Our History
The beginning of All4Aid is connected to the work of Multination Church (formerly known as Bethel International Baptist Church) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 2014, the church started providing church asylum (Kirchenasyl in German, also called ‘sanctuary’ in the USA) for asylum seekers. They were mostly Christians from persecuted countries who lived at the church for a few months to avoid deportation and earn the right to request asylum in Germany.
Although church asylum is a century-long respected tradition that is practiced by hundreds of churches in Germany, a criminal investigation was opened against Rev Rodrigo Assis da Silva, lead pastor of Multination Church at the time, on charges of assisting illegal migrants. Following the launch of a petition campaign called “Respect for Church Asylum”, which gathered the attention of the media and the support of thousands of people from all over the world, the investigation was closed. In the following years, the refugees who lived in the church were all granted asylum in Germany. They integrated into their local communities, learned the language, found jobs and are living happily and safely in Germany to this day.
After being exonerated, Rev Rodrigo Assis da Silva started the process of founding All4Aid in 2017 to catalyse even more support towards refugees and asylum seekers. Several friends joined the project by offering prayers, encouragement, financial support and even joining as full-time workers. Among the latter was Danielle A., a member of Multination Church who joined All4Aid at its beginnings, as well as Marv & Dawn S., members of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids-MI, who acted as the main catalysts of the organisation’s expansion and development.
In February 2019, after running a few programmes in Germany, All4Aid was offered the opportunity to take over the management of a centre in front of Moria Camp (which was later replaced by the new Mavrovouni Camp, aka. Moria 2.0) on Lesvos, Greece. In October 2020 Rodrigo stepped down from his role as lead pastor at Multination Church to serve full-time with All4Aid. In October 2021, All4Aid took over the management of yet another refugee centre. This time in Larnaca, Cyprus, the European country with the largest per capita population of asylum seekers.
In March 2022, as war broke out in Ukraine, All4Aid was led to develop an emergency response and started housing ca. 80 Ukrainian refugees in Romania and bringing regular shipments of food to Ukraine. Plans are on the way to expand All4Aid’s work to Adana, Turkey, and to Algeciras, Spain, as All4Aid continue to pursue its calling to love and serve displaced people in transit contexts.
(Photo: pastor’s office turned into a dormitory at Bethel IBC church).
Who We Are
All4Aid is a faith-based, international, nonprofit organisation comprised of a group of friends with a calling to work together with displaced people in transit contexts: individuals and families who had to flee their homes due to war, persecution or disaster, and are on the way to a safe destination country.
All4Aid is registered in Frankfurt, Germany, where our head office is located, as a Limited Liability Nonprofit Organisation (All4Aid gGmbH). We have set up additional foreign nonprofit entities, agreed to manage foreign nonprofit entities, and established partnerships with foreign nonprofit entities in order to facilitate All4Aid’s work abroad. Currently, most of our work is based on Lesvos, Greece, and in Larnaca, Cyprus.
OUR VISION
Displaced people attaining life in all its fullness (John 10:10b).
OUR MISSION
To work with displaced people to enhance their quality of life by facilitating humanitarian assistance, cultivating social inclusion and fostering educational development.
OUR VALUES
The values that guide our actions and the way we work are based on the principles of the Christian Faith and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Mathura SELVAM
Head of Finance & Administration
Frankfurt, Germany
LOGAN E.
Head of Operations
Larnaca, Cyprus
D
Kelly E.
Support Worker
Larnaca, Cyprus
JENNIE KIMBROUGH
Communications Lead
D
B.
Food Distribution Coordinator
Larnaca, Cyprus
Elena
Operations Assistant
Larnaca, Cyprus