Back

March 8, 2018

Bold Faith

Support raising, moving, learning a new language, dealing with cultural differences, sharing the gospel, letting go of worldly things, investing in kingdom work.

There is no doubt, it is a challenge for Josiah Venture staff members to commit to full-time ministry. Stepping into who God has made you to be and what he’s asking you to do is never easy. In fact, the path often looks foggy; the ground shaky. That is why bold faith is one of our organization’s five core values.

Here are some of our JV missionaries on what bold faith means to them and what it looks like in their lives.

What does having bold faith look like?

“When I have bold faith, I step boldly into something that I can not accomplish in my own strength. I am putting myself in a complete dependence, where if God doesn’t show up I am in trouble. It is being willing to be in over my head, completely surrendered and utterly dependent. It is knowing that God’s goodness is unchanging, no matter what the outcome. It is praising God now as if it has already been accomplished.” – Juliana Law, Ukraine

“For me, bold faith is being willing to put your hand up, like Isaiah, and say ‘Here I am, Lord, send me’ even if you know that decision will bring into question everything people know about you. The boldest faith decisions I’ve had to face caused people around me to question not only my decision-making, but their own. My bold faith has caused many moments of feeling alone and unsupported by even those closest to me, and yet I can look back at those same decisions and know they were the very best expressions of bold faith and obedience to God.” – Scott Molvar, heading to Croatia

How do you trust God when you feel like everything around you is shakable?

“How I trust God when everything feels shaky around me, is to remember and to expect…to remember the basic bedrock truths about God that my life is built on: that he is sovereign, that he is good, and that he loves me; to remember specifically how he’s led and provided for me in the past; to remember how he’s spoken directly to my need and to my heart through his Word in sync with my circumstances and my community. And then to expect that he continues to love and care for me, and is currently working for my good and his glory even when I can’t see it; to expect him to speak to me by watching for him to “show up” with his guidance, comfort, conviction, presence. I have found him to be an amazingly present and gracious God, and just yesterday he reminded me right when I needed it that he is the one who sustains and restores (Ps.41) and daily bears our burdens (Ps.68).” – Brenda Nickerson, Canada

“People change, but God doesn’t. God is not shakable. So if we invest in getting to know who God really is by learning more about his character, and if we recall what he has already done in our lives, we can freely trust in him.” – Pavlina Bujokova, Czech Republic

What have you seen God do when you have taken steps of bold faith?

“God loves bold faith and never ceases to amaze me in allowing me to see more of him when I boldly trust in his promises. God is doing such amazing and miraculous things everywhere I look, and in bold faith I get to see and somehow be a part of his agenda. When I have taken steps of bold faith, more of myself dies and more of Christ increases. I kick and scream at dying to self, but as soon as I do the lights turn on and I’m absolutely blown away by God and what he can do with such little faith of mine.” – Caleb Patty, heading to Albania

Why is bold faith necessary for you as a Christian?

“Without bold faith, we turn our lives into comfortable Christian bubbles. There is no challenge, there is no room for new people, and there we don’t need to trust God. In this bubble, we know everything we need to know about God and we slowly stop saying truth to each other, because it may cause conflict and discomfort. Eventually, we just walk away from commandments Jesus left us and we have our own Christian good-people-club. Jesus challenges us to have bold faith. If we don’t see it, we might not be listening to what Jesus is saying to us.” – Inguna Raudina, Latvia

“Our commision for King Jesus is to go into all nations and to make disciples under the authority of Jesus and his Holy Spirit. It is his movement. He’s the one providing open eyes and open ears to see and to hear the beauty of the gospel. If I’m just going to accomplish human stuff, that’s very weak. I can’t change Bulgaria. I can’t change even a city. I can’t change one person on my own might, on my own willpower or strength. I can’t. I can’t meddle in stuff of the heart. I can’t make a person believe something they won’t see without Christ opening their eyes. So, bold faith is absolutely necessary, because we believe that God is the one driving the movement.” – Peter Starkey, Bulgaria

What does bold faith mean for you?

Related Posts

Read Story

Discipleship, Stories

Fruit in Hard Soil

Dear Friends, How does the gospel bear fruit in hard soil? Montenegro is one of the most beautiful countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Sandwiched between Croatia and Albania on the Adriatic Sea, it combines stunning beaches with soaring 8000 ft mountains, rushing rivers, and the deepest canyon in Europe. But this hidden gem has very few evangelical believers. Out of a population of 600,000, less than 300 believers attend a few tiny evangelical churches. How do you make progress in such a difficult place? When Josiah Venture staff Noah and Jill Ellenwood moved to Montenegro in 2020, they immersed themselves in the local language and culture and took every opportunity to build natural relationships. Following the instructions of Jesus in Luke 10:6, they prayed that one of these new friends would be a “person of peace,” a trusted insider who would open the door to others. Noah met Slavo while playing soccer with a group of guys and invited him over to their apartment for board games. Slavo asked if he could bring his friends, and what began as a small gathering quickly grew into a weekly tradition with more than ten people attending. Slavo was always the catalyst, inviting new people while consistently building relationships. During this time, Slavo was on a personal spiritual journey. He openly shared his exploration of various paths for inner peace, including Hinduism, Buddhism, individualism, and Christianity. Noah and Jill had many candid conversations with him, sharing their own stories of God’s transformation in their lives. Still searching, Slavo embarked on a six-month backpacking trip through Europe. Along the way, he encountered people from all walks of life—Muslims who invited him to join their mosque, those who dismissed Christianity as fake, and others who loved him unconditionally. Throughout the trip, Slavo sensed that God was calling him, though he wasn’t sure what it meant at the time. When he returned, Noah spent 10 months studying the Bible with him, focusing on themes such as identity in Christ, being adopted into God’s family, and understanding sin and how it separates us from God. During this period, Slavo began experiencing dreams that seemed to be God speaking directly to him. One day, Noah received a call asking to meet on a hill where they often walked and talked. There he was greeted by a joyful Slavo, who exclaimed, “I want to do it—I want to follow Jesus!” Sitting down together, he prayed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Slavo quickly became passionate about studying the Bible. He would often cancel plans just to keep reading, feeling unable to put the Word down. His transformation impacted his family so much that they started joining him for church services. This fall Noah had the privilege of baptizing Slavo as he publicly proclaimed his faith in Christ. Perseverance, prayer, relationships, God’s Word, time, sacrifice, and commitment—each of these is needed to bear gospel fruit in difficult soil. But then the transformation is real and spreads to others. Thank you for your part in this movement of God.
Read Story

Spotlight, Stories

The Light of Imagination

On Saturday, December 22, 2012, in my final year of Czech high school as a Josiah Venture Kid, a light came to our doorstep in Czech. I was preparing to graduate in the spring and move to the States for college. While I expected this Christmas to be the same as all the previous ones, it felt different because of one encounter on a chilly Saturday morning. Our neighbor Pavlina, who lived down the street, rang our doorbell to bring us a special and meaningful Christmas greeting: a flame from Bethlehem. This flame was lit in Bethlehem by a Palestinian boy, flown to Vienna, and taken by the scouts through Brno to Ostrava. Pavlina had woken up early that morning to take the one-hour train trip to Ostrava to light her flame so that she could spread the Light to our little town. The candlelight danced inside the lantern as she opened its glass door and passed the flame to a candlestick, which she used to light my candle. It was so cold that we could see our breath, and we lingered only for a moment at the door before she said goodbye and went on her way. Pavlina walked away with her lantern, but the light she still held was now also in my hands. We kept that flame alive throughout the following days until Christmas. Even after we turned off the lights for the day, it still glowed safely in our lantern on the windowsill. I was mesmerized. Growing up as a JV missionary kid, I often heard about Christ being the Light of the World. That Christmas, however, that flame that came from Bethlehem ignited my imagination. It brought the story of Jesus’s birth to life in a new way. We don’t only get to hear about the Light of the World; we get to experience him, just as I experienced the light and felt the warmth of the Bethlehem Light. This past September, I had the joy of hosting a workshop at JV’s Fall Conference and learning together with youth leaders and brothers and sisters in Christ from all over Central and Eastern Europe. The workshop, “Getting People Excited About the Bible,” centered around applying our imaginations to studying God’s Word. Back in high-school, the visual of the Bethlehem Light sparked my imagination as I considered the Christmas story. In the same way, when we apply our imaginations to engaging with God’s Word, we see it with fresh joy and wonder. In our workshop, we imagined ourselves as different characters and looked at Scripture through that lens. For example, we talked about being like a guest. As guests, our goal is to come in and try to understand the culture and the people in the home we are visiting, not assuming we already know what life looks like there. With that in mind, we explored the cultural traditions of Psalm 23 together. We also imagined ourselves as astronauts who can see the whole world from their space station. They can see how the continents fit together and how big the ocean really is. We again looked at Psalm 23, but this time to discover how it fits into the bigger picture of Scripture. Perhaps someone nearby has delivered the Bethlehem Light to your town, and you could find it, bring it home, and share it with your neighbors. Or perhaps you could discover and carry the light differently—by using your imagination to explore the story of Jesus and inviting others into this joy. Advent is a season of anticipation, a time to pause and let the beauty of the gospel stir our hearts and imaginations. Just as the flame from Bethlehem sparked awe and inspiration in me that unexpected December morning, we, too, can let the light of Christ illuminate our lives and draw others toward his truth. What could it look like for the story of Christ’s birth to come alive to you this Advent season? How might your imagination draw you into its beauty? Could this wonder then spread to those around us as we also bring the light to them? May this season be one of discovery, joy, and sharing the gift of Immanuel, God with us.
Read Story

Discipleship, Spotlight, Stories

In Harm’s Way

Dear Friends, Someone needs to protect the flock. Ukrainian troops continue to fight a grinding and exhausting war against Russian invaders on their eastern front. Many have fled the towns and villages along the front line, but some still remain, including many families with young people. Life is particularly bleak for these teenagers. In most locations a curfew kicks in at 5:00 pm, meaning civilians are confined to their homes with stores and businesses closed. In some places, the limitations only lift at noon the next day, leaving just a few hours for young people to have any connections with others. Most school classes are online, and teenagers have witnessed enough death and destruction to create a lifetime of trauma. In spite of these conditions, a handful of brave pastors and youth leaders, like Pastor Yehven, have stayed in harm’s way to bring the message of Jesus to young people, who often feel hopeless and abandoned. Pastor Yehven travels regularly to multiple villages and gathers young people in his church building for youth group during the few hours when they can congregate. Most come from unbelieving families, but there is nothing else to do in their extra time; the loving care of a shepherd is a beacon of light to them in a very dark place. Yehven leads five small groups, including a group for the blind, a youth group, and several home churches in communities where other pastors have fled. His aim is to continue serving until everyone has evacuated. But Yehven also needs support and care. That is why our Josiah Venture team travels to the front lines every couple of months to strengthen leaders like Pastor Yehven and provide resources and support to youth groups in harm’s way. This summer, we brought Yehven and his youth group out to the relative safety of the mountains in the west for an evangelistic summer camp. You can see them wearing camp t-shirts in the picture below. Yehven and his team have also been cared for by several trauma retreats our team provides to help them process the devastating experiences of war. The economy in this region is shattered, so we also send financial support to 20 key ministries and leaders who are investing in young people up and down the front lines. Our contribution of $400 a month for each of them makes it possible to continue their work in spite of the difficult circumstances. As they seek to protect the flock of young people who know Jesus and reach others whom God is calling to himself, we are working hard to protect and support them. In addition, our team is teaching young leaders how to make disciples like Jesus did at a key seminary in the region. God’s kingdom is advancing as courageous Ukrainians run toward the battle with the gospel of Jesus, rather than fleeing in self-preservation. Light always shines the brightest when it pierces through the darkness. Your gifts and prayers make this possible. On behalf of those in harm’s way, thank you.