We caught the vision of ABWE to fulfill the Great Commission by multiplying leaders, churches, and mission movements among every people. We just weren’t sure how our work at the school would fulfill this vision. God made it clear that he would use this compassion ministry to develop leaders.

Samuel and Lauren Lunsford finished candidate class and started serving short-term in Togo at the Village of Light School for the Blind in July 2016. They used The Way to Joy to train five teenage girls to disciple the students at the blind school.

Lauren built relationships with the teens and realized they wanted to serve in ministry but didn’t know how they could with their busy schedules at school. Lauren began making disciples of the girls at their home on Friday nights. “I was encouraged by how interested they were in the study.” They were hungry for training and the Good Soil materials clarified the Bible’s story. It taught them how to live as Christians in their culture.

On Wednesday evenings, the teens met with the blind students at the school to teach what they had learned the week before. The teens appreciated the leadership opportunity with the students. They knew they were making a difference.

The teenage girls came with many follow-up questions after they taught the younger students. “They needed a deeper understanding because the students ask such deep questions,” Lauren said. “We all grew in our understanding and these teen leaders developed skills to disciple others.”

Lauren and Samuel were encouraged to see how God equipped the teenage leaders through the ten-week discipleship study. “All of our students are impacted by the girls’ discipleship study. All the students have opened their hearts to spiritual growth,” Samuel said.

“The blind students return to their families in the Summer months and some are the first believers from their family. We’re praying that God will use this study to train our students to lead their families to repentance and faith in Jesus as Lord.”

The Way to Joy - English Version

The Way to Joy is a leader-guided foundational Bible study book, intended primarily for use as an evangelistic follow-up discipleship study but is appropriate for any believer beginning to be serious about his or her Christian faith-journey. Its primary intended use is for one-to-one discipleship sessions. However, it can also be used in small group contexts or as a study book for classes with new converts, new church members, or others who are interested in topics of importance to basic discipleship. There are FREE downloadable leader guides for use in both kinds of settings.