September 1996 - Evangelicals Now

How are Christians called by the Lord into missionary service? On this page and opposite are two examples. We start here with Will and Judith.

Long ago, in a galaxy far away, lived a couple of normal Christian students...

At least that's how it seems after five months in Africa. We're in Zaire with Wycliffe Bible Translators to help translate the Bible into one of the local languages. But how did two ordinary students end up as 'missionaries'? And 'career missionaries' at that, planning to spend at least ten years, and probably longer, in Africa. How did we know it was the right thing? Isn't it a big step to take, with a young family? What if we've made a mistake? And why Zaire?
Yes, there were, and are, many questions, and the answers are vitally important in the light of the enormous step we've just taken. In this time of change and upheaval, the assurance that we are doing God's will is fundamental!

Judith's story

So how did God lead us here? Judith's story starts when she was five. Having grown up in a Christian home where she heard a lot about missionaries, she announced that when she grew up she was going to be a missionary! This ambition was later superseded by the more conventional girlish ones, however! I did not actually meet a missionary until I was about 15 or 16. This was in a Crusader class, where an 'old boy' came to tell us about his work with Wycliffe in Niger. As someone who had always enjoyed adventure stories, I found it fascinating, but on the whole I preferred my adventures on the printed page!
But now the end of our schooldays, and the time for decision-making, was approaching. Judith decided to take a 'year out', and at Spring Harvest that year felt God calling her to use the time in mission work. 'By coincidence', she met the director of the Belgian Evangelical Mission there. He suggested that she spend a fortnight in Belgium that summer to test the idea of a year's commitment. In addition, she was drawn to claim Psalm 139.9-10 as a special promise for this time. After this time she felt it was right for her to work in the Flemish-speaking north. Having studied French at A-level this was not entirely logical, but God's ways are not man's ways (Isaiah 55.8). The decision not to take the obvious course was vindicated as she easily learned Flemish and had no doubts that she was where God wanted her. A year later she took up her place at university in England, where we met.
I still had no plans for the long-term future. Judith was now in the same position. All we knew was that God had a plan for each of our lives and would reveal it to us if we were open to him. Judith had a slight advantage: having spent her year in Belgium, she did not feel that she had yet 'worn out' God's call. And as she was reading Biblical Studies and Linguistics, it seemed sensible to find out more about Wycliffe Bible Translators. So she took their two-week Probe course, an introduction to linguistics and translation, designed to show both the enquirer and the Wycliffe staff whether the ability to be a translator is there...however dormant!

CU meetings

That summer God planted in me, too, a call to serve him. I was challenged at a CU meeting about the needs of the church in Africa and Asia, where a few trained pastors have many, many Christians to disciple because of the growth of the church. This can lead to syncretism and moral problems because of immaturity and lack of teaching. I was struck by the inequality of our huge choice of Bible study resources, whilst so many don't even have a Bible, and felt that God wanted me to be involved in answering this problem. So I started making a few tentative enquiries of some missions who were involved in training pastors and teachers.
By now, Judith and I were thinking about a future together. Being committed to finding and living out God's will , in marriage just as in our 'career plans', we had some questions. If Judith was called to work with Wycliffe, was this also the place for us to serve together? How did my call fit in? As I thought, read and prayed about it, I realised that my call had been to equip the church to disciple new believers. And what better way to do this than through giving Christians God's Word in the language they know best, so that he can 'teach, rebuke, correct and train them in righteousness' (2 Timothy 3.16) directly?

Wycliffe

However, we did not apply to Wycliffe immediately. We knew that they would require us to have further theological training, and that we would also need to take their linguistic courses. But we also felt that we wanted to spend some time in 'the real world' before embarking upon this. Being in our early twenties, and having spent all our lives in education, we knew that we were not yet prepared for life overseas. In addition, we had moved away from our homes and student churches, and had no real supporting church, but we knew we would need that foundation once we were ready to go overseas. In the meantime we needed people who knew us well and could test our calling. So we settled down in a local church, and played as full a part in its activities as our jobs permitted. Sometimes it felt as if we were 'marking time' but God used those years to build lasting friendships, and to give us relevant experience through our jobs, sometimes quite to our surprise! And through some difficult times, he helped us to grow and mature, both spiritually and emotionally.

Church leaders

After about a year, we first shared our 'call' with our church leaders, who encouraged us to pursue God's leading. So I took the Probe course too and, being given the 'green light' by Wycliffe, we applied to London Bible College. By the time we had completed our course there, it was already five years since we had first started thinking about working with Wycliffe. However, we decided to take a year out before our linguistic training. An experienced missionary pointed out to us that, if we were planning on long term ministry, another year's delay was better than burning out in our first term overseas and having to return home prematurely. So we again returned to 'normality', finding mundane jobs in our home area which allowed us to recover from the pressures of Bible College and reminded us of the wider world. And once again we were able to play a normal part in church life, strengthening relationships and friendships, and benefiting from the wisdom and insight of mature Christian leaders.

New baby

The following summer, with a new-born baby, we started our linguistic training, and the next part of our search for God's plan. We were now members of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and were training for that role, but where were we to serve? We both felt drawn to Africa, and wrote to Wycliffe branches there, introducing ourselves and asking what opportunities there were for us. This gave us new information, and closed some doors. We explored further and prayed, and God sent us people who shared their own experience with us, including someone working in Zaire who was able to give us much advice. Eventually, we decided to set apart two weeks to pray and wait on God and by the end of that time we both felt a real peace about going to Zaire, despite our initial fears that we would not cope with living conditions there.

Faith mission

As Wycliffe is a 'faith mission', the next test was raising our financial support, and here too God was faithful. After four months of travelling and speaking we still did not have enough promised for our support. But with just six weeks to go before our departure, we saw God confirming our decision as he provided for all our needs in some wonderful and unexpected ways.
Now we are here, and we can confidently say that, although it has taken us a long time, God has been faithful in leading and guiding us all the way. He has used different means at different times, but he has never left us stranded, and through it all we can say that he has revealed himself to us and changed us, we trust, to be more like his Son.

Lessons

So what are the lessons we have learned? And how will God guide us to the right language group, now that we are here in Zaire? Firstly, we know that he has a plan for us, and is more eager to see it accomplished than we often are to fulfil it! So we can be sure that he will be guiding us. We need to use the powers of reasoning he has given us, assessing ourselves realistically, but without thereby limiting God's freedom to use us in spite of our weaknesses. We will be praying, reading his Word, and expecting him to answer, through other Christians, directly to us, or through the natural development of circumstances. And finally, having made our decision, we will be looking for his peace, confirming that we are indeed within his perfect plan.

How we were called to Zaire

An account of a missionary calling by Will and Judith Sawyers