Training Leaders Where It’s Almost Impossible to Go
Nathaniel Adawonu and Sylvain (regional network/presbytery leader) with Steve in remote West Africa
Dear Friend,
Recent news reports of rising persecution against Christians in Muslim West Africa have been heartbreaking. Hearing these stories brings back many memories from my years serving indigenous church planters across the region—especially in remote rural areas where poverty is deep, danger is real, and very few are willing to go.
Since 2006, Pathway Learning has trained church leaders in Muslim West Africa in close partnership with Nathaniel Adawonu, director of the indigenous church planter training organization New Harvest Missions International. Like many Pathway Learning partners around the world, Nathaniel is a former seminary student of mine who has become a dear friend and ministry partner for decades.
Together, we’ve equipped hundreds of indigenous leaders in French—through onsite intensives, online learning paths, and hybrid training—with a special focus on training their trainers to multiply this work among other underserved leaders across their regions and countries.
As a seminary professor for decades, I’ve been asked many questions by church leaders, but never the kinds of questions these pastors brought to me—questions like whether they should defend their families by killing the Islamic extremists who were killing their loved ones. I had also never before wondered whether the leaders I was training might actually give their lives doing the very ministry I was preparing them to do before I returned home.
Yet these leaders press on with remarkable courage, knowing they may not live to see the fruit of their ministry. Their hope—and ours—is that even the children and grandchildren of today’s extremists will one day choose Christ instead of violence. Nathaniel says it well: “We are not fighting with guns and weapons. We’re fighting for hearts and minds.”
This is why the most powerful way for the gospel to advance in the Islamic world is through planting and growing healthy churches—churches that bring real hope through evangelism, discipleship, and acts of justice and mercy.
Giving Tuesday is just three days away. Your early gift today helps bring training to leaders in places where it’s almost impossible to find. Your generosity helps:
• Provide church planter training to leaders in dangerous and underserved regions
• Translate and deliver resources tailored to local ministry contexts
• Equip churches to flourish in evangelism, discipleship, and acts of mercy
Your gifts help provide church planter training for underserved church leaders worldwide. And your support strengthens a growing global community of leaders from more than 300 denominations and 60 countries in 8 languages who have taken Pathway Learning training.
Thank you for helping bring hope where leaders are discouraged, isolated, and longing for support.
For the King!
Steve
Steven L. Childers
President
P.S. Giving early helps more leaders—especially those in the most challenging areas of the world—receive the training they desperately need. Thank you for standing with them.
WAYS TO GIVE
Online
Give using your credit card or bank draft through our secure online form
Mail
Send a check:
Pathway Learning, P.O. Box 2062
Winter Park, FL 32790
Phone
Call us at 407-682-6942
Matching Gift
Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match any charitable contributions made by their employees. Your employer may be able to double your gift.
Other Ways to Give
Gifts from Donor Advised Funds and IRA accounts also help advance our mission. You may give securities either by transfer of the certificate of ownership or through account transfer arranged by your broker. In each case, you avoid the tax on any potential gain and receive a deduction for the full fair market value of securities. To give a gift of stock, email us at staff@pathwaylearning.org, call us at 407-682-6942, or write us at P.O. Box 2062, Winter Park, FL 32790.
