Not long after arriving in Nepal, Brian* and Ellie* advertised for a language helper through a social media site. God, in His goodness, led them to Hom*. 

 The couple soon learned that Hom came from a traditional church background and that his father pastored a local church. As the relationship grew, they began sharing about God’s calling on their lives for Nepal and how they obey that calling. Hom began reading Scripture with Brian and obeying what God spoke to him. 

After a small disciple-making training, Hom converted his traditional, leader-led home group into a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) group. Additionally, though he had always actively shared the gospel with people, he began asking if he could share more with them and their families in their homes.

Two Hindu families agreed to read God’s stories with him. They now meet weekly for a DBS. The families have recently received Bibles so they can read and grow on their own. 

Hom has grown too. At first, it was a challenge for him to allow an unbeliever to facilitate the DBS group, but God directed him to invite the daughter of one family to lead the most recent meeting. “He’s clearly listening to the Lord,” Ellie reports. “He did a great job of modeling leadership, and now he is shifting into growing other new leaders. He is really catching on to the fact that God’s word and the Holy Spirit are the teachers.” 

“Hom is doing incredible work for the Lord,” Brian declares. “He has expressed his desire to see all the peoples of Nepal come to know the Lord. We are so thankful for the partnership the Lord has given us, and we are proud to call Hom our brother.”

*pseudonyms

When they arrived in their country of service, Joel and Becky knew that most church planting movements began with local followers of Jesus who caught God’s vision to reach all peoples. So they started looking for people who would set aside tradition and focus on God’s Word as their guide for church planting. 

In the beginning, very few people were interested to hear what they had to say about God’s vision for his church. During the first four or five years, only one local believer joined them in pursuing a church planting movement.

Then, suddenly, more and more believers joined their team. Their influence grew among local believers who were pursuing evangelism and church planting. Consequently, they were able to train in increasingly larger spheres. Those local believers said they noticed that Joel and Becky stuck around. “Expat (foreign) workers come in and out of our country all the time,” Joel says. “Unsurprisingly, it seems many locals prefer to wait and see who sticks.”

Additionally, while Joel and Becky were proving themselves to be invested long-term, they also gained experience working in local cultures and languages. “We can now serve our local brothers and sisters as trusted servants of God and help them catalyze movements in their own country,” Joel says. “We commonly ask, ‘What’s it going to take to see God’s Kingdom come to these people that God loves?’ Many times the answer is commitment and perseverance.” 

*pseudonym

Part of our culture at BEYOND is to be lifelong learners so that we may do whatever God asks of us.

Recently, Joel* was working on a disciple-making lesson he would share with Tazig* followers of Jesus. It covered two main Scripture passages: John 20:19-23 and Philippians 2:1-11.

Joel commented: “These two passages are so theologically rich, and so much could be said, debated, and fought over. But if we take that approach, we can easily miss the simple message. In John 20, Jesus appears to his disciples, gives His peace, then says, “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 

Jesus sends out his disciples in the same way He was sent to earth by His Father. We must therefore ask, “How was Jesus sent?” Philippians 2 tells us of Christ’s attitude in His obedience to His Father, and the Apostle Paul tells us to have the same “mindset” or “attitude.” Jesus’ attitude was a servant’s mindset, willing to forsake all His rights, being completely obedient – even unto death on a cross. 

“These passages always challenge me,” Joel says. “Compared to what God asked Jesus to do, my task is rather easy, and my burden is light. Yet I struggle to have the same mindset and attitude as Christ. It has been particularly difficult with the challenges COVID has introduced. But as so often happens, in preparing to train others, I find myself being trained. Perhaps that is why Jesus’ statement in John 20:21 and Great Commission in Matthew 28 is for all believers. In making disciples, we become better disciples. I invite you to look at these two passages today and ask, ‘God, what do you want me to do?’ Then take the challenging and more critical step: be obedient to what He tells you.” 

*pseudonyms