to go as a single missionary or wait to get married

Go as a Single Missionary or Wait to Get Married?

Going overseas as a single missionary and waiting to get married are both valid options. Ultimately, the decision depends on where God is calling you for this season of your life.

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Go as a Single Missionary

Going as a single Christian missionary can be an incredible experience. It can offer opportunities for growth, learning, and serving in ways that may not be possible otherwise. As a single person, you may have more flexibility and freedom to follow God’s call wherever it leads you. You won’t have the responsibilities and obligations that married people deal with.

However, going as a single Christian missionary also comes with its own set of challenges. You may face cultural differences, language barriers, and safety concerns that can be difficult to navigate on your own. You may also experience loneliness and isolation as you are away from family and friends for an extended period:

When I was a summer worker in Zambia, and I was struggling with what I was going to do, I realized that being in Zambia with a family… I was still lonely. I didn’t have somebody that I could confide in… do I go back? Do I finish my degree? Do I get on the field? What does God want me to do?

God assured me that if I would walk in obedience, He would be with me. It wasn’t that he was going to give me a husband to go with me. It was that He was going to be with me.

Before making the decision to go as a single Christian missionary, it is important to seek God’s guidance and discern whether this is truly where He is leading you. You may also want to seek advice from trusted counsel and carefully consider the potential risks and challenges.

Wait to Get Married

On the other hand, it can be wise to wait to get married before embarking on a mission trip. Marriage can offer stability, companionship, and support that can be beneficial when living and serving in a foreign country. It can also offer opportunities to grow in love and service together as a couple, which can be a beautiful witness to others.

However, it is important to remember that marriage is not a prerequisite for serving God. There may be other ways to fulfill your calling even if you are not married. Waiting for marriage should not be an excuse for inaction or delaying obedience to God’s call.

When considering whether to wait for marriage, it is important to seek God’s guidance and discern whether this is truly where He is leading you. You may also want to seek advice from trusted spiritual mentors or advisors and carefully consider your personal goals and priorities.

Single Doesn’t Mean Second Class

As a Christian, it can be challenging to navigate the cultural expectations and pressures surrounding marriage and singleness. In some circles, being single may be a lesser status. Single Christians may feel excluded or undervalued in the church community. However, this should not be the case. It’s important to value all believers equally and treat them with love, respect, and dignity.

If you feel called to go on a mission trip as a single Christian, don’t let the lack of a spouse hold you back. In America, single Christians are welcome in our community small groups, and they don’t need to feel like second-class citizens. The church should be a place where all believers feel loved, valued, and supported, regardless of their marital status.

One way to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for single Christians is to provide opportunities for them to connect with others and build relationships. Small groups, Bible studies, and volunteer activities can all be excellent ways for single Christians to feel part of a community and engage with others who share their faith.

Acknowledge the unique challenges single Christians may face. Provide them with support and encouragement. Singles often struggle with loneliness and feelings of isolation. It’s essential to recognize these challenges and provide resources and support to help single Christians navigate them.

Being single does not mean being a second-class citizen in the Kingdom of God. Christ values and loves all believers. It’s important for the church to reflect this truth by treating all members with respect and dignity. If you’re a single Christian ready to go on a mission trip, don’t let societal expectations or cultural pressures hold you back.

Make a Difference in Someone’s Life

In the end, it’s a personal decision to go on a mission trip as a single or married Christian missionary. Seeking guidance from God and advice from trusted counsel is crucial in making this decision.

According to Ruth, the outcome can be an unexpected one:

I think God uses some women to call their children. It may be their children who step up and do what they dreamed they could do, but they didn’t get to do it. Their children take up the mantle and move forward with it.

Remember that both options are valid. Where God is calling you for this season of your life is the most important factor to consider. Either way, you’ll be making a difference in someone’s life.

are short term mission trips effective

Are Short Term Mission Trips Effective?

According to Nik Ripken, some Christians mistakenly believe that short term mission trips can replace being involved in the local church and evangelizing in their own communities. He argues that this approach is misguided. It does not address the ongoing need for evangelism and discipleship in one’s local context.

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When Helping Hurts in Short Term Missions

Short term missions can have a negative impact on vulnerable communities, such as orphans. When volunteers come into a community for a short period, they may offer love and support. However, they often do not have a long-term commitment to building relationships and supporting the community over time. This can lead to a sense of abandonment and mistrust when the volunteers leave:

We have modeled and taught orphans that you cannot trust love for more than two weeks at a time. They’re now 18 or 20 years of age. Some of the most hardened, street-wise, hard-hearted adults were children that church people loved with all our hearts. We sacrificed to get there. We told them we love them, that we will never forget them, and we will be back. And we don’t ever come back. We don’t contact them, and we don’t send letters back. After they experience that and age out of the orphanage, they’re some of the hardest kids on earth.

Furthermore, these volunteers may unintentionally model behavior that is not sustainable or appropriate for the community. They may provide temporary solutions instead of long-term solutions. This can create dependency and perpetuate the cycle of poverty or other issues that the community is facing.

It is important for volunteers and mission organizations to consider the long-term impact of their actions. Missionaries must work alongside the community to provide sustainable solutions. This may involve building long-term relationships, partnering with local organizations, and empowering the community to take ownership of their own development.

Witness in Your Own Jerusalem

Nik Ripken shares his experience of calling churches to thank them for sending volunteers who served him and his wife for over two years. He often discovered that these volunteers were not regular attendees or contributors in their own churches. He highlights the need for Christians to serve and be a witness in their own “Jerusalem,” and not just in foreign mission fields or short-term mission trips:

When someone comes to us and serves us for over two years… I’ll just call the church and thank the pastor for sending us the nurse, relief worker, or food distributor. Oftentimes that pastor will say to us, “Nik, I am so thankful that they served you so well. I don’t know if I would recognize them if they walked in the church door. I know who you’re talking about, but I know they don’t attend regularly, and I know that they are not a regular contributor to the life of the church financially. As far as I can tell, being a witness across the street in their own Jerusalem is something they have yet to work up to.”

Through Ripken’s example, we see the importance of being actively involved in our own churches, families, and communities. Serving in our local contexts allows us to build lasting relationships, share the gospel with those around us, and make a meaningful impact.

Ripken emphasizes the importance of being involved in the local church and building relationships with people in one’s own community. He believes that evangelism should be a lifestyle and not just a one-time event or a short term mission trip. While short term mission trips can be valuable experiences, they should be seen as a supplement to local evangelism efforts, not a replacement for them.

Avoid Being a “Missionary Tourist”

A common issue with short term mission trips is the influx of volunteers that can overwhelm and inundate communities. This happens particularly in urban areas. While volunteers may have good intentions, their presence can sometimes create more harm than good. Missionaries must align their work with long-term strategies and community needs:

From youth and high school all the way to retirees, these people are doing great jobs. But major cities are inundated with volunteers. Many make every effort to fit in with long-term strategies, while some unfortunately present that stereotype of the missionary tourist.

The “missionary tourist” stereotype can be damaging and perpetuate negative stereotypes about missionaries and their intentions. This can further hinder effective evangelism and community development efforts by creating a sense of mistrust and suspicion among local residents.

While short term mission trips can be valuable experiences, it is important to approach them with a mindset of humility and a willingness to learn from local communities. Volunteers should seek to build relationships with local leaders and work together to identify community needs and develop long-term solutions that empower local residents to take ownership of their own development.

Ultimately, short term mission trips should be viewed as a supplement to long-term, sustainable efforts to build relationships and support communities in their growth and development. By working together with local leaders and residents, volunteers can have a meaningful impact that goes beyond just a few weeks or months of service.

female missionaries outnumber men

Female Missionaries Outnumber the Men

For every one man on the mission field, Nik Ripken sees seven women. In tough areas where safety is threatened, Nik explains, the ratio of women to men increases. Still, it’s a misconception that God calls more women to the mission field than men. What’s causing the gender disparity in male and female missionaries?

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Men Tend to Become Pastors

Many mission organizations actively recruit men and seek to address the gender imbalance in the mission field. Yet the underrepresentation of men in the mission field compared to women remains a complex issue. Nik suggests that men still view the pastor-teacher model as the most common and accepted form of full-time ministry:

Men who want to do ministry only have one model. If they want to do ministry full-time as a profession, and they want to have remuneration for that type of service, they only have the pastor-teacher model to fall back on.

Cultural and societal expectations around gender roles can play a significant role in shaping career choices and opportunities. American men may be expected to provide for their families through more traditional career paths, whereas women may have more freedom to pursue alternative career paths, including mission work.

Nik explains that Christian organizations inadvertently train American men to become pastors instead of missionaries:

In layman’s terms, they’ve never applied their trade. Where do you go to learn to be an evangelist and a church planter? You learn it on the streets… Monday through Friday. You learn it by your elders, deacons, and church staff going out and modeling how to plant a church through your home and how to worship in your home.

According to Nik, men need to learn these skills “on the streets” through practical experience and mentorship. Formal theological training and education can provide a strong foundation for ministry. However, men need the practical experience and modeling by more experienced mentors to develop the skills and perspective needed to effectively serve in a variety of ministry contexts.

Nik adds that men face additional challenges: a desire to climb the corporate ladder, anxiety of protecting the family, lack of trust in divine providence, and online temptations.

Churches Must Break Bread Together

Nik reminds us that church staff members should have personal relationships and share meals with one another before attempting to plant churches in foreign nations:

Most of the church staff have not shared meals in each other’s homes. In the American culture, I’ll give us an A+ for raising up and training the pastor-teacher. At best… a D- for raising up and training the evangelist church planter that Jesus was quoted to talk about.

It’s essential for the staff to build community and relationships within the church. The ability to work collaboratively and learn from one another is critical for effective ministry. Creating opportunities for relationship-building and mentorship should be a priority for churches seeking to equip men for a variety of ministry roles.

advice for parents of missionaries

Advice for Parents of Missionaries

It can be a difficult and emotional process to send a loved one to the mission field. It may require open and honest communication, prayer, and guidance from mentors or advisors. With faith, trust, and obedience to God, we can navigate these challenges as family members and parents of missionaries.

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The Eldest Son in a Missionary Family

When Nik Ripken’s son asked to participate in missionary work, Nik felt both proud and protective of his son in this situation. On one hand, he admired his son’s passion for missionary work and desire to make a positive impact in Somalia. On the other hand, he worried about the dangers and challenges that come with working in a volatile and unpredictable environment:

I asked him, “You’re about to graduate in a couple months. You’ve got to let me know what you want for graduation.” And he looked at me, and said, “Dad, what I want for graduation is I want you to change your mind. I want to start going into Somalia and start doing projects with you in Somalia.”

My wife began to sob. There were tears in my eyes.

Half of me was so proud that my son wanted to do this. The other half was saying, “God, I’ve done this for our family for seven years. Now keep your hands off my son.”

For a brief moment, Nik Ripken experienced empathy for the parents of missionaries who worry about the safety and well-being of their children while they are working in challenging environments.

Parents of Successful Missionaries Bless Their Children

Fear is a common feeling among parents of missionaries based on the risks and challenges that come with missionary work in certain parts of the world. It is important for parents and their children to have open and honest communication about the risks and challenges involved in the work and to have a plan in place for staying safe and healthy while in the field.

Family members must respect the autonomy and passion of the missionaries themselves, who have a desire to teach others who Christ is. Empathy, communication, and mutual respect are key in navigating the complex emotions and decisions involved in missionary work and the impact it can have on families.

Obedience to God vs. Obedience to Parents

Nik discusses the tension that can arise between obedience to God and to parents when serving as a missionary:

Within a week or two, Ruth and I can tell whether new people who come to the mission field have been blessed by their family to come or whether they have not been blessed by their family to come.

One of the horrible truths that our listeners are going to struggle with is that non-believers bless their children to work overseas for the Kingdom of God a lot easier and quicker than Christian people do.

You’ve got moms and dads that are trying to bring people off the mission field.

Missionaries may feel obligated to honor and respect their parents. However, our ultimate allegiance should be to God and His calling on our lives. This can create a difficult situation when parents may not understand or support their child’s decision to become a missionary. They may even actively oppose it.

Nik remarks that non-believers are often supportive of their child’s decision to serve as a missionary. Non-believing parents may not have the same religious convictions or concerns about safety and well-being on the mission field. On the other hand, Christian parents may struggle with the idea of their child going into a potentially dangerous or challenging environment. Often they worry about the impact on their family relationships.

It is harder to send than to go, Nik concludes.

should we reach our own country first

Should We Reach Our Own Country First?

Are the needs of the lost so great in America that we need to reach our own country first? Nik says no. If we wait to completely unite America as believers before we go to other nations, he explains, we will not fulfill the Great Commission as Christ commanded.

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An Excuse Not to Evangelize

When it comes to sharing one’s faith with others, there are often a variety of excuses that people use to avoid evangelizing. One of the most common excuses is the idea that we need to focus on the needs of our own country first, before we can think about spreading the gospel to other nations.

This excuse is not a new one, and it is often rooted in a sincere desire to meet the needs of those in our own communities. After all, there are many challenges and struggles that people face in our own countries. Our neighbors face poverty, homelessness, addiction, and other issues that can be difficult to overcome.

However, while it is certainly important to address these issues, we should not use them as an excuse to avoid evangelism altogether.

For Love of God and Country

In fact, the call to share the gospel transcends national boundaries and cultural differences. It is a task that Christ has called all Christians to participate in.

For most people, a local commitment to local evangelism is not the honest reply to avoid going among the nations.

“I cannot go to the nations until all of those spiritual needs of a nation are met…” means I’ll never go to the nations because we’ll never meet the needs.

In other words, while it is important to address the needs of our own communities, we should never use this as an excuse to avoid sharing the gospel with others. Instead, we should strive to be faithful to the call of Christ, and to share His message of hope and salvation with everyone we encounter, whether they are in our own communities or in other nations around the world.

Ultimately, the excuse not to evangelize is not a valid one, and it is important for us to recognize this and to step out in faith. We’ll have to trust that God will use our efforts to spread His message of love and grace to all who need it.

“It is an excuse that most people find acceptable,” Nik explains.

Why Does God Allow Tragedy?

As difficult as it may be to understand, God can use tragedy to draw people to Himself. He can use it to show His love and compassion to those who are hurting. He can also use it to bring about change and transformation in our lives:

We know that oftentimes, God will bring tragedy in the lives of those who say no in order to let them reconsider about the Kingdom of God. God will often bring arrest and persecution in the lives of us believers to send us as a witness to the high places of government.

Nik shares a word of warning for those reluctant to share the gospel with other nations.

“If we don’t scatter ourselves, God cares so much for lost people that he will scatter us himself.”

is the great commission for everyone

Is the Great Commission for Everyone?

Are you feeling called to missions? Is the Great Commission for everyone? In this episode, Nik Ripken asserts that it doesn’t matter whether you feel called to missions or not. He explains that we are all commanded by Jesus to share the gospel throughout all the nations.

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What Does God Call Us To Do in Matthew 28:18-20?

Matthew 28:18-20 is a well-known passage that outlines the mission that God has called us to do. In this passage, Jesus gives us a clear command:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Making disciples involves sharing the Good News with others and teaching them about Jesus Christ. We are called to be witnesses for Him so that others will know about His crucifixion and resurrection. Additionally, we need to offer spiritual guidance by helping people develop their relationship with God through prayer and study of scripture. Ultimately, our goal should be helping individuals grow closer to Christ so they can experience His transformative power in their lives.

Debunking a Call to Missions

Nik firmly believes that Christ has commanded everyone to share the gospel in all nations, and a call to missions is just to help us decide which country we should go to. He claims the act of evangelizing is not only a mission for full-time missionaries: it’s a duty for every believer.

However, Nik also tells us about his first experience with a mission board that felt differently:

For the next 30 minutes, they gave me a four-point sermon. They took turns with it. With this mission board, for you to be a missionary in an overseas setting, you had to have a four-fold call. You had to have a call to salvation, a call to ministry, a call to missions, and a call to a particular country.

The panel asked a young Nik Ripken what he thought about their call. Then, Nik’s response stunned the mission board:

I said, “It sounds like to me that you Baptists have created a four-fold call that gets you to missions. It allows you to be disobedient to what Jesus has commanded you to do.”

I got a one-way ticket to Africa.

After serving for 35 years, Nik Ripken still believes that the Great Commission is for everyone.

Why is Christianity Declining in the West?

Although it can be tempting to live in comfort, Ripken explains that we must be willing to spread the gospel beyond our own churches or communities. Otherwise, our faith will suffer drastically:

In the Western world, Christianity is declining because we’ve turned the command of Jesus into something else: some miraculous, secondary call that we are to hear. What are we supposed to do? Hear the voice of God again, saying, “I’m calling you; get up and go to the mission field?”

If we do not engage in cross-cultural work, Nik believes, our churches become inward-looking rather than outwardly-focused on teaching others about Christ’s path to salvation.

Do Miracles Happen in America

Do Miracles Happen in America?

Sometimes Christians in the West can get so caught up in the stories of miracles taking place overseas that we forget to be grateful for what we enjoy at home. Do miracles even happen in America?

In this episode, Nik Ripken reminds us that America is blessed with an overt miracle. We’re talking about the freedom to worship in a land of abundance.

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Are Bibles Allowed in China?

When Nik visited 150 Chinese pastors in a network of persecuted house churches, he was shocked to see them tearing the Bible apart. After ripping each book of the Bible into individual portions, they handed each pastor one book to take home as a resource.

However, Nik noticed their frustration at once:

[The Chinese pastors] got upset with me. They said, “Nik, you’ve got to explain to us…. Why is it that God loves his children in America so much more than he loves his children in China?” I was just dumbfounded.

In China, there are restrictions on how Bibles can be obtained and distributed. For example, only state-sanctioned churches can stock or sell bibles. Any other attempt at distribution may face consequences such as fines or imprisonment.

Believers cannot vocalize praise songs. Instead, they sit knee-to-knee and mouth the words without making sounds. If their voices were to be heard outside their homes, the military police would swiftly arrive to enforce Chinese government policy and shut down the practice.

The pastors helped Nik to better understand the challenges of the persecuted church:

They said, “Nik, you’ve watched us tear our Bibles into shreds and let people go home with the Book of Genesis, or John, or Psalms…. You’re telling us that in Ethiopia, where you and your family live right now, you have seven different translations just for you?”

Nik recalled that these pastors had been denied access to Bibles for so long. Yet, they were still so devoted to teaching from the Bible that they physically divided God’s Word among themselves.

Tearing the sacred text apart was the Chinese pastors’ response to scarcity within the persecuted church. This incredible example of solidarity and commitment to faith despite religious persecution moved Nik deeply.

Religious Freedom in America

On one Sunday morning, Nik took a Muslim-background believer to an American church for the first time. The newcomer was thrilled to see that the service started with a baptism of an entire family.

She surprised Nik with her reaction:

I can’t believe it! You’re telling me that an entire family is baptized in public, and [the father] is not going to be beaten, put in prison, and killed? His wife and his daughters are not going to be forced to marry a 60-70 year old man in a mosque, and disappear in another wife’s house? His son is not going to be put in a conservative Muslim village and disappear and never be found again? I think I’m going to stand up and shout! I’ve never seen America like this!

Nik Ripken asserts that miracles do happen in America. We enjoy an abundance of religious freedoms and resources unlike anything that exists in the Muslim world. Therefore, the peace we experience as a result is an overt miracle in itself.

God is with us

Lies, Lies, and More Lies

We’ve heard that Satan is a liar. But how many of his lies do we actually fall for? In this episode, Nik Ripken advises against believing the lie that the Bible is nothing more than a record in past tense of what God used to do. He is still very much active in this world today. God is with us, and His influence matters the most in some of the darkest places.

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Biblical Miracles Today

When it comes to modern-day miracles, this story of a Muslim man struggling to keep his family together is truly inspiring. Desperate for help, he felt that he had nowhere else to turn. After asking for counsel from the spiritualist of his jungle village, the man had a dream where a voice spoke to him. “Find Jesus, and find the Good News,” the voice instructed:

We Westerners knew of three men – believers – out of 17 million people. No families, no women… three people. The Holy Spirit of the Living God took that man from his bed, over the mountain, up the coast, and to the door of one of those three believers.

This dream led the Muslim man to Nik Ripken, an American missionary who could provide answers. After meeting Nik, the Muslim man was thrilled to learn about Christianity. Despite his illiteracy, he returned to the jungle, changed his lifestyle, and rebuilt his family.

God is Still With Us

Nik reminds our audience that God is still with us! He maintains that we have to look for his miracles in the most unexpected places. He encourages us to fulfill the Great Commission and travel to lost nations, where we can often find evidence of God’s power:

If you want to see the miracles of God, such as the ones that are in the Bible, you might have to get in a bus, a car, or an airplane and go where God’s doing those miracles. Why would God need to do overt miracles in the midst of a church that has full access to the Kingdom of God?

Nik claims that America is experiencing a cultural problem of “Jesus Plus,” wanting both Jesus and a luxurious lifestyle with success and wealth.

While our faith tells us that God is a very real part of our lives, we can fall away from Him if we focus too much on materialism. When we no longer see a wealthy lifestyle as a blessing from God but as something we deserve, we may end up abandoning biblical principles.

What Do Muslims Believe About Jesus?

Muslims believe that Jesus is one of the most important and revered prophets of God. He is an integral part of Islamic history and literature, with many stories about His life found in different texts. However, there are some significant differences between Islam and Christianity when it comes to understanding His life story.

According to Nik, Muslims often decide to make a spiritual pilgrimage in search of answers:

Muslims will go to one, two, and three countries until… if they are literate, they’ll find the book. Muslims will read it three to five times before they say “Yes” to Jesus. It will take them 30 or 40 encounters with people like you and myself. They’ll get a story here, a story there, and it’s a great day when they find the Jesus film in their language.

For many followers of the Islamic faith, conversion to Christianity is often seen as an act of betrayal and apostasy. Nik suggests that Muslims often convert to Christianity after claiming to have met Christ in their dreams or visions.

How Can We Know God?

The Bible serves as one of the primary guides for Christians looking to better understand God’s will. Studying biblical stories provides believers with examples on how we should live out our faith. But how can Muslims know God, especially when they may be illiterate or trained in Islam?

Many find it challenging to know how to experience Him in a connected way:

They’re saying, “No, how can I understand if I have no one to explain these things to us?” That’s why God is leading them to folks like us. We’re connecting them with believers in their culture that they had no way of knowing they were there.

Missionaries like Nik Ripken work with Muslim-background believers in their own cultural contexts. Doing so helps them to understand and embrace Christianity while maintaining their native culture.

Nik also connects these new believers with other Christians in their communities. This gives them a support network as they grow stronger in faith.

how to share the gospel

How to Share the Gospel: Four Questions

In this episode, Nik Ripken explores four guiding questions that witnesses can use when sharing the gospel with those we encounter. By answering these four questions, we can better understand how to share the gospel and offer salvation through Christ to the people we meet.

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Four Guiding Questions for Sharing the Gospel

Previously, Nik Ripken presented two important questions to consider when sharing the gospel. This week, Nik reviews two more – for a total of four guiding questions that can help witnesses bring the gospel into conversations:

  1. What do I say?
  2. Who do I say it to?
  3. Who will hold me accountable for sharing my faith?
  4. What do we do when they say yes?

He speaks from his own experience in ministry and offers advice on how to be an effective witness for Christ.

How to be an Effective Witness for Christ

What do I say?

It is important that we understand what we are sharing: the good news of salvation through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Still, Nik suggests we tell the other stories too:

When we follow [the lineage] from Jesus back to Isaac and back to Abraham, the genesis of [the conflict between Christianity and Islam] is in the story. […] Yet, when you find out in the story that the promise was given to Abraham but only through one woman… through Sarah or through nobody… that sets their worldview upside-down.

Sharing the gospel is most effective when our own faith journey is firmly rooted, built on a solid understanding of Christ’s teachings and a history of leading our lives accordingly.

Who do I say it to?

Once we feel confident in our knowledge, we can identify people in our communities to share this message with. In the previous episode, Nik emphasized the need for missionary teams to match the demographics of the people they are trying to reach:

The [main] way that Muslims come to Christ is by sharing meals with believers like us. As our kids grew, we would bring single women and men with us, and young families with us. People must see themselves in… who is saying it.

When someone expresses interest in learning more about Christianity, Nik recommends that we invite them into our homes for a meal. This provides an  environment for more intimate conversations about faith in a relaxed setting while giving new believers an opportunity to see how followers of Christ lead their lives.

Who will hold me accountable for sharing my faith?

It can be helpful to have someone else hold us accountable for sharing our faith. Nik recommends that we find accountability partners who will remind and encourage us to share our beliefs about Christ:

We used to have to turn in monthly [reports] to my supervisor, and I had five teams that had to report to us. Each month, a major part of that report was… how many times have you gotten to the resurrection? How many times have you shared meals in your house with those who are not in the Kingdom of God?

Staying connected with other Christians in a Bible study group helps us grow in our faith. It also provides us with accountability partners as we strive towards spreading God’s message of love and redemption.

What do we do when they say yes?

Once someone has accepted Christ, it’s important to follow up and equip him or her with the right resources. Having a supportive community is essential for new Christians because it provides encouragement, guidance, and accountability:

With Muslims, we need to preload everything they need to know about the Kingdom of God. By the time a Muslim takes [a] believer’s baptism, you have an adult believer that can go and do anything that you can do. But Hindus come to Christ in such a way that if you leave them at baptism after their profession of faith, you’ve left a brand new baby on the street.

Nik recommends that we equip new believers with knowledge by taking them through Biblical truths, offering insight into how living according to scripture should look like, and encouraging them throughout their spiritual growth. Mentoring is key in helping newly converted believers get grounded in the foundations of Christianity so that they can share God’s Word with others.

Sharing the Gospel in the Xhosa Language

When Nik first embarked on his missionary journey in South Africa, he had to communicate with locals in the Xhosa language. He was nervous because he had only spent one year learning Xhosa. Nik’s mentor dropped him off at a South African woman’s doorstep, where Nik found himself alone without a translator:

He leaves me there on the porch with that woman by myself. I just know very basic words of sharing my faith, and he’s gone – run off with some of his buddies – and I’m standing there with that woman by myself. I shouldn’t be in that situation. So I said, in the Xhosa language, “I’ve come to tell you about Jesus.”

And she said, “Ndixelele” [Tell me].

Nik mustered up the courage and spoke with her in Xhosa. She happily accepted the message of faith Nik shared with her. However, Nik was so nervous about his ability to share the gospel in the Xhosa language that he rejected her initial acceptance of Christ. He laboriously retold the gospels to her several times in the South African heat:

I said, “No! It’s not possible that you could understand me. My language is not that good! You can’t understand, so I’m going to tell you everything again… louder and slower.” […] And I finished a second time… and I said, “No! My language is terrible, and I don’t want you believing anything less than the truth.”

So I started a third time…

When Nik’s guide came back, he asked the South African woman (in Xhosa), “How’s this white boy doing?”

And that young Xhosa lady looked at [him], with all the frustration she could muster, and she said, “This white man won’t let me come to Jesus!”

Sharing the gospel can be a daunting task. It’s natural to fear how people may respond, which can keep us from having those important conversations. Answering these four questions will help keep us on track to becoming an effective witness.

Don't mess with grandma

Effective Witnessing Strategies

In restrictive countries, mission work must be approached with caution in order to avoid betrayal and retaliation. Nik explains that it’s safer and more effective for young mission teams to evangelize to the elders rather than to the children of Islamic communities. Join Nik as he explores effective witnessing strategies for growing the church in persecuted communities.

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Guiding Questions for Young Teams

Evangelizing is an important aspect of Christianity and can be a daunting task for many. Knowing how to communicate the gospel effectively to others can be difficult. Nik presents two important questions to help guide the process:

  1. What do I say?
  2. Who do I say it to?

These two questions are essential for understanding how best to express our faith and share it with others. He encourages us to think critically about what we want to say. We should carefully decide which outlets are best suited for this kind of dialogue.

Effective Witnessing in Restrictive Countries

In today’s world, it can be a difficult task to bring Christianity into restrictive places where Islam prevails. Unfortunately, the consequences of this can be severe. Those who try to share the Christian faith without proper caution in such places may face violent threats and death.

If you’re going into a very restrictive place… you reach children in Islam and you won’t survive it. You’ll have guns cocked and put in your face like my own team did when I warned them not to do it. […] They did something like… “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”… teaching first graders and kindergarteners, and our guards came down off the wall, stuck AK-47s cocked in the faces of our young women workers and said, “You’re teaching our children a new way to pray. If you don’t stop it right now, you’re dead. You will not steal our children into Christianity.”

While it can be tempting to target children with the gospel message, Nik explains why this approach may not be the best option. Instead, Nik argues that it is safer and more effective for young mission teams to evangelize to the elders. Culturally, religious upbringing in Islamic communities starts at home under the careful watch of the mother. Therefore, change begins at home within the family.

Build Teams that Mirror the Target Audience

When it comes to witnessing, those who are being witnessed to should feel understood and accepted. This is why Nik advises building a diverse missionary team so that everyone witnessed to can relate to the message. Diversity not only allows people of different backgrounds to be represented, but it also helps the message resonate with as many people as possible.

Now we know how to build our teams. We know to have singles on them… we’re going to have young couples with brand new babies, those with teenagers, those with children out of the home…. We’re going to build a team where the witnessing mirror is as wide as possible so that everyone witnessed to can see themselves in that witnessing mirror. If they don’t see themselves in that story, gender-wise and age-wise from the very youngest to the very oldest, they’ll say to you explicitly, “We thought that Jesus was just for young people.”

Nik tells stories of various misconceptions in other nations, such as the false belief that only young people can be saved or that Christians are unable to have children as a result of following Christ. Through his journey, Nik has been able to correct these misunderstandings and gain insight into the cultures of other nations.