The missionary is called and sent to disciple souls as the Lord has commanded us to do. This can be done through several strategies as the Lord leads. One of the channels to make impact in a cross cultural missions is to teach the local people. This is either in the academia or through the word of God.

In this article, much emphasis  will be laid on how  the Lord has used missionaries to achieve feats on the field whiles teaching in the classroom. This teaching could be just in the classrooms, learning centers or any other place apart from the church. This means, the power of the Holy Spirit is not limited to the four walls of the church but wherever the Lord’s name shall be mentioned.

In January 2017, the Lord opened a missionary door for me in Mongolia as an English teacher in one of the prestigious private schools in Ulaanbaatar. That was my first time in the nation and as a matter of fact living with Buddhists. I didn’t know so much about Buddhism and their traditions. But I had a passion and a burden for the unsaved and the unreached.

At the beginning, I didn’t know how to chip in the Gospel in my conversation and in my professional work as a teacher. This was not allowed since it was a Buddhist community but one way or the other, some of the students were always around me and wanted to know more about my faith and belief. To my surprise , they had not heard so much about the gospel and the person of Jesus.

I took it to prayer to know how to share the gospel to these young Mongolian students in my class. I had an impression to use the Bible stories to be teaching them and specifically as reading materials in the form of comprehension and answering questions from the given text. I got the understanding from the spirit of God to use the book of Esther for the students to be reading daily as stories but not in a form of a bible reading contest. I used the modern English versions of the bible, took away the chapters and the verses and made it more of a reading text. This strategy became possible because I was given the liberty to prepare my own materials for teaching.

As a teacher you have a level of control on the students and they were mandated to learn it by heart and recite it the next day as an assignment. The Lord was working through this strategy. Listen to this carefully, the gospel carries the same power regardless of the means you are going to use to share it. Whether you preach it, sing it, write it, act it in a form of drama or movie, it carries the same power. Don’t be limited in the way you share the gospel in a cross-cultural environment. Allow the Holy Spirit to give you a strategy.

One morning, I was amazed when one Mongolian girl came to share with me how the text from the book of Esther was waking her up as early as 5am. Hearing the words in the book of Esther reechoing in her every morning. She decided to inquire more about where we I got all these text from. That opened the door to the preaching of the gospel.

This young Buddhist lady in Mongolia received this gospel and that was a turning point in her life with Christ. I understood the workings of the Holy Spirit as a missionary and it changed my perceptive if sharing my faith in any nation.

Mat 28:19-20  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen

God has unleashed His servants globally to make disciples of all nations. The first call is to be with Him and that He might send us. Being with the lord is to learn from Him and be like Him. Our Lord was known as Rabbi meaning a teacher. He is the best teacher in the universe. He taught only twelve students to make impact globally. Being with him means, be a student and learn how to teach as well. The easiest way to be a teacher is to be a student of the best teacher.

No wonder he has also commanded us to teach the nations to observe his commandments. A teacher becomes an example for his students to look at and be a role model. Likewise, missionaries are sent as teachers not only to teach the word but by being an example.  Nations are waiting for teachers both in the academia and also in the Word of God. I urge missionaries to go on both paths to make great impact.

As a practicing missionary in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, one of the ways and methods I use is to be a teacher to the local people. Either as a language teacher or any relevant area to the students. Why do you think this strategy enables a missionary to navigate his way in a cross-cultural environment ?

1. Teachers are respected in many nations.
2. Teachers who speak foreign languages are highly demanded
3. Teachers impart knowledge to shape mindset
4. Teachers have access to students, parents, colleague teachers and many others
5. In areas where missionaries are not allowed, teachers are accepted to work legally.

In the next write ups, we will go through the strategies the missionary may use to propagate the gospel as a teacher to make impact and draw many to Christ. Don’t stop reading. Missionaries are readers.

One of the workable tools on the missions field is child evangelism. It serves as an avenue for the missionary to touch the heart of both the mother and father of the child. The missionary stands the chance of releasing his creativity in his evangelistic methods. Children love pictures, music, dancing, candies, competition and many other fun games.  Recently Missions Today went on a missions in Ghana in the west of Africa. Besides the preaching of the Gospel on the crusade grounds, house to house evangelism, there was a special project of children dubbed “CHILDCARE PROJECT”.

This projected had a maximum impact on the towns and surrounding villages in Gyedua Asamang. Children were medically screened and treated, clothed, fed and educated together with their mothers. What a day it was! The Gospel message penetrated easily when attention was given to children.

It is sad to see young people adopt worldly ways because they are drawn by the fame, the fun and the freedom that the world offers. These young people fall prey to the luring of the world because they have no spiritual roots in them; because the church, the family and the Christian community have not taken heed to the spiritual command in Prov 22: 6 – “ train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. This call to train up a child is a call to teach our children the ways of Christ through child evangelism.

This training must start when the child is still young and their heart is receptive to the gospel of Christ Jesus. Teaching our children the gospel helps them to develop deeper and stronger roots in Christ Jesus. It equips the children to respond to the challenges of life in a Christlike manner and also live their lives in the will of God.

For most children, the only time they will encounter the gospel of Christ is on Sunday when they attend Sunday school. This is not enough to plant the seed of the gospel firmly in their hearts. Training our children in the ways of the Lord must be done through a series of activities that stretches beyond Sunday school. The gospel must follow the children into the classroom, the playground and every other place where children are known to congregate. This is where the role of the missionary becomes pivotal. Unlike Sunday school teachers who only meet the children once a week, missionaries by virtue of their calling can meet the children everywhere. It is therefore important for missionary organisations to rise up and take up the challenge of securing the next generation for Christ through child evangelism.  

Indeed, Jesus in Matthew 19:13-14, commanded that the little children should be allowed to come unto him without hinderance. This means that every barrier which hinders children f rom coming to Christ must be removed. One of the greatest hinderances to child evangelism is the absence parental discipline in spiritual matters and also the belief that children are too young to understand the gospel.  In the Matt 19:13-14, we find that it was the parents who were bringing the children to Christ. This emphasizes the important role of the family in child evangelism. It also emphasizes the fact that no child is too young to understand spiritual matters the souls an. It also emphasizes the fact that the destinies of children matter to God.

If missionaries are going to be successful in child evangelism, then they must address this barrier by engaging the child and the parents of the child as part of the child evangelism. So that the parents will be equipped to guide the child in the light of the gospel.

Finally, child evangelism is not just the responsibility of missionaries or Sunday school teachers, it is the responsibility of every believer. We must take up this challenge and ensure that the young people around us receive the gospel of Christ Jesus.

The Gospel is the only means by which lives can be transformed and changed. When individuals are transformed, it trickles down to affect the whole community and nation at large. Development is not only about infrastructures and buildings. Development builds the personality of people through education to add value to their life. According to the United Nations, there are several indicators of development in nations called the SDG’s (sustainable development goals). 

The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”. The SDGs are: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice, and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals. The SDGs emphasize the interconnected environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development by putting sustainability at their center. Source: Wikipedia.

The organization, Missions Today’s core value is to reach out to lost souls and lead them to Christ as the Lord has already commanded. More so, we educate mothers, pregnant women and children in order to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate in communities. We do these by sending professional doctors, nurses and other health workers to rural communities who are deprived of this basic right. on the 21st of April 2023, a team of missionaries embarked on a gospel crusade in Gyedua Asamang and the nearby villages in Wassa Akropong Municipalities in the western region of Ghana. 

Over one hundred children together with their mothers were medically screened, fed, educated on common diseases among children and clothed as well. This exercise attracted the chief of the entire community, the MCE and the other dignitaries. It also became a tool for evangelism where mothers and children were ministered to through the preaching of the Gospel. 

The missionary journey can be a whirlwind of excitement. I quite remember the first time I went on a mission trip, I was so excited I could barely sleep- I thought of the people I would meet, I listened eagerly to all the stories of our leaders who had been on missions- the miraculous healings, the power demonstrations. I was pumped with excitement.

All the beautiful images I had painted in my head began to fade away within the first few days of arriving on the field when reality set in. The difficulties encountered on the mission field was not something I bargained for. Long hours of walking on dusty roads to preach the gospel to people who were not prepared to listen, sleeping on the floor in a poorly ventilated room. The worst part for me was carrying buckets of water on my head; my bucket was always empty – I was a Daddy’s girl. I was used to the water running from the taps and finer things in life.

I yearned for home, I withdrew from the rest of the team. I wondered if it was all worth it? would the people accept Christ? would they attend the crusades? Feelings of loneliness crept in.

Well, I never learnt how to carry water on my head, but I left the missions field with very valuable lessons.

Anybody who has spent time on a missions field would possibly identify with the feeling of loneliness and hopelessness which I had to contend with. Loneliness and depression are issues rarely discussed in the missionary community.

Missionaries are expected to be game-changers, bold, courageous, ever ready to rightly divide the word of God and cast out devils. How can the carriers of hope for a lost world feel lonely and depressed when so many are looking up to them for support and hope? But sadly, a lot of missionaries battle with these feelings of loneliness and depression.

Feelings of loneliness are very real amongst missionaries. Even Jesus had His moments of loneliness when He wanted to give up and He put in a request to be relieved of his duties. Without the knowledge of the flock( his disciples ), Jesus sent a letter(the prayer in Gethsemane) to the headquarters(the Father), asking to be relieved of His duties.

The prayer which Jesus prayed in the garden – #Father if it is thy will take this cup from me# was not the prayer of a happy man filled with excitement, it was the prayer of a man who was burdened, tired and lonely; it was the prayer of a man who was ready to give up.

But Jesus did not succumb to those feelings of loneliness by allowing them to become His reality. The same is true for every missionary, those feelings of loneliness and depression should not be your reality. Your reality is that you are not alone. Jesus told His disciples that He would be with them till the end( Matt 28:20). Jesus is with you and so are many others, cheering you on. Heb 12:22-24, tells us that we are surrounded by the Spirit of just men made perfect, an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and the church of the firstborn.

Jesus’s experience in the garden of Gethsemane teaches us the importance of prayer in dealing with these low moments. Jesus did not hide His feeling, He took it to the Lord in prayer. As he prayed, scripture makes us understand that angels came to comfort and strengthen Him ( Luke 22:43). Take your low moments, loneliness, depression etc to the Lord in prayer. Understand, that you do not have to fight these battles alone- The Lord is with you.

In my personal experience, I find that praying in the language of the Spirit lifts my spirit whenever I have felt depressed. It brings the presence of the Lord into my environment and with the Lord’s presence comes joy ( Ps 16:11). Praying in the Spirit allows God’s grace to become my strength so that I do not have to fight these battles by myself.

Praying in the Spirit allows the Holy Spirit to take over my mind and fill it with peace. I encourage you, whenever those feelings of depression and loneliness set in, invite the Holy Spirit into the battle by praying in the spirit and declaring the word of the Lord over your mind, your soul and your spirit. God has graciously given us His Holy Spirit to be our comforter and our guide. In moments when we feel alone, we need to draw near to Him and allow Him to comfort us and be our strength.

Let me end on this note- feelings of loneliness thrive when we remain in isolation. Notice that Jesus eventually came out of his place of isolation to commune with his disciples and to continue with the assignment. We must follow Jesus example. Whenever you start feeling depressed etc, don’t isolate yourself for long periods, come out and talk to people you can trust. The sense of community and having people around you can lift that burden of loneliness.

Written by: Adjoa Ago

Do you want to be part of what God is doing in this end times on the missions field? tonight at 6pm GMT/21:00 Moscow Time join this zoom link for the Global Gathering of Missionaries. click https://zoom.us/j/96824950598?pwd=aXRuSFUvMUM5N3FZQmpnOXBleHJMUT09  

Its an interactive session with Gods General for Missions. Come and be empowered.