Down a well-worn footpath and around the outskirts of a village carved into the hills of South Sudan. Homes and homesteads dot the landscape. Terraced grass roofs blend into the rugged, natural beauty around them. Pathways worn hard and smooth by a million steps – by barefoot children at play or mothers collecting firewood – appear to meander without purpose, but lead to places. Places unimportant and unknown to most of the outside world, but to you, some of the most important places in the world. A right and then another right, left at the field with the black cow, up the hill and there: a round, mud hut. A woman surprised and delighted by your visit beckons you closer. Come. Sit with me, have some tea, talk to me. Pray for me.

Walk with us. Down a bustling main street in a sun-bleached city in North Africa. A sea of flat rooftops fades into the distance through the morning haze, punctuated by the minarets of a hundred mosques. Shopkeepers busy themselves for the day. A familiar face flashes a smile and a nod your way. You wait for a passing motorbike and cross the street, shuffle up the curbside, return a smile, and shake hands. “Salaam Alaikum.” Peace to you. How is business? How is your family? It is the most inconsequential of conversations. Pleasantries and small talk. But it is a meeting of great consequence. For this morning ritual between you and the neighborhood baker reinforces a budding friendship that may one day become an open door.

Walk with us and see where humble obedience to God’s call can take you. Across a continent of rich cultures and breathtaking beauty, and into the lives of people who long to know of God’s love.

We leave our homelands. Raise our funding. Cross oceans to places of uncertainty. Stay for years, learn foreign languages, and love people who might be difficult to love. Yes, ordinary people do this. We come to this extraordinary journey as people who are, quite possibly, just like you. We are moms and dads, young singles, retirees. We are blue collar families, seasoned business builders, freshly-minted college grads, and students still searching for a vision of their future. We come from every walk of life and every stage of life. Some of us expected missions would one day be part of our story, and some of us have been caught completely by surprise.

We are not superstars, super spiritual, or super human. We arrive at this curious intersection with global missions simply because we feel God leading and we share His deep love for a lost and thirsty world. If there’s an uncommon faith, courage, or strength involved, these things come later. They are more of a result than a prerequisite. Serving in missions is not especially complicated. It is but a series of ordinary acts – daily unfolding as we practice life in community, speak truth, and show compassion. Acts that ordinary people – rooted and abiding in Christ – are better equipped for than you might imagine.

Yes, it can be hard. Really hard. But we don’t prosper or succeed because of our own sufficiency. We succeed because Christ goes with us.

It changes us. As we live in places so remote that the stars at night seem to touch the earth. Or when we become so attuned to the rhythms of a modern African city that it begins to feel like home. We are changed as we make ourselves small enough to embrace the bigness of Africa’s massive cultural diversity, and open enough to build friendships within this strange and storied landscape.

What is extraordinary is not so much what you will see but how you will see it. Cross-cultural ministry offers a unique view of God’s redeeming work in some of the hardest places on earth. It also helps us to see a bit more through His eyes – re-framing what is truly important. As we are both dwarfed by and swept up in these experiences, this priceless new perspective is one of our rewards. And it stays with us for a lifetime. Africa is not easily forgotten.

Come see for yourself. Step into the blistering, beautiful, heart-wrenching, heartwarming journey.