Who We Are
Zoe International exists to equip indigenous leaders to bring the gospel to their own communities through prayer, discipleship, evangelism, and church planting. What began as a small initiative in South India is now a growing network of over 1,000 pastors in training across 64 centers in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh — with new efforts launching in the U.S.
Our heart is not just to send missionaries to the nations — but to raise up faithful laborers from within them.
How It Started
In 2019, pastor and theologian Kiran Boddu founded what was then called New Life Initiative. After completing his Master of Arts in Christian Leadership from Birmingham Theological Seminary, Kiran returned to Hyderabad, India with a burden: to equip untrained, often isolated pastors with the gospel of grace.
That same year, Kiran lost his father — a man whose quiet faith and local ministry had shaped him deeply. That loss became a turning point.
During the COVID crisis, Kiran and a small team began delivering food and medicine to struggling villages. In the process, they encountered dozens of pastors who had no formal training and little gospel clarity. 45 of them asked to learn. 40 completed the first round of training. And a movement began.
Mission & Vision
Mission: To equip gospel-centered indigenous leaders in prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting so they can multiply churches in unreached communites across South Asia and beyond.
Vision: A reformed, biblically faithful movement of disciple-makers and church planters across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the globe.
What We Do
We train leaders where they live — in their own language, in their own culture, and with a model they can multiply.
Certificate & Degree Programs
16-course certificate in theology, discipleship, and church planting
3-year program with full-day training, homework, and pastoral mentorship
Advanced Bachelor of Theology program offered in South India through IIIMill
Multiplication Strategy
Each graduate trains 5 others
Each group forms new discipleship teams
Each team aims to plant 4–5 churches in unreached villages
Why Indigenous Leadership?
Because the local church is strongest when it’s led by local people.
Across South Asia, many rural pastors serve faithfully with no formal training. Most have inherited a moralistic or works-based view of the Christian life, heavily influenced by surrounding religious systems. We believe theology should be grace-driven, biblically sound, and reproducible — not imported, but indigenized.
Our programs are built on 2 Timothy 2:2 — “Entrust these things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
Our Distinctives
Gospel-Centered
We anchor all our teaching in the message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone — a truth that radically reorients pastors steeped in performance-based faith.
Indigenous First
We don’t send outsiders to teach a few lessons. We raise up locals to become lifelong disciplers, trainers, and church planters within their own communities.
Disciples Who Multiply
Every student is trained to disciple others. Our goal is not knowledge transfer — it’s multiplication.
Accessible & Theologically Rich
We provide seminary-level training that is both rigorous and contextualized — written in native languages, taught in-person, and deeply pastoral.
Where We’re Going
Every Village: Our vision is to see churches planted in unreached, often caste-divided communities across South Asia.
New Life Churches of India: By 2026, we aim to launch a reformed denomination rooted in the pastors we've trained.
Global Expansion: We're developing new work in Nepal, Bangladesh, and the U.S. to reach unreached communities and raise up more trainers worldwide.
