A short-term mission team led by e3 missionary Leanne* recently returned from a trip to South Asia. During the trip, they witnessed 300 new professions of faith in Christ, saw 27 Bible study groups start that have already met twice, and helped equip over 400 believers to share the Gospel and make disciples.
“We don’t rejoice simply because of large numbers like the above but because each one of those numbers represents an image bearer of God and there is a beautiful story of Jesus moving in each one of those individual’s lives,” Leanne said.
During the weeklong trip, Leanne and her team partnered with a group of believers in South Asia, including several local pastors. The team helped train the pastors and believers in how to simply and effectively share the Gospel, then they went out into their communities and villages to put those new skills into practice. The pastors were amazed with the results.
One of the pastors said, “We have seen a new method we have never seen before. We had done the street preaching before. There were many people who never listened before and those were the people this past week who sat down and listened to the Word of God. These are the people who went out and shared the Gospel and brought new people! Trust us and believe us – we are going to continue this method we have learned.”
The local pastors expressed overflowing thankfulness just for the team’s presence with them during the week.
“Sometimes we overlook just how important being present is and how that encourages and builds one another up in the body of Christ,” Leanne said. “Our South Asian brothers and sisters in Christ face much persecution and simply being with them was a gift from the Lord. The North American and South Asian team learned much from each other and strengthened one another in the Lord.”
While God also brought hundreds of South Asians into relationship with Him during the trip, He worked in myriad other ways as well.
“There were also testimonies of physical healings, people being set free from addictions, new believers excited to share about Jesus, old believers experiencing a Bible study for the first time and being equipped to share the Gospel, and stories of God’s protection that we praise God for,” Leanna said. “Our God writes the best stories!”
* Names and images have been changed for safety and anonymity