MISSIONARIES

ARE SHARING THE GOSPEL

WITH ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN

By George Schroeder, new media specialist

The goal, as Pastor Mahesh and his wife Alesha go about each day in their home city of Kathmandu, is simple.

“Every day, me and my wife, we share the gospel,” he says. “We pray and we have a target, at least in a day, that one person gets the heart of Christ.”

1.6 billion considered unreached by the gospel. The primary religions are Hinduism, Islam (it’s home to nearly one-third of the world’s Muslims), Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. There are an estimated 34 million evangelical believers – 1.85% of the population. The IMB describes South Asia as “the largest concentration of lostness on the planet.”

Nepal is essentially the epicenter of that lostness. But Texas Baptists are partnering with believers like Mahesh and Alesha and many others who share a common purpose. As Manik, another Nepali pastor, says: “We are reaching continuously to the lost people of this nation. We want to see gospel saturation in our lifetime.”

That typically means multiple conversations – but that’s the couple’s passion: To see Kathmandu and Nepal won for Christ. It seems a daunting task, and yet, they see an opportunity.

“Everyone,” Mahesh says, "needs to know the heart of Christ.”

Mahesh and Alesha are just one example of passionate ambassadors for Christ, who are supported by Texas Baptists through the Missionary Adoption Program (MAP). MAP exists to connect Texas Baptists churches with churches, associations and conventions all over the world to jointly adopt local missionaries who are native to the countries in which they serve. In South Asia, Texas Baptists have partnerships in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. MAP partnerships also exist in Africa, Brazil, Myanmar, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Canada and the United States.

According to statistics from the International Mission Board (IMB), South Asia is home to 1.8 billion people, with

Pastors, church planters and missionaries like Mahesh and Manik – and all three of those titles fit – are seeing tremendous results, according to Noe Treviño, director of MAP for Texas Baptists and minister of missions for Texas Baptist missionaries. With a small group of Texas Baptists, Treviño visited South Asia earlier this spring and returned excited after seeing firsthand what God is doing in and through Mahesh, Alesha, Manik and other Nepali believers.

“The gospel is being spread to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are UPGs and UUPGs (unreached people groups and unreached unengaged people groups),” Treviño says. “The native missionaries go out each day knocking on doors sharing the gospel and walking the streets, sharing with anyone who will listen to them. Literally thousands of people are being saved every month.

Nearly 1 million people live In Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. For many, it’s perhaps best known – or known only – as the jumping-off point to the Himalayas, including Mount Everest. As Chas Tozer*, an IMB missionary in South Asia notes, the region is 10,000 miles from Texas – “as far away as you can get.” And yet through MAP, it is accessible in multiple ways to Texas Baptists.

“MAP, really at its core, is the chance for churches just like yours to partner with missionaries just like me on this side of the world,” Tozer says, “and together to work with national partners that are really getting to see God do amazing things.”

Jason Burden, pastor of First Baptist Nederland and past president of Texas Baptists, participated on the trip to South Asia – and was astonished.

“It was true gospel pioneering,” Burden says. “To encounter people who literally had never heard the name of Jesus and to be able to witness to them and to see the receptivity in their expressions, it really reminded me of what the Great Commission is all about. I live in such a Christian bubble, and there’s no such thing as a Christian bubble over there.

“And to walk side by side with our missionaries who are serving there, it just stokes my enthusiasm for prayer for them and makes me really want to partner with them.”

In an agricultural community on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Burden was walking with a Nepali national missionary, praying and looking for people to talk with. They found some men relaxing under a tree, taking a break from work. The missionary engaged the men, and the conversation quickly turned into a gospel conversation.

“It didn’t end up in a Damascus Road experience for anybody, but this is the faithful work that’s gonna make sure that there in Nepal, there is gonna be a gospel witness,” Burden says. “Out of the multitude of these conversations underneath the shade of a tree, that’s where God is gonna be at work.”

Mahesh has pastored his church in Kathmandu for almost eight years. He and Alesha have been married almost three years, “working together in God’s kingdom,” as he puts it. “We are feeling so blessed to serve the Kingdom of God.”

Kathmandu is strategic because of its status as a gathering place. From all over Nepal, people regularly travel from villages to live in or spend time in

Kathmandu, which provides opportunities they don’t have back home. They speak multiple languages. And as Mahesh says, “Everyone is searching for many things … They are following bad things.”

But to Mahesh, that simply means the harvest is plentiful.

“The city is a big opportunity for God’s Kingdom,” Mahesh says. “If I share the gospel with people here and they accept Christ, then we disciple them. After that, we go together to his village, and then we share the gospel there.”

The church serves about 350 believers, and its composition is constantly evolving. New believers are discipled with the intent to send them out to plant churches. Many have started churches in their home villages.

“They’re engaging in brand new villages among peoples that have literally never heard the good news of Jesus before,” says Tozer, who adds that one of the teams of Nepali believers he works with shared the gospel 47,000 times last year.

“The gospel is going out in abundance,” he says. “But it’s not just the gospel going out, it’s disciples being made. Those disciples make up brand new churches.”

Burden says what he saw of missionary work in South Asia seemed like something out of the book of Acts.

“I saw people who were just completely sold out of the gospel,” he says. “Some of them talked about the difficulties they faced in their personal lives, living within a culture that for some is ambivalent to Christianity, and for others is hostile toward Christianity. Just to see their commitment to the gospel, their sacrifices. They’ve sacrificed careers and opportunities, things we’ll probably never be asked to give up, just to preach Jesus and plant churches.

“I can’t even spell the word ‘sacrifice’ compared to what they’ve endured for the gospel.”

Pastor Mahesh of Kathmandu asks Texas Baptists to pray for his team, because “we want to minister faithfully.” And he issues an invitation, too:

“We would love to see you, Texas Baptists churches,” Mahesh says. “If you have time and if you’re available for us, then please come and see what God is doing in Nepal, day by day.”

Along with work serving in the city, Mahesh would like to take adventurous visitors to serve in villages in the mountains – “the extreme,” he says. “We share the gospel with the backpack.”

“I would love to invite you: Please come,” he reiterates. “Let’s (work) together for God’s Kingdom.”

“We encourage you to give not just financially, which is a need,” Treviño says, “but also to be a part of encouraging them through social media and other means. If your church is able to bring a group to Kathmandu to work alongside them for a few days, it would be a great experience for your church, I guarantee you."

“We encourage you to be a part of what God is doing through our Missionary Adoption Program with Texas Baptists.”

To learn more about how God is using MAP missionaries around the world to reach the lost, visit txb.org/MAP. Churches or individuals can adopt a MAP missionary as well. For more information, email noe.trevino@txb.org.

*Name changed for security purposes

HOUSTON – Located in the heart of the Medical Center, Rice Temple Baptist Church thrives in one of the most culturally diverse sections in the nation.

In the church’s most recent history, there are over 30 nations represented with around 24 different languages being spoken by members. Moreover, the church retains connections with members living abroad holding Bible studies in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, along with several other countries in Europe and Africa.

“We have a mission field handed right to us,” said Pastor Clint Reiff. “Many of our

Sharing The Gospel Everywhere We Can

By Valeria Ramazzini, contributing writer

international members come seeking medical treatment but also get prayer and fellowship.”

Pastor Reiff shared how the church has been blessed with a great number of international members due to the church’s active participation in disciple making within their community. Members are encouraged to discover God, develop and grow more like Christ, discern their gifts and deploy to work in God’s mission of sharing the gospel.

“We try to be very aware about getting outside the walls of the church,” Reiff said. “We believe theology ought to be practical, and that everybody ought to have a role or group where they meet outside the building in order to be intentional about sharing the gospel.”

One of the ways members are able to serve their community is through the Joy Program. This ministry is dedicated to teaching English as a second language by engaging people from other cultures in different activities. Ranging from Bible studies, cooking classes and dancing, the Joy Program seeks to provide an environment where people from different countries feel welcome into the church.

“We are mainly trying to be hospitable and friendly. We try to care for a need that they have,” Reiff shared.

In addition to being intentional about going out and making disciples, Reiff explained how listening and loving people from different cultures has helped Rice Temple Baptist Church grow and learn.

“When it comes to sharing the gospel, we need to be willing to be uncomfortable,” Reiff said. “Don’t let there be any barriers. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What would I not do for the sake of the gospel?’ The answer better be: ‘Nothing.’ We have to get there.”

While Rice Temple Baptist Church is located in a community where there is a lot of cultural diversity and international influence, Reiff encouraged congregations everywhere to be welcoming and intentional about engaging with different cultures.

“Welcome everyone into your home, treat them the way you’d like to be treated,” he said. “Rather than inviting people in to share your culture with them, invite them in and give them a voice. Just hear who they are and enjoy their perspective.”

Rice Temple Baptist Church is a part of the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program, which has helped Reiff and his congregation minister to members of their community even after they move back to their home countries.

“This program has allowed us to do missions in a way that we could’ve not done on our own,” Reiff said. “The fact that we can come together as individual churches and reach out for a common goal – the sharing of the gospel of Christ – is hugely important and grossly underestimated.”