Tim’s* family went overseas in 2019, only staying for the six months before the Covid pandemic forced them to return. “I know every missionary would say the same,” Tim said. “The first six months are super hard.” After the struggle of settling into a wholly unfamiliar location and culture, the family’s plans changed suddenly and drastically. Tim wondered, “’God, what was the point of this?’ I had longed to do this for my entire life, and for it to just go as quickly as it came—it was hard.”
After a year of praying and fasting and continually finding doors closed, the family finally had to adjust their perceptions. Tim explains how he had to shift from “seeing myself as a missionary in the traditional sense [to] seeing myself just as a follower of Jesus who makes disciples wherever and however God brings us along.” Part of that process included Tim’s discovery of Zúme training.
Through Zúme, “God opened up the whole world, not just where we were at, but all these people from all over. I would have never had a chance to go or experience or be a part of what God’s doing in all those different countries. I’ve had some misconceptions of who I am,” Tim continues, “my identity as a follower of Jesus, but then God’s really still answered the longings of my heart to make disciples overseas through Zúme.”
While he’s experienced “a lot of pushback from people who prefer the old model” of ministry, Tim is confident in both the benefits of Zúme and its fallibility. We’re “not trying to change people’s minds, not trying to get them to switch to our model. We like to tell people, Zúme has been incredible, and I love its simplicity. I think it’s one of the best training environments, and it really gives you a vision on how to make disciples. But it’s not the only way.” Instead of focusing solely on the tool, Tim wants to point instead to the reason why we want to share the gospel in the first place. To him, it’s really about “putting your faith into action and having that heart of saying, ‘Holy Spirit, use me.’”
So when you use Zúme’s free tools, train others in our online course, and see God working through it, remember: don’t start “putting more faith in the system rather than in God.” God is the reason we offer Zúme and the source that we want to point to, not obscure.
*Names changed for security.
Photo by Cottonbro Studio on Pexels
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