by Tom and Ramonda Lunsford
18 August 2011

Cross-cultural Discipleship

On our last day of teaching Ethiopian missionary students at the Kale Heywot School of Missions Hub Center in Jimma, the students gave us one more opportunity to share our “advice” with them, and to say good-bye. I posed to them the question, “Why do foreigners come all this way to teach for two weeks, when you have many capable teachers in your own country?” They smiled and nodded their heads in agreement that it was a good question.

I used the text above from Romans 1:8, 11-12 to answer: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”

Very simply, we come because of the mutual encouragement we gain from the faith we see in one another’s lives. Though we share many of the same joys and sorrows, our cultural contexts are completely different. Over the past two weeks, we poured out stories of faith from our own lives in the last 20 years as cross-cultural missionaries, in lessons that were developed to encourage them in their ministries. They in turn shared with us their own stories of faith in seeing God provide through many persecutions, lack of funds, challenges in raising their children, struggles in ministering in different areas, and so on. We were definitely encouraged, and from their comments, we praise the Lord that ours encouraged them as well.

Cross-cultural Grandchildren

We returned from a weeklong road race covering almost 1,000 miles through ancient forests and massive valleys of western Ethiopia. At each of the five DMPT (Disciple-Making Pastors' Training) centers we visited, I asked the 25 or so pastors and ministry leaders we have been training the two years the same question, “What is the most fulfilling time in the life of a person: when they are born, when they marry, when they have children, or when they have grandchildren?”

Coming from a culture of extended families who support one another, they almost unanimously agreed that having grandchildren is the pinnacle of life.

I encouraged them that disciple-making is not complete until they also have spiritual grandchildren. Amazingly, many shared stories of how those they are teaching and mentoring are in turn raising up others to be growing followers of Jesus.

In one center we discovered a group of 25 women gathering together for a week every three months for discipleship training. Mihiret is an elegant mother of three who disciples 12 women in her church, and one of these women in turn works with six other young women who are growing in faith and service.

DISCIPLE MAKING PASTORS' TRAINING (DMPT) is a ministry of the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church which focuses on discipling 750 pastors and ministry leaders throughout Ethiopia to become effective disciple-makers in their local churches. They meet together every 3 months for two years for training, mentoring and accountability as they disciple others. SIM partners with DMPT through project # 92508.

Tom and Ramonda Lunsford have served with SIM in Ethiopia in ministries of church planting, leadership and disciple-making since 1991.