And Jesus came and said to them, “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 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
- Matthew 28:18-20
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Missionary profile – Verissimo Francisco
I have been a missionary among the Kuvale people for three years, and I frequently travel down the river to prepare the ground amongst the Thimba and Himba people of southern Angola.
I was born in a coastal town of southern Angola and grew up in a church that combined evangelical beliefs with traditional African practices. At age 17, I joined a philosophy club at school which discussed various issues, and some Christians started attending.
First, they asked if they could pray, then they brought a Bible passage to discuss during the meditation time, and finally, they showed up with a guitar to sing a religious song to start the session. This all started me on the path to becoming a Christian, but once I informed my parents, they threw me out on the street.
Friends took me in, and by God’s grace, I went on to train as a lawyer.
Missionary profile – Henry and Annie Bisani
We didn’t know the local language when we arrived at the mission field. The young children found it amusing and always flocked to our home to verify this bizarre situation for themselves. Those children became our first point of contact for the community. We’re CAPRO missionaries among the Yao people on the border of Mozambique and Malawi.
We now have a church with a wonderful membership of 6 people, including my wife and me. We learned the language from them and taught them Bible stories in the national language. It was a mini Tower of Babel for a minute; we spoke in gestures and the national language, Chichewa, while they responded in Yao. Still, we made progress.
I was born into a Christian family but wasn’t saved until later in my teens at a Christian open-air...
From ALO - 5 digital rules for missionaries
In a world of increasing busyness and distraction, even in the missional sense, the digital world pulls us into its steady stream of consciousness, asking for as much as we can give, and then some. We are sorely mistaken if we think that as ministry workers we will avoid this. In fact, I find it more common that as we lose control of much of our surroundings and personal choices, we tend to try to take some control back by allowing ourselves freedoms in our personal time.
I personally struggle with my tendency to finish all my jobs, tidy my house to a reasonable standard (sometimes), and then flop onto my couch, phone in hand, for some “well-deserved me-time.” Far be it from me to discredit the comfort that provides. Rather I would like to challenge the lack of conscious thought around this and how we can implement healthy boundaries to perhaps better enjoy both the distraction itself and the life we lead outside of the screen.
I’ve been reading a lot on this in a general sense, and I liked some of the boundaries given by
Short-Term Missions Can’t Sustain the African Church
I grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, in what was then the small town of Kumbo. Like most locals, I used the term “missionary” as a synonym for “white person”. After all, every white person we knew was a missionary serving with Helimission. Most of them were pilots or doctors, respectively flying and treating critically-ill or injured patients, often in conjunction with Banso Baptist Hospital.
Looking at those missionaries, we all assumed they were wealthy. For they lived in the fanciest parts of Kumbo, often in compounds, near the hospital where they served. They enjoyed reliable access to the internet and other services like clean drinking water, electricity, and security. By Western standards, these missionaries were not necessarily rich. Only, they were relatively
Global Trellis: dealing with sexual harassment
BEFORE THE FIELD (Preparation for the field)
Reduce risk and increase readiness
- Define terms and policies clearly and accessibly
- Provide regular, context-specific training for all personnel
- Establish and communicate reporting pathways
- Teach realistic risk awareness for specific field contexts
- Identify and vet external care resources (medical, counseling, legal)
During (an incident(s) occurs on the field.
Protect, stabilize, and support
- Respond promptly and follow established protocols
- Prioritize the safety and well-being of the affected person
- Facilitate access to
medical, psychological, and pastoral care - Provide practical accommodations (rest, relocation, schedule changes) as needed
Missionary profile – Laurent Charles Mgaya
When my dad was a child, missionaries arrived at their village in Namwangu, Mbozi district, Tanzania. They built schools and took my dad through education. Years later, his son became a missionary as well. I’m that son, now serving as a missionary with my church, Rivers of Life Ministries, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Growing up in a Christian home on the border of Zambia and Tanzania, I learned the way of the Lord very early in life. My mother was a Sunday School teacher, and I tagged along in her teaching expeditions. When I was nine, my dad died, and in the same year, I started teaching alongside my mother in church. She trained us in all the Christian disciplines, including how to fast and pray.
When I was about 16 years old, I went to Zambia for a short-term mission.
Missionary profile – E from Malawi
Once, we shared with two Muslims how God created Adam and Eve, how they sinned, and sin entered the world. One was so broken and eager to hear if there was a remedy for this sin. We then shared about Jesus and his death on the cross. He said he’d do anything for this Jesus who remedied this sin.
We’re missionaries in the Sahel region and happy to see God draw people to Himself. I got saved after hearing a sermon from John 3:16. This simple scripture came to me anew; it’s like I was hearing it for the first time. I responded to the altar call and got saved. Later, I joined the World Mission Center (now Blantyre School of Mission). I felt a firm conviction to become a missionary. I learned that this was God’s vision and the burden for the world, and I wanted to be part of it.
Entrusted to the Dirt: Be a better ministry dad
There are many ways I could grow as a ministry dad. But alas, the Lord has not made us able to focus on very many things at the same time. So, here are two ways I’d like to focus on growing this year, based on wisdom that I’ve gleaned from other dads.
The first comes from some wise counsel I once received from a lay elder at our sending church. This brother works a full-time job at a car plant, but also regularly meets with members of the church for counseling and pastoral care. He and his wife also seem to have another new baby every time we go back to visit the US. Needless to say, they have their hands full. I once asked him how he balances these family and ministry commitments that often compete with one another. I found his answer extremely helpful.
Missionary profile – Erasto Simon and Victoria Davidi Chichango
Convinced that God wanted me to attend the mission school, I sold the family house to get money for travel documents. But then we had nowhere to go, so I asked the buyer to let us stay for three months. If we didn’t get our documents within that time, we’d be homeless. We prayed that we’d make it, and we did.
I trained for a year in the CAPRO school of missions in Mombasa, and I’m now on probation in Kaloleni, Kenya, a missionary to the Kamba and the Digo. Before coming here, I served at Tana River, Kenya, among the Wata people. Many people turned to the Lord, including the village head’s wife and firstborn son. We’re now seeing God draw people to Himself every day.
Nothing in my early life pointed me to this day. Born in Tanzania, my father was a Sheikh, my uncle was a witch doctor,
From GMC: Member Care for Non-Westerners
The need for a Global Think Tank
Member care, understood as the holistic support of Christian mission workers, is increasingly
recognised as requiring contextual adaptation across diverse cultural settings.
The globalisation of Christian mission has intensified the need for effective systems of care for cross cultural workers. Traditionally, member care frameworks have emerged largely from Western contexts, often resulting in tensions when applied in non-Western settings. Increasingly, practitioners recognise that such models require contextualisation to continue being meaningful and effective.
In order to better understand how to contextualise member care training,
From OSCAR: Dear Younger Me
I learned about missions at an Assembly of God Church in Nairobi. The Church was led by missionaries sent from the USA, who served in Kenya for many years. While attending that church, I became a born-again believer. They also sent out local missionaries to other parts of the country, and I got to interact with some of them. I remember thinking that their lives were complex, and on top of that, nothing about their appearance made mission work appealing.
Because God has a sense of humour, I ended up in missions. One very convincing missionary came to Nairobi, preaching reverse mission. It concerns the movement of missionaries from non-Western countries (the global south), particularly in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, to developed countries (the global north). It is a reversal of the historical trend in which missionaries left Europe and the Americas to evangelise the colonial and Third World.
From GMT: Involve the whole church in missions
While only a few people might actually go overseas or into a specific ministry, the mission work isn’t only for them; it’s God’s work and He invites all those who follow Him to partake in fulfilling the Great Commission. There are countless ways to incorporate missions into every aspect of the local church, and we’ve listed a few here for you to help you get your creativity flowing! We want to help you discover ways to involve your whole church in God’s Kingdom work.
The various ministries in your church all play an important role. There are ways to bring a missional focus to every ministry in your church by including a missional aspect. By incorporated a missional heart in your ministries, such as worship or children’s Sunday school,