Global missionary partners expand gospel work through IMB teams

Rebeca Couto grew up in the Azores, where, as in Japan, evangelicals are under 1% of the population. She is a fourth-generation Christian. Her great-grandfather came to faith through British missionaries, and the Foreign Mission Board, now the IMB, started the first Baptist work on the islands.

Couto began learning Japanese as a music student in Lisbon, and her "burden for the lost" in Japan grew. After master's degrees in music and violin performance and a seminary degree, she is now in language study in Yokohama.

She serves as a global missionary partner, supported by a sending church or organization in her home country while working with IMB teams. The IMB says close to 400 GMPs serve with its teams worldwide.