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  • Why Discipleship

    Why Discipleship

    "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
    - Jesus' words in Matthew 28:19-20

  • Partnerships

    Partnerships

    "And my God will liberally supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
    - Phillipians 4:19

  • Why Discipleship

    Back

    Why Discipleship

    "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
    - Jesus' words in Matthew 28:19-20

  • Partnerships

    Back

    Partnerships

    "And my God will liberally supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
    - Phillipians 4:19

  • Join the Mission

    Back

    Join the Mission

    With your help we are able to train leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples.

Here, at Global Disciples, we are passionate about helping Christians everywhere fulfill Jesus last command. Before Jesus returned to heaven, He gave His disciples a commission:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” – Matthew 28:19

This “Great Commission” is for you and for me. In fact, its for every disciple of Jesus Christ in every part of the world.

The Great Commission To Make Disciples

Today, followers of Christ around the world are seeking to fulfill this mission. They are eager to do whatever they can to reach those who are still waiting for the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Consequently, we focus on making it possible for clusters of churches to carry out this mission. We offer an approach that enables them to equip their people to plant churches. To multiply the Body of Christ in all nations among all people.

Equipped By Global Disciples Canada

Jember is an Ethiopian leader equipped by Global Disciples to train disciple-makers.

He said, “Global opened our eyes about how to do missions. Our main task is to send disciple-makers into this region and plant churches where there were none.

This region is more than eighty-five percent Muslim; in some places, it’s one hundred percent. Consequently, there are five hundred villages with no church! In the first year, we trained twenty-five workers. God helped us and we have seen fruit.”

Fruitful People.

The fruit Jember mentioned includes local Muslim leaders coming to faith in Jesus, and ten church planters who are former Muslims. In fact, they’ve seen over five hundred people come to Christ—several of the men who used to call out the morning prayers from the local mosques have now come to Christ. And he said, “God is using them to bring many other Muslims to the Lord.”

Jember is just one of many.

The Work Of Global Disciples Canada

Today, Global Disciples is working with over sixteen hundred clusters of churches in over sixty-seven countries. We are helping them to launch over two thousand eight hundred programs that are training their own people in discipleship-mission, leadership, and small business development.

The Great Commission is being fulfilled today! As we each carry out the calling of Jesus to make disciples of every nation. Thank you for doing your part!

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

In this blog we’ll learn to understand the world religions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism. Understand the beliefs, practices, and teachings of each religion and popular cults too.

Jesus Christ came as the Word of God in human form to model God’s heart and His way of living. Through His death and resurrection, He paid the debt for our sins. He makes it possible for all who will believe to be transformed into ambassadors of God. We can be part in reconciling God with peoples of every tribe, nation, and language.

We can better understand World Mission and how it relates to the Church and our lives by exploring the following;

What is a religion?

Religion is an institution or a set of beliefs constituted by human beings in order to approach a god or gods. It is an organized set of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules in which one believes and which one follows devotedly. There are many different religions in the world.

Below we briefly address three of the world’s religions—Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

The World Religion of Islam

Islam means submission to the will of God. The founder of Islam, Mohammed, was born in 570.

According to his revelation, there are six doctrines of the faith that Muslims hold to:   

  1. The existence of one God, Allah, who is supreme and eternal—God of all mankind
  2. A hierarchy of angels with two angels assigned to every Muslim
  3. The existence of God’s Holy Books—the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospels with the Quran as the final revelation
  4. Prophets—Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (who is the last and best)
  5. Predestination—all things, both good and evil, are the direct result of the will of Allah
  6. The Day of Judgment—those whose good deeds outweigh their bad will be rewarded with  Paradise while all others will be judged to hell.  

There are five pillars in the Islamic religion. These obligations that every Muslim must keep are as follows:

  1. Confession of faith—“There is no true god except Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger.”
  2. Prayers five times a day (morning, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night). Prayer in Islam is a direct link between a worshipper and God. It begins with a confession of sins, a purification of the body, and ends with the purification of the soul.
  3. Almsgiving—2.5% of one’s income for the poor. Possessions are purified by setting aside a small portion for those in need.
  4. Fasting during the lunar month of Ramadan—From dawn until sundown, abstaining from any food, drink, and sexual relationships. It’s the act of worship where the faithful deny their own needs and seek Allah.
  5. Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime if they are capable of doing it. It requires financial sacrifices. 
The World Religion Of Hinduism

Hinduism is tremendously diverse. It encompasses those who believe in one reality, Brahman (the ultimate reality underlying every phenomenon), as well as those who believe in many gods, up to 330 million. It is common in one house for the husband to worship one god, the wife another god, and the children others. Regardless of the diversity within Hinduism, there are some core beliefs.

  • Brahman is Truth and Ultimate Reality—Hindus believe in Brahman as the all-inclusive true God who is formless, limitless, and eternal. Brahman is not an abstract concept; it is a real entity that encompasses everything (seen and unseen) in the universe. This is the belief that nothing is distinct; all is one, all is God. The many gods of Hinduism are thus part of Brahman as are human beings and all animate and inanimate things in creation. According to Hinduism, humanity’s primary problem is that we have forgotten we are divine.  The New Age movement is a product of this teaching.
  • The Vedas are the ultimate authority—The Vedas are Hindu Scriptures that contain revelations received by ancient saints and sages. There is no one holy book, but there are several sacred writings, all of which add up to the “sacred corpus.” They believe that the Vedas are without beginning and without end; when everything else in the universe is destroyed (at the end of a cycle of time), the Vedas remain.
  • The consequences of our choices, both bad karma and good karma, follow us from lifetime to lifetime.
The World Religion Of Hinduism Part Two
  • Reincarnation/samsara, the ever-revolving wheel of life, death, and rebirth—The person’s karma determines the kind of incarnated body in the next lifetime.
  • Individual souls are immortal. A Hindu believes that the individual soul (atman) is neither created nor destroyed—it has been, it is, and it will be. Actions of the soul, while residing in a body, require that it reap the consequences of those actions in the next life, placing the same soul in a different body.
  • Moksha is liberation, the soul’s release from the cycle of death and rebirth—Liberation from the wheel of birth, death, and rebirth occurs when the soul unites with Brahman by realizing its true nature. Several paths can lead to this realization and unity: the path of duty, the path of knowledge, and the path of devotion (unconditional surrender to God).
  • Most Hindus believe in an immense unifying force that governs all existence and cannot be completely known by humanity. As the apostle Paul did in Athens, this Hindu belief can become a common point to start presenting the Gospel in their context.
The World Religion of Buddhism

Buddhism does not believe in a personal God. It does not have worship, prayer, or praise of divine beings. It offers no redemption, no forgiveness, no hope of heaven, and no final judgment. In Buddhism, there are “The Four Noble Truths”:

  1. Life consists of suffering—Life includes pain, getting old, disease, and ultimately death. Buddhism explains how suffering can be avoided and how we can be truly happy.
  2. We suffer because we desire those things that are impermanent—Desire is the cause of all sufferings.
  3. The way to liberate oneself from suffering is by eliminating all desires.
  4. Desire can be eliminated by following the Eightfold path.

The Eightfold path is:

  1. Right Understanding, where one sees the universe illusion (the individual does not exist, so do I.)
  2. Right Thought
  3. Right Speech
  4. Right Action
  5. Right Livelihood
  6. Right Effort
  7. Right Awareness
  8. Right Meditation.

The Eightfold Path is a set of steps that describes not only a good life but one which will move the follower toward Nirvana—extinction wherein lies one’s essence. The individual doesn’t actually exist in Buddhism; you can turn off existence like a candle flame marking the end of desire and the end of suffering. 

How do you feel when you hear the belief of these religions compared to what we as Christians believe?

As messengers of the Gospel of Jesus, we need to pray and find ways to engage the Gospel in the context of other religious beliefs.  

Cults

Cults are religious groups that claim to be in harmony with Christianity but deny foundational Christian teachings such as the Trinity or the unique deity of Jesus Christ.

The word “cult” is generally used to denote a group or organization which deviates from Christian teaching. 

In Matthew 7:15-17, Jesus gives us warning about the coming of cults, and much of the New Testament is written to correct their distractive influence (2 Corinthians 11:1-11Galatians 1:8-9). 

Jesus stated, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” What Jesus was warning us of was that followers of cults will look and act like Christians. However, that is only in external appearance. They might argue as true believers for the time, but eventually, their words, actions, and especially their fruits will reveal their true identity.

The failure of the Church in making disciples contributed a lot to the emersion of many cultic movements. The increase of cults is also a fulfillment of the warning given by Jesus and the apostles (Matthew 24:23-26; 2 Peter 2:1-3). As the day of the return of our Lord is approaching, there will be an increase in false prophets and teachings.

How do we identify cults from real Christian teaching?

All cults have a distorted view of the triune God; they promote false teaching based on the nature of God.

But the Bible teaches us there is one God who has revealed Himself in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14).  

Cults also teach a false view of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:4). For example, Christian Science teaches that Jesus Christ is a historical figure but not the God-man, and Jehovah’s Witnesses also teach that Jesus is not God. But the Bible tells us that Jesus is fully God and fully human (John 17:3; 1 Timothy 2:5; Philippians 2:6-7).

Cultic understanding of salvation is also distorted. Most cults have a works-oriented Gospel by undermining the finished work on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

Cults and The Early Church

In the early Church, there were a number of schisms and heretical movements such as Arianism. These heresies were essentially doctrinal ones. As the church councils met in response to them, the creeds of the Church formed, and the canon of the New Testament was finally agreed upon.

Throughout history, there have been heretical teachings of many kinds, but in recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of these groups. In the end, most cults fail, but they still can cause enormous personal damage and create confusion amongst Christians and non-Christians alike. The good thing is that, as the cults continue to increase, we know that the day of the Lord is near.

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you want a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

Our God is a missionary God who created human beings in His image and for a relationship with Him.

God has chosen a people to join with Him in seeking restoration of relationship with all of humanity. 

Jesus Christ came as the Word of God in human form to model God’s heart and His way of living. Through His death and resurrection, He paid the debt for our sins. God invites us to into His work of reconciliation with peoples of every tribe, nation, and language.

We can better understand World Mission and how it relates to the Church and our lives by exploring the following;

The vision of our missionary God is to enfold people of every nation, tribe, and language into His Kingdom.

God’s Heart To Reach Across Cultures

God has chosen to work through a particular people of His calling. That is, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament. This calling was always with the intent that His people would become agents of His mission to all peoples.

Many Old Testament passages point to the day when God will gather peoples from all nations. They will be included in His purposes and become agents of His Kingdom. Some verses that explain this journey can be found here(Isaiah 56:3, Isaiah 56:6-8; Isaiah 66:18-21; Zechariah 8:20-23).

Jesus said that the Gospel of the Kingdom would be preached among all peoples (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10).

After His resurrection, he commissioned His disciples to go and preach the Gospel. And by the power of the Spirit, to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-47).

They were sent on a mission into the world as Jesus Himself was sent by the Father (John 20:21).

The Holy Spirit And Making Disciples

After Jesus ascended into heaven and after the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost, Jesus mission transferred the Church.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus indicates that the Spirit will empower His people to become His witnesses. The spread of the disciples’ witness involved moving outward from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, Antioch, and every remote region.

In fact, this mission required crossing ethnic and religious barriers. The Gospel moved from the people of Israel to the Samaritans who had a form of Old Testament faith. The message then moved onto the Gentiles. They consisted of diverse ethnic groups and were followers of a variety of religious beliefs.

How can we reach the entire world by crossing different cultural and religious backgrounds?

Creative Ways to Reach Across Cultures With The Gospel.

Reaching the least reached is not an easy task for the church.

We need creative methods and entry points. God has empowered the Church to be HIs witness in the world.

Key areas of innovation include the following:

Awareness and adaptation of cultural differences so as to minimize the challenges to effective communication of the Gospel

Ralph Winter, in his essay “Cross-Cultural Evangelism: The Task of Highest Priority,” highlights the need for awareness of the “cultural distance” between the messenger and the recipient.

The nearer the messenger is in cultural adaptation to the recipient culture, the more effective is the sharing of the Gospel. This “nearness” may be due to one’s culture of origin or even the result of careful adaptation to the recipient culture.

The messenger must work hard to understand the other culture by learning the language, traditions, historical problems, religious allegiance, and patterns of behavior.

At Global Disciples, we believe and encourage indigenous clusters of churches to train and send their own workers.

These are people who know the culture well in order to reap the plentiful harvest. 

The willingness of clusters of churches to send church planters to least-reached, remote, and difficult areas

In Global Disciples, we believe that churches in close proximity to the least-reached areas are instrumental. If these clusters of churches are willing to identify and train church planters to cross to the next village/town, we will provide a Small Business Development (SBD) training tool for them.

This will allow them to train their church planters. Then they can develop their own legitimate businesses to give them the resources to access least-reached people and to sustain their families and ministries.

How did Paul present the Gospel to the people of Athens (Acts 17:16-34)?

Becoming all things to all men

We must begin on common ground by understanding the culture of the people we are trying to reach. Without understanding the culture, we can’t begin on common ground in order to engage the Gospel in this people’s context.

Understanding another culture is not as easy as we think. Everything that a culture is and will ever be is driven by its worldview. This is the deepest part of the culture.

Understanding the culture of our audience allows us to properly present the Gospel message in their context. The Apostle Paul was an expert at understanding cultures.  

He was provoked by all of the idols that he saw in the city of Athens (Acts 17:16). But He began his talk by observing that they were very religious in all respects. Then he mentioned that he found an altar that was dedicated, “To an unknown God.”  He used this “unknown God” to tell them about the true God who created heaven and earth. He showed them the supremacy of God by saying,

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:24-25).

Understanding The Culture & Context

Paul even used their writing, For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring. He used their poet’s sayings to support his argument that all human beings came from one man and that we are all children of God. Finally, he called them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30-31). “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (emphasis added).

Here, Paul made it clear there is no salvation without repentance and submission to the saving power of the One who defeated death. Contextualization means beginning with some common ground and presenting the saving Gospel in that context. 

Distinguishing between culture and Gospel

Every ethnic group has its own culture and some kind of religious background. Therefore, for the Gospel to be understood and received by any people group, it has to be communicated in the context of that culture to make it meaningful. But most of the time, we do not go with a “pure” or naked Gospel to adapt it into the new culture. In taking the Gospel across cultures, one of the mistakes we often make is that of going with a Gospel wrapped in our own cultural context. So we need to be careful to distinguish between the two—culture and Gospel.

The Gospel message we received originally came in the historical context of the Hebrew and Greek cultures. But these practices had to cross many different cultures as the Church expanded. For example, in the early Church, the Hebrew practices of circumcision and dietary laws were set aside in the Gentiles’ culture (Acts 15:1-35; Romans 14). The churches did not always agree as to how to relate to surrounding cultures which resulted in controversies and division.

The Gospel And The Culture

Our Gospel is the universal message of salvation for all people irrespective of race, language, culture, or circumstances. It does not presuppose the superiority of any culture to another but evaluates all cultures according to its own criteria of truth and righteousness based on the Word of God. To communicate the Gospel effectively, we have to separate it from our culture and present it in terms of the culture of the people we are reaching. It is good to remember that Jesus Christ is the captive of no culture and is the master of all cultures. The central task of our mission is to present the message in the context of our audience so that they can respond positively (1 Timothy 2:5-6). 

Cultural incarnation

We have the authority to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people within their context. Just as Jesus Christ became flesh and dwelt among people, we, the messengers of the Gospel, must have a cultural incarnation in order to be meaningful (John 1:14-18). We cannot communicate the Gospel withot concerning ourselves with culture because our Gospel is super-cultural in its origin, truth, and application.  

Did you know that sharing the Gospel effectively requires thoughtful, biblical contextualization? This means the removal of non-scriptural cultural elements from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Contextualization requires choosing appropriate words, analogies, worship styles, etc. In the early Church, the decision about the necessity of circumcision was a critical issue requiring contextualization. Some saw it as a prerequisite to becoming a follower of Christ. The Jerusalem council realized that the deeper intent of the Old Testament passages was that circumcision (the form) was only a sign of actual spiritual submission to God (the meaning [Romans 2:25-29]).

How Paul Reached New Gospel Audiences

Paul contextualized the Gospel message in the context of his audiences (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). He chose to live like the people he was reaching. The Gospel message must be contextualized in the language and custom of the local people as God speaks to them in their real situations as Paul did. Even if we believe in contextualization, we do not compromise on salvation that is only through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).  It is through Jesus Christ that God is reconciling the lost and dying world. Anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is eternally lost. 

We are on a mission of reaching and discipling the entire world with our Commissioner, Jesus. He invites us to participate in the greatest, most diverse, and most significant historical gathering of the harvest in the last days. This mission, which He has entrusted into our hands, needs to go to the ends of the earth by crossing cultures as it is prophesized in Isaiah 49:6: “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (NLT). These words anticipate not only the work of Christ (Luke 2:32) but also the future witness of His disciples, including us (Acts 13:47).

God’s Mission And Making Disciples

One day, God’s mission to include people from every nation, tribe, and language in His kingdom will be fulfilled (Revelation 5:9-10; Revelation 7:9). The Church today, as God’s missionary people, can confidently bear witness to Christ to advance His kingdom, near and far, crossing every cultural barrier. We will not rest until the Gospel has reached every people, has been shared in every locality, and until churches have been planted at every corner among the least-reached peoples around the world.

We will look forward to the day when this global mission is accomplished, when great multitudes from every race, tribe, nation, people, and language will stand before the throne of our true God and sing the song, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). Getting involved now will allow us to experience in advance a little of what heaven will be like.

Are we willing to cross-cultural and religious barriers so that we will fulfill the mission Jesus has given us?

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

In this blog, we’ll help you discover more about spiritual gifts, how to identify your personal gifts and how you can use them to serve God with an eternal impact!

Did you know that spiritual gifts are given to every Christian when they receive the gift of salvation. God The Holy Spirit gives us these gifts freely when we put our faith in Him.

In fact, each of us has our own spiritual gifts. Read on to discover what they could be and what they might mean for you.

Discover Different Kinds of Spiritual Gifts 
1) Ministry

The gift of “tongues” was more than just a language unknown to anyone else. Tongues was intended to be a sign to the church that a particular believer was ministering in a foreign tongue.

In reality, the spiritual gifts given for ministry are God’s way of using what believers do to meet the needs of others and serve them. The act of giving such gifts is called administration. To administer is to apply and bring into use.

The 5-Fold Ministry Gifts include the following:

  • Apostles
  • Prophets
  • Evangelists
  • Pastors
  • Teachers
  • Helpers
2) Manifestations

The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are the ways that God uses to bring the truth of salvation to light. Consequently, they are actions that were performed by the early church and demonstrate the plan of salvation.

The gifts given by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit are the abilities that enable believers to confirm and strengthen other believers in the faith. They are the gifts that help to build up the body of Christ, the Church. The act of giving such gifts is called serving. The Greek word means to enter into spiritual service.

In fact, there are nine Manifestations of the Holy Spirit and they are:

  • A message of wisdom
  • A message of knowledge
  • Faith
  • Gifts of healing 
  • Miraculous powers
  • Prophecy
  • Distinguishing between spirits
  • Speaking in different kinds of tongues
  • The interpretation of tongues
3) Motivation

Motivation is the spiritual gift of prayer that helps encourage others to do things that are God’s will, and to do them in a way that pleases God.

The gifts given by the motivation are spiritual gifts that help believers do what God wants them to do. They are the tools that help people to strengthen and encourage one another.

God The Holy Spirit gives us these gifts freely. Each believer has a different set of gifts. These gifts are given for the purpose of serving God and others.

How to Discover Your Own Spiritual Gifts

Some churches provide tests to determine spiritual gifts. In this case, your pastor can administer the test for you and input the results for you. Why not take this test online?

Ask someone who knows you well. People who know you or who have worked with you in the church can usually tell you what you enjoy doing and what you do best.

Discover The Greatest Spiritual Gift.

Have you ever wondered which is the greatest spiritual gift? They say that love is the best gift. It means that love matters most. Gifts are great, but it’s more important to know how to love. God has given us His love as a gift. We love because He loved us first. Without love, all the actions supposed to be gifts are empty.

Conclusion

Spiritual gifts are given to every Christian when they receive the gift of salvation. As a reminder that salvation is a gift of grace, they are given freely by God when we place our faith in Him. He is constantly giving things to us.

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

Our God is a missionary God who created human beings in His image and for a relationship with Him.

Jesus Christ came as the Word of God in human form to model God’s heart and His way of living. Through His death and resurrection, He paid the debt for our sins. And He invites us to get involved in HIs divine plan for reconciliation with people of all nations.

We can better understand World Mission and how it relates to the Church and our lives by exploring the following;

From the very beginning to the end, the Bible message is a missionary message. God is in the business of restoring the broken relationship between Him and humanity. Let us observe the missionary nature of God in His missionary manual that He has given us, the Bible.

Introduction

The Book of Genesis begins with the beautiful story of Creation (Genesis 1 – 2). Its followed by the disobedience Adam and Eve who allowed sin to enter the world and God’s response (Genesis 3-10).  When mankind sinned, our missionary God took the initiative to come and find our parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8-9). Then God divided them from Himself in order to win them back.

The Story

Our missionary God didn’t give up even when mankind continued to sin against Him. He called Abram, whom He later called Abraham, and worked through him by setting apart a missionary people (Old Testament). Jesus later became human and died as an atonement for our sin. He destroyed the power of death by His flesh (Matthew-John). Finally, He displayed the way of life to all people. So, if we closely look at all Bible stories, they are mission stories.               

Genesis 12:1-3: God promised to bless Abraham to make him a blessing for all the families of the earth. In the same way, God blesses us to make us a blessing for all people.

  • 1 Samuel 17:45-46: David overcame the giant in the name of the Lord God so all the earth would know that there was a God in Israel, who saves. God will give us victories over the giants in our lives so that we can make His name known to the people in our lives.
  • Psalm 46:10: When we trust and wait upon the Lord beyond the situations that surround us, He shows us His protection, care, and provision.
  • Isaiah 49:6: God promised to make the people of Israel a light for the Gentiles, so that they would bring His salvation to the ends of the earth.
Gods Heart For The Nations
  • Daniel 6: God gave Daniel the courage to be faithful to His God and, miraculously, He rescued him from the hands of his enemies so that all people and nations would know the one true God (Daniel 6:25-27). In the same way, Daniel’s three friends trusted in their God and gave themselves to fire. In a miraculous way, God delivered them from the burning fire so that their God was known as the God who saves. Through our trust in Him, God will do miracles in our lives too so that all people and nations will know the one true God.
  • Jonah 1-4: God called Jonah to go and present the message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. His heart is always for the outsiders, for those with whom we might not want to relate as Jonah did not. The only book in the Bible that is concluded with a question is the Book of Jonah where God asks Jonah, in response to his anger over Ninevah being saved, “Should I not have concern for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:11). When God calls us for His mission, it is very important to obey.  It is good to keep in our mind that His heart is always for outsiders. 
  • Luke 4:14-30: Jesus was filled by the Holy Spirit for the mission to bring the Good News to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, and to set the oppressed and the captives free. In the same way, the Spirit of the Lord empowers us to give us God’s heart for the outsiders and for our enemies so that they will come to know and worship Him.
More Scriptures About Gods Heart For The Nations
  • Mark 6:30-44 and Mark 8:1-25: We read here that Jesus, moved with compassion, miraculously fed a large crowd so as to show the love of God for them. Jesus is the bread of life for all peoples of the world (John 6:35).
  • Acts 1:8; Acts 2:5; Acts 3:24-26: God empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit so as to make them a blessing to all people. Since the day of the Pentecost, God has poured out the Holy Spirit on His people to make them a blessing to the people groups of this world.
  • Acts 13:42-47: The Good News of Jesus is for the Jews and then, through them, for all people everywhere. Once we receive the Good News of Jesus, it is our responsibility to share it in our actions and words. God’s blessing for us must make us a blessing to others.
  • Revelation 7:9-12: We are told that the end goal of our missionary God is to see people from every nation, tribe, and language come to the knowledge of God and worship Him from eternity to eternity (Matthew 24:14).
  • John 3:16: God so loved the world, He gave His Only Son, Jesus, to come to this world in the form of a human being. Jesus, who by nature is God (Philippians 2:6-8), gave up everything for the sake of us and died on a tree to erase all our sins and curses and to destroy the work of the enemy, Satan, so that we could share in His blessings of abundant life (John 10:10). He conquered death, granted us victory, ascended to heaven, and sent us the Holy Spirit to help us to live according to His life. One day, he will come back to take us home (Acts 1:11).
Conclusion

The Book of Revelation culminates in final battles with the enemy, God’s glorious Kingdom, and the climax of the salvation story. Jesus, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, will establish His Kingdom, and He will rule with righteousness from eternity to eternity. Until then, our mission is not complete. 

We are the children of the missionary God, and we need to knit our hearts with His heart so as to fulfill the mission of our Father—to reach the lost world with His name, to make Him known among the nations.

He has blessed us so as to make us a blessing for the nations. One day, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14)!

 What do we learn from the heart of our missionary God, and what is our part?

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

Our God is a missionary God who created human beings in His image and for a relationship with Him.

From the time when the first man and woman He created chose to rebel against Him, God has been pursuing the restoration of His relationship with humanity. 

Since the time of Abraham, we see that God has chosen a people to join with Him in seeking restoration of relationship with all of humanity. 

Jesus Christ came as the Word of God in human form to model God’s heart and His way of living. Through His death and resurrection, He paid the debt for our sins. He makes it possible for all who will believe to be transformed into ambassadors of God, initiating reconciliation with peoples of every tribe, nation, and language.

We can better understand World Mission and how it relates to the Church and our lives by exploring the following;

Our God Is A Missionary God

Our God is a missionary God who has been at work since the beginning of Creation.

Jesus modeled the way and sent us to go to the ends of the earth, just as the Father sent Him (Mark 16:15; John 20:21).

To fulfill our mission, we need to contextualize the Gospel message in the context of the people to whom we are trying to bring salvation (John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

We can do nothing apart from Jesus Christ. He promised to be with us when we go out to preach the Gospel and make disciples. He also promised to send us the Holy Spirit to empower us to make us effective witnesses for Him.

Are you reflecting Jesus’ heart of mission to our neighbors and colleagues?

How can we fulfill the mission of taking the Gospel to the ends of the world in our generation?

You’ve got an incredibly vital part to play!

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

God has fully equipped so many women and perfectly placed them to reach people with the Good News of Jesus.

Like beautiful flowers in a garden, these women are faithful, compassionate, and creative about introducing people to the love of Jesus, no matter the limitations or setbacks they face.

Let’s meet seven women living on mission.

Seven Women, Living On Mission

In India, Rose* completed leadership training through a Global Disciples partner program. Her desire to reach least-reached people with the Gospel took her into a poor and marginalized community, but her heart focused on the children. She did what she could to meet their physical needs, providing blankets and vegetables. She also shared the Good News of Jesus, addressing their spiritual needs. Rose gathered the children together as a prayer group.

As the children came, the parents soon followed. Rose shared the love of Jesus with them too. Several came to faith and quickly the fellowship grew. When Rose and her pastor prayed for a woman suffering with seizures, she was healed! She and her whole family came to faith in Christ.

Today, that children’s prayer group has grown into a multi-generational fellowship. With Rose’s leadership, they have their own training to equip disciples to reach out to others with the hope of the Gospel.

For many churches in India, the COVID-19 lockdowns were a struggle since they couldn’t meet as larger groups. But it also created new opportunities as people opened their homes to neighbors and friends.

Lily’s Story

Lily trained with a local discipleship-mission program. She learned about making disciples, but she didn’t put her training into practice right away. When pandemic-related lockdowns forced her local church body to stop meeting corporately, Lily stepped up. She opened her home for prayer and worship. Before long, 25 people met regularly together in her home. Despite restrictions, a church was born.

Ivy and her husband completed discipleship-mission training together, but he died during the lockdowns. God gave Ivy peace and courage to continue. She started a fellowship in her home and about 25 people attend regularly!

When her church wasn’t sure what to do during the lockdown, Poppy stepped out in faith, going to people in need in a nearby slum. Ten families came to Christ! There are now 22 new and baptized believers in her fellowship.

Violet’s Story

In another community, a house fellowship of 35 women met, prayed, and saw God at work. Nineteen-year-old Violet had been deaf from birth. She came to faith in Jesus through these women and decided to fast and pray for 40 days to deepen her walk with her new Savior. And God miraculously healed her deafness! Another young woman was healed and delivered from an evil spirit. She and her family now host a new fellowship.

Iris belongs to a high caste in India and thought the disciples from a local church were too low caste for her notice. Then a debilitating back problem kept her in bed; her doctor gave little hope she would ever walk again. A local disciple came to see her, prayed for her, and God set her free from pain and an evil spirit. Iris and her entire family put their faith in Jesus!

Iris then participated in small business training. Now she uses her physiotherapy business to help people find relief from pain—and healing and hope in Jesus Christ. Iris uses her own testimony of God’s amazing work. So far, at least 20 families have come to Christ through Iris and her work.

Daisy’s Story

Daisy is another woman perfectly placed by God—in a hospital in India. She is also a church planter, trained through a Global partner program. In fact, several women in her training program worked at the hospital as nurses or support staff. As Daisy cared for a woman with end-stage cancer, she connected her with the pastor for prayer. And the woman was completely healed! Others experienced miraculous healing too, thanks to connections and prayer with Daisy. From these contacts and miracles, three fellowships were planted with 90 new believers.

These seven women are only some of the courageous, compassionate women on mission—perfectly placed by the Heavenly Father to bring others to faith in his Son. May their stories inspire you to carry on the mission God has given you. For you too, are fully equipped and perfectly placed!

*Names are changed for their protection

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

Discover how the grace-filled outreach of a skilled midwife named Guna transformed a womans life through the gospel at work.

Guna is a gifted woman. Faith in Jesus has transformed her life.

And, in response, she seeks to reach out with His Good News. She participated in a local discipleship-mission training near her home in Sri Lanka.

A Midwife’s Grace Filled Outreach

Guna is also gifted as a skilled midwife, highly respected, and welcomed into homes in her community. She checks on pregnant women, preparing them for the births, helping during labor and delivery, and caring for mothers and newborns.

After her discipleship training, Guna started her outreach by visiting women who were her clients. Those conversations led to meeting other women in her community. With empathy and compassion, Guna shared her testimony, explained the love of Jesus, and prayed for each woman.

One day, Guna met Ami—a local woman everyone knew as a prostitute.

Ami’s Story And The Power Of The Gospel

Ami is in her late thirties, the mother of two daughters and a son. In fact, he had been married, but her husband could not provide for their family needs. As her poverty deepened and her discontent grew, Ami had several affairs. So, she decided she could earn money as a prostitute. When she started making more than her husband, she rejected him and left home.

Yet money could not erase her broken, empty heart, and for ten years, she grew more lonely and unhappy. Can you imagine?

As Guna listened to Ami pour out her story, her heart filled with compassion. She spoke of her own life, and how Jesus had changed her. She shared the Gospel with Ami—that Jesus came to forgive her and give her a new life.

“I don’t have peace,” Ami said. “And I have money now but no peace. I want to experience the love of Jesus—And i don’t want to live this life anymore.” With Guna’s gentle guidance, Ami trusted Jesus as her Savior and became a new creation.

Huge changes were in store as Ami invited Jesus into her life.

The Grace-filled Gospel Changes Lives

She turned her back on prostitution and her clients. She found work on a tea estate—a hard job that pays less but she holds onto her peace in Christ and that makes it all worthwhile. Ami is active in the local fellowship, a group of believers that has poured out grace, and even helped her build a home.

Ami’s oldest daughter is married, a second has a good factory job. Ami is also working to bring her son home again. Like poorer families often do in her region, Ami gave her son into the care of Buddhist monks to get an education.

And What About Guna?

She and Ami meet twice a week for Bible study and further discipleship. Ami’s testimony of God’s transforming power is a joy to behold and is leading to more changed lives.

God does amazing work through Guna and women like her—compassionate, truthful, and grace-filled, and eager to draw more women to the Father’s loving, redeeming arms.

May we be willing to give grace, compassion, and truth to those who need it most and most importantly the gift of the Gospel.

*Names are changed for their protection

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

Read on discover Ruth’s story of faith, courage and the power of the Good News of Jesus!

“During the training, the Lord spoke to me. He gave me the name of a village we were to go to. I had never heard of it before and did not know the place.”

Ruth* is a church planter in Nigeria, trained through a local Global Disciples partner program.

Outreach is an important part of the training—going to communities to share the Good News of Jesus with those who have yet to hear it.

Ruth took along two other newly-equipped disciple-makers and, following the Lord’s direction, went in search of this specific village.

It took some work; they traveled a long distance, asking people they met along the way. Eventually they located this community.

“I did not know the place,” Ruth said, but she quickly learned. This settlement in northeast Nigeria is predominantly peasant farmers, with a literacy rate of zero. And 98% Muslim.

Faith, Courage And The Good News In Action

“When we arrived in the village, God gave us a man of peace who accepted us,” Ruth reported. “We stayed there, and the next day we began one-on-one evangelism and shared the good news of Jesus. The results were awesome. Eight Muslims put their faith in Jesus Christ, and four others who were neither Christian nor Muslim all became Christians!”

What an exciting start!

However, they were soon challenged as they discipled these new believers. Spiritual attacks—like sickness, evil dreams, and misunderstandings among the church planters—came quickly. “But God helped us recognize them for what they are,” Ruth said.

One Muslim woman gave her life to Christ—when her husband found out, he immediately divorced her, leaving her alone and without support. Families of the other new disciples began to persecute them as well.

Ruth’s Courage And Compassion

“We learned they were marked to be killed,” Ruth reported, “So we relocated them to another city for further discipleship. This caused an uproar and the Muslim community threatened to kill all the church planters if the new disciples were not returned to the village.”

The new believers did not come back right away; in fact, they participated in the discipleship-mission training that Ruth was part of.

Despite threats to their lives and daily opposition, Ruth and her small team have stayed on, continuing to share the Good News of Jesus within this hostile region.

Ruth stands firm in her conviction that God placed them there, and they rest in the knowledge that He will do the work He has promised.

Ruth is one of many disciples of Jesus—women and men alike—who demonstrate tremendous courage in order to hear, obey, and faithfully follow the Lord’s direction, reaching least-reached people with the Good News of Jesus.

*Names are changed for their protection

First posted on https://globaldisciples.org/get-to-know-us/about-us/blog/

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!

As Global Disciples helps equip people to share the Good News of Jesus with those who have not yet heard it, we often hear stories that sound like a page ripped from the New Testament.

In fact, when this story came from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), it sounded like the account of Simon, the magician in Samaria, in Acts 8.

A Magician Named Bauma Meets A Greater Power

Lets read about a magician named Bauma. He was described as a “dangerous witch doctor for 20 years.” A group of disciple-makers, trained through a Global Disciples partner program in DR Congo, came to Bauma’s community to preach the Gospel of Jesus.

Bauma wanted to test them. So, as they preached publicly, he sent evil spirits against them to block them and any miracles they may try to do.

Consequently, after the preaching, Bauma saw that—in spite of his best efforts—many people received Christ as their Savior!

So, he went to the disciple-makers and said, “You people! I see that your power is stronger than mine. Tell me what kind of power is able to block mine from top to bottom?”

The disciple-makers answered, “Our unique power is the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Bauma Meets The Lord

Stunned, Bauma said, “I need your Lord too.” Wasting no time, he dropped to his knees. The disciples laid hands on him and prayed with him. And Bauma, the witch doctor, received Christ as his Lord and Savior. His life was changed and redeemed in that moment.

But the Lord wasn’t finished yet.

The disciple-makers met a woman who’d been unable to walk for three years. She heard the Gospel and put her faith in Christ for salvation. When the team prayed for her, the Lord delivered her and she was able to walk again! 

A week later, in conversation with Bauma the ex-witchdoctor, they discovered he had been the one to curse this woman. God released them both from the bondage of Satan’s power, and gave them healing and freedom.

There is no God like our God; no power greater than the life-changing, freedom-giving power of Jesus Christ. And He invites us to join Him in sharing this Good News to people who so desperately need it.  

Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!