baptist Missionary Society (BMS World Mission): Formed at Kettering, England, on 2 October 1792, with William Carey among its founders. Carey sailed for India the next year, and the society is often counted as the start of the modern missionary movement.
China Inland Mission, now OMF International: Founded by Hudson Taylor in 1865. It became the largest mission in China, was renamed the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1964, and today serves across East Asia as OMF International.
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF): Founded in 1945 by former Second World War pilots who wanted to use flying to serve the church. Its planes carry missionaries, medical teams, and relief supplies to places roads do not reach.

Bible translation and Bible societies

British and Foreign Bible Society: Founded in London on 7 March 1804 to spread the Bible more widely, without note or comment. It became the pattern for Bible societies around the world.
American Bible Society: Founded in New York City on 8 May 1816 to make Bibles affordable and widely available, first in the young United States and then far beyond it.
Wycliffe Bible Translators: Founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend, who had seen that many peoples had no Scripture in their own language. Its work is translating the Bible into every language that still needs it.
The Gideons International: Founded on 1 July 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin, by Samuel E. Hill, John H. Nicholson, and William J. Knights, three traveling businessmen. It is best known for placing free Bibles in hotels, hospitals, and schools.

Campus and youth ministries

YMCA: Founded in London on 6 June 1844 by George Williams and a group of young Christian men, to hold Bible classes and prayer meetings for young workers. Today it is known worldwide for community, health, and youth programs.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship: The United States movement dates its beginning to 1941. In 1947 it joined student movements from other nations to form the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), which now links student fellowships around the world.
Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ): Founded in 1951 by Bill and Vonette Bright on the campus of UCLA. In the United States it took the name Cru in 2011, and it serves students and many other groups.
Young Life: Founded in 1941 in Gainesville, Texas, by the Presbyterian minister Jim Rayburn, to reach high school students who would not come to church. It works through adult leaders, clubs, and camps.
The Navigators: Founded in 1933 by Dawson Trotman, whose work began with discipling a single sailor in the United States Navy. It is known for one to one discipleship and Scripture memory.

Serving the persecuted church

Open Doors: Founded in 1955 by Andrew van der Bijl, known as Brother Andrew, who began by carrying Bibles to believers in Communist Poland. It supports Christians who suffer for their faith.
The Voice of the Martyrs: Founded in 1967 by Richard Wurmbrand, a pastor imprisoned for fourteen years in Communist Romania, and his wife Sabina, who was imprisoned for three. It serves persecuted Christians and tells their stories.

A church and a community service at the same time

The Salvation Army: Founded in London's East End in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth, first as the Christian Mission and, from 1878, as The Salvation Army. It is both a church and one of the largest charities in the world, serving the poor, the addicted, and the homeless.

What is a mission agency?

A mission agency, sometimes called a sending agency or mission board, is an organization that helps churches send people to share the gospel and serve in places beyond their own. It recruits and screens missionaries, trains them, helps them raise support, handles visas and finances, and cares for them on the field and when they come home. Some agencies belong to a denomination; others are independent and work with churches of many traditions.

Church missions and mission agencies belong together. A local church prays, gives, and sends its own members; an agency brings the experience, language training, and long term care that a single congregation rarely has. Missions today run in every direction, from every continent to every continent, and include short term trips, long term church planting, Bible translation, medicine, teaching, and aviation.

How do you know if a Christian organization is trustworthy?

Read its statement of faith. A trustworthy ministry says plainly what it believes about Jesus Christ and the Scriptures.
Look at its accounts. Healthy organizations publish annual reports and audited finances, and say how much of each gift reaches the work. Many countries have a public charity register you can search.
Ask about the local church. Good parachurch ministries work with churches, not around them.
Watch how it treats people. Those it serves should be treated with dignity, never used as props, and children should be protected by clear safeguarding policies.
Beware of pressure. A ministry that rushes you to give or to sign up, or promises blessing in exchange for money, is not reflecting Christ.

How can I get involved with a Christian organization?

Begin where you are. Pray for one ministry by name. Give to one you have looked into. Volunteer with one near you, or ask your own church which ministries it already supports, because the people beside you on Sunday often know where help is most needed. Christian community is not something you find once and keep; it is something you give yourself to, one person and one need at a time.

Explore the family

Find your place, or add your community

Sources

Founding years and founders on this page were checked against these sources on 7 October 2026:

Frequently asked questions

What is a Christian organization?: A Christian organization is a body of people joined together under a shared faith in Jesus Christ to do a particular work. The most basic one is the local church; around it stand many ministries, charities, schools, and agencies that each focus on one task, such as relief, missions, Bible translation, or ministry to students.
What kinds of Christian organizations are there?: The main kinds are local churches and denominations, church ministries, relief and development charities, mission agencies, Bible translation and Bible societies, campus and youth ministries, ministries to the persecuted church, Christian schools and colleges, and care ministries such as hospitals, chaplaincies, camps, and retreat centers.
What is a parachurch organization?: A parachurch organization is a Christian ministry that works alongside local churches rather than being a church itself, usually focused on one task such as relief, missions, Bible translation, or student ministry. At its best it draws its people and support from churches and sends people back into them.
What is a mission agency?: A mission agency, also called a sending agency or mission board, helps churches send people to share the gospel and serve beyond their own community. It recruits, trains, and supports missionaries, handles practical matters like visas and finances, and cares for them on the field and when they return.
What are some well known Christian organizations?: Well known examples include the Salvation Army (founded 1865), World Vision (1950), Compassion International (1952), Samaritan's Purse (1970), Wycliffe Bible Translators (1942), the Gideons International (1899), the YMCA (1844), Young Life (1941), Cru (1951), Open Doors (1955), and the Baptist Missionary Society (1792). They are named for information, not as endorsements.
Is The Living Bread affiliated with these organizations?: No. The organizations named on this page are examples to help you understand the landscape. The Living Bread is not affiliated with them and does not speak for them.
How do I find a Christian organization to get involved with?: Start with a local church, then explore the wider family by what you are looking for: hands-on service, volunteering, missions, nonprofits, or education. Look into any organization's statement of faith and finances before you give, and ask your church which ministries it already trusts.
I lead a Christian organization. How do I add it?: The Living Bread welcomes churches and Christian organizations to be discovered by searching people. It is an honest invitation: you describe who you are in your own words, with no fabricated programs or numbers, and claiming a profile is free. Start with the for-churches page.

One step further: Discover your place in the Body →

✝

Begin where you are

You do not have to have it all figured out to take a first step. Serving Christ starts small and near: a prayer prayed with someone, a need met on your street, a seat taken in a church this Sunday, a Gospel read with an open heart. He gives the growth. Pick one thing, and begin today.

Find a need near me Find a church Ask for prayer

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Explore furtherThe church family Kinds of ministry Christian education Ministries in the Serve network Missions Christian nonprofits Discover your place Add your community