When the Language Changed, So Did Everything

About six years ago, I began working with a missionary couple serving in Africa among an unreached people group. These two were the real deal—hardworking, dedicated, and deeply embedded in the culture. They learned the local language, spent hours in villages, and genuinely loved the people they were there to reach.

When they first heard about disciple-making movements (DMM), something inside them stirred. They didn’t just want to share the gospel; they wanted to see multiplication—disciples making disciples among the people group God had called them to serve. They read Contagious Disciple Making, attended trainings, and began putting DMM principles into practice.

But no matter how hard they worked, they kept hitting a wall.

That’s when they reached out to us at CDM and asked, “Could you coach us to do this right?”

I told them I’d be glad to help. After attending our training, we began meeting regularly for coaching sessions—week after week. At first, we focused on their personal engagement with the people group: finding persons of peace and starting spiritual conversations. But after a few sessions, I realized something was missing.

“You need a team,” I told them.

They had just moved to a new city, and the only people they really knew were other missionaries—many from different agencies. Normally, missionaries from different organizations didn’t work closely together. But this couple decided to take a risk.

They started a disciple-making community made up of these missionaries—people from various sending agencies, all working in the same region. Together they met weekly for prayer, accountability, and encouragement. They shared where they were engaging the lost, practiced Discovery Bible Studies, and committed to obeying what they learned by going out and sharing with others.

It was a beautiful picture of unity in mission. But despite their camaraderie, they still weren’t seeing a movement among the people.

Over time, indigenous leadership began to emerge from their efforts. They hosted local trainings and began identifying believers from the unreached group who showed potential. I encouraged them to invite these local believers into their disciple-making community.

So they did.

For a while, the team meetings continued much as before—mostly in English, since that’s how the missionaries communicated. But the local believers were quiet. They listened respectfully, yet their voices and insights weren’t shaping the conversation.

I asked the missionary, “What language do you use for your meetings?”

“English,” they said. “That’s how we started.”

“And what’s the first language of your local team members?”

They named the native tongue of the people group they were trying to reach.

I said, “Then that’s the language your team needs to use. When you shift the group to their heart language, it’ll slow the conversation down for the missionaries—but it’ll release the full intelligence, insight, and experience of your local brothers and sisters.”

They made the change.

Over time, the atmosphere transformed. Local believers began speaking freely, contributing wisdom rooted in their culture, and taking ownership of the mission. The team started adding more indigenous members, and soon fruit began to appear—real fruit.

At our most recent coaching call, I learned they now have leaders in seven villages engaging their own people with the gospel. What began as one couple’s struggle has become a reproducible model we now share with other disciple makers.

Because here’s the truth: the goal of foreign missions is not for ministry to flow through the missionary. The missionary should never become a bottleneck. The goal is to raise up indigenous disciple-makers—peers and equals—who can form teams of their own and multiply the work far beyond what any outsider could do.

Until local believers are leading teams with the same authority and ownership as the foreign worker, you won’t see real movement.

But once they are—you’ll see the Kingdom take root in ways that no outsider could have orchestrated.

And that’s what we’re seeing in Africa right now. I believe we’re standing at the edge of an incredible breakthrough.

Reflection & Call to Action

When we make room for others to lead—especially in their own heart language—we echo the way Jesus empowered His disciples. He didn’t just call them to follow; He called them to go and make others who would do the same.

Pray for this growing movement in Africa—for these seven village leaders who are now carrying the gospel to their own people. Pray that more missionaries will have the courage to step back, invite local believers to the table, and let the Kingdom multiply through their hands.

And if you’re a leader or missionary yourself, ask God:

“Who needs to speak in their own language for the movement to grow?”

Because sometimes, the breakthrough begins when we stop talking—and start listening.