Eric TonjesA retired missionary once told me a story that has stayed with me for years.
Decades ago, he served with a missions organization doing college ministry in a South American country. To him and his teammates, it felt like they were laboring in dry, fallow soil. The ministries they had planted were small and struggling. Few students seemed interested, and it often felt as though nothing was happening. Month after month, the missionaries gathered to pray for revival, frustrated that they couldn’t see God at work.
After several discouraging years, an indigenous pastor he had befriended invited him to a regional gathering of local pastors. As the meeting was about to begin, one of the ministers stood up and said, “Brothers, before we start, I just feel led to give thanks. What a remarkable time to be a pastor. The Holy Spirit is doing incredible things!”
The room erupted in agreement and celebration.
My friend soon discovered that God was, in fact, doing something extraordinary in the very country where he felt his ministry had stalled. The years he served there are still remembered as a season of remarkable revival in the indigenous church. Tens of thousands came to faith in Christ, and churches overflowed with new believers.
His team had been living in the middle of a historic movement of God—and somehow they had missed it.
How could that happen?
According to the missionary, the answer was painfully simple. He and his teammates had arrived believing, however unintentionally, that they were bringing God’s work with them. Their ministry was going to build the kingdom. Their methods and programs were the primary means God would use.
Because of that mindset, they failed to recognize what God was actually doing. The Holy Spirit wasn’t moving through the channels they expected or following the plans they had carefully prepared.
Instead of trying to be a savior, he realized God was calling him to be a servant.
His organization wasn’t seeing many people come to faith. But because revival was spreading across the country, thousands of new Christians and hundreds of growing churches desperately needed resources for discipleship and spiritual formation. That was something his team was uniquely equipped to provide.
So they changed course.
Rather than focusing primarily on building their own ministry, he began partnering with local churches. He offered resources, taught classes on studying Scripture, practiced spiritual disciplines alongside new believers, and equipped pastors with tools for discipleship. Soon he found himself overwhelmed with opportunities—far more than he could possibly meet. For years, he traveled from church to church serving local believers and witnessing abundant spiritual fruit.
That shift in perspective remains just as important today.
Whether we think about our own communities, short-term mission trips, or long-term ministry overseas, we aren’t called to be saviors but servants. Jesus has the saving handled. Our place is to serve.
Our task is to ask a simple question: How have the gifts, experiences, and resources God has given me prepared me to serve the people He has already placed here?
When we approach ministry with that posture, we become free to celebrate what God is already doing instead of assuming we must create it ourselves. And often, we discover that the most fruitful ministry isn’t the one we planned, but the one that humbly strengthens the work Christ has already begun.
