In Sub-Saharan Africa, making disciples can look different from day to day. But for Chris and Amy, it usually involves meeting both physical and spiritual needs.
In 2004, Chris and Amy became International Mission Board missionaries to Sub-Saharan Africa, the 43-country portion of the African continent that lies south of the Sahara Desert. Their sending church was First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix.
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Today, Chris and Amy still serve as IMB missionaries, and they are the Send Relief area directors for Sub-Saharan Africa. Send Relief is a global Southern Baptist ministry that does humanitarian work like disaster relief and community development. Chris and Amy coach and equip local pastors and missionaries to share the gospel while they respond to crises and help vulnerable communities.
Main goal
For Chris and Amy and their colleagues, discipleship begins with meeting people’s basic needs, and that leads to opportunities for spiritual conversations.
Chris and Amy recognize that many people believe meeting community needs and having spiritual conversations are two separate things. However, Chris and Amy have learned that when they work to meet the needs of a community, they receive more opportunities to share spiritual truth.
“Meeting physical needs alongside ministering to spiritual needs is at the heart of everything we do,” Amy said.
Chris agreed, saying, “People ask why we’re there [to help], and that opens the door for good conversations and allows us to work alongside national churches … to give them tools to enter new communities.”
For example, pastors in one community started a clean water project and ended up ministering to multiple families.
They partnered with a local school to identify families whose children often missed school due to illnesses from contaminated water. Teachers distributed clay water filters and taught families how to use them.
Four months later, they realized none of the children from the families with filters had missed school, and word about the usefulness of the filters spread. Now, each time a new family receives a water filter and learns how to use it, local pastors and church workers have a chance to share the gospel.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chelsea Bush and originally published by Arizona’s Portraits.
