Since moving here 5 years ago, there’s been lots of projects and ministries I’ve been involved in. I’ve worked with refugees, discipleship training programs, evangelism teams, churches, young adults programs, and more. I’ve loved all of these programs, and have been so honored to be a part of each one of them.
However, if I was to pick a favorite type of ministry, I’d have to say it would be any time I’ve had the opportunity to share Jesus with someone who is hungry for the gospel, and hadn’t heard it before.
My goal and dream while being here has been the same as what Paul describes in Romans 15:20 – “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”
There are way too many people who have never heard the Gospel, so when I can share with someone who has never heard and is hungry to hear, I want to spend as much time doing that as I can!
That brings me to a new opportunity that I’m super excited to step into, and super excited to share with you.
There’s a ministry my friends and I have connected with that has been functioning in-country for about 30 years. This ministry is responsible for about half of all local Christians having come to Jesus. (There currently about 6000 local believers in-country, and about 3000 of them came to Jesus because of this ministry).
This ministry uses advertisements on the internet (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to find people who are wanting to know about Jesus, and get them in contact with believers who will share the gospel with them. Last year, they had over 12,000 people from all around the country contact their organization and ask for either a Bible, or to meet with a Christian to talk about faith.
However, as of last year there were only 50 people doing follow-ups with those 12,000 people. Many of those workers are doing it on a part-time bases, and are also usually working in the big cities. That means that many of the 80 provinces across the country don’t have anyone following up with contacts who are hungry to talk about Jesus… even though those provinces often get dozens (or hundreds) of requests every month.
I talk a lot about Matthew 9:37-38 – The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few… – but seeing just how much fruitful opportunity there is, and how comparatively few people there are doing the work, was stunning to me!
For that reason, several of my team and I have talked with this organization, and we have committed to make regular trips to several of these not-engaged provinces to follow up with contacts that are asking to meet with Jesus-followers.
I’m super excited for this opportunity. Often in outreach-based ministry, much of our time is spent looking for people who are hungry to hear what we have to share. However, with this new opportunity, most of the people we’re meeting with will be people who have already expressed that they want to read the Bible and want to talk about Jesus. Meaning, we get to spend more and more of our time actually Making disciples who make disciples, instead of spending much of our time trying to find those people.
Please be praying for us as we step into this!
We’ll be traveling thousands of kilometers in the coming months, and talking with many, many people who have never met a Christian before.
Pray with us
- For grace as we travel
- For hearts willing to give their lives to Jesus and to obeying His commands,
- That the people we meet with would have powerful encounters with Jesus and that they decide to wholeheartedly give everything to Him
- For disciples to be made who would be passionate to see their families, work places, cities, and country saved and discipled too.
Also, pray for me, as I’ll be continuing my university studies as I also partner with this ministry. It will be a full-load, but I’m more than confident with God’s help that it will be a fruitful and beautiful season.
Thanks for praying with us!
Praying for you! Go Jesus!