By Alan Ch’ng
When you think of a missionary going out to share the Gospel in the world, what direction do you picture him or her traveling? Many people might have the idea that missionaries primarily go from the West to other nations. For a long period of recent history, that was indeed the general trend. But that sort of unidirectional sending is not always true today, nor does it reflect God’s heart for the world.
All the way back in Genesis, we see God’s desire to bless all the nations. From the start, that blessing wasn’t something he intended them to keep for themselves; they were meant to be a conduit to bless other nations as well. For example, in Genesis 12:2 God promises to bless Abraham:
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.”
Then in Genesis 12:3 he continues, explaining that this blessing is not just for Abraham but for all the nations through Abraham:
“I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
We also see God’s heart to spread his blessing throughout all nations in Psalm 67:1-2.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us— so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”
Then in the New Testament, God shows us in the Great Commission that the purposes of his heart are cross-cultural; he tells his disciples to go and disciple all the nations (Matthew 28:19-20). Disciples of Jesus all over the world are asked to go across borders and into different cultures to share the Gospel. In this vision of Jesus, every nation can and should become a blessing to every other nation.
Over the years, the Navigators have seen national ministries take root in many countries, and we are privileged to watch those ministries mature and begin sending out disciples to other countries. We have a rich history of countries sending out missionaries to other countries in their own regions. For example, within the Asia-Pacific region alone, many missionaries have gone from Malaysia to China, from Indonesia to Cambodia, from Singapore to Vietnam, from Korea to Sri Lanka, and more. (Yellow arrows in the image show missions sending within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.)
But what makes this such an exciting time for our Worldwide Partnership is that we are not only seeing disciple makers go out to their own regions; we are also sending people in all directions to totally different regions of the world. For example, for many years, the Africa Navigators have raised up disciples through national-led ministries and sent them out to other African countries. Missionaries from Kenya and Nigeria have gone out to open new Navigator works in several nations of Africa. Missionaries from Ghana and Cameroon have gone to assist the work in Sierra Leone. But now, Africans are not only going to Africa; they are also heading to Haiti.
Marc Koquillon, Country Leader for the Navigators in Haiti, traveled to Togo to attend a training program with French-speaking disciple makers. He began meeting with Jeremie Agre, a Navigator leader in Côte d’Ivoire, and Marc asked if Africans could be sent to Haiti to help there. Jeremie recruited one couple from Côte d’Ivoire and one single from Burkina Faso who are now in the pipeline to relocate to Haiti and begin making disciples there in partnership with Marc and his wife Marthe.
A similar story is unfolding in Latin America, where one couple has been sent from Brazil to pioneer a Navigator work among the secular population in Lisbon, Portugal, and another couple has been sent from Brazil to partner with Navigators in Germany.
This type of cross-cultural sending aligns with the Navigator DNA. We want to see people make disciples who will make more disciples, no matter where they are. When we launch a team to a new place, we often pray that God will allow us to see the day when missionaries are sent out from that place to other nations beyond. When Roberto Blauth became the Regional Director for Latin America, he asked me to pray just one thing for the region: that Latin America would send missionaries to other regions of the world. What a joy to see the Lord answering that prayer! Will you pray with us that God will continue to send Navigators from everywhere to everywhere?
