Empower. Equip. Release. The Path to Enduring Transformation
In this video, we share stories from Jamaica, Ghana, and Ethiopia that reveal how God often begins transformation. Not with a clear plan, but with a burden that won’t let go. Again and again, we’ve learned that lasting change doesn’t come from our effort or expertise alone, but from prayer that leads us to partner with and equip the local church to serve its own community.
When we look back on the moments that most shaped our understanding of missions, one truth rises to the surface: God uses burdens to invite us into deeper dependence on Him. A burden exposes suffering. It unsettles us. And it forces us to ask a hard question: What is God asking us to do that we cannot do on our own?
For many years, missions looked like people from the Global North going into the Global South to fix problems, meet needs, and then return home. But over time, God has been reshaping that story. He has been showing us that His design is not dependency, but partnership. Not control, but collaboration. Not short-term solutions, but long-lasting transformation rooted in the local church.
A Burden That Changes Everything
One of those defining moments came during a dental mission trip to Jamaica. Every year, hundreds of people would line up at the church, waiting in pain, desperate for relief. Teeth were extracted. Suffering was eased. Gratitude was expressed. On the surface, it looked like a meaningful ministry.
But on the final day of one trip, reality broke through. There were still dozens of people left untreated, some who had walked for days. Mothers begged for help for their children. And a trusted teammate, a man not known for tears, stood weeping, asking a simple question: What am I supposed to tell them?
That moment exposed the limits of what we were doing. The need was real. The work was sincere. But it wasn’t sustainable. And that realization brought a deep burden, one that could not be ignored. The question became not how can we do more, but is there another way?
In prayer, God began to shift the vision. Instead of going to do dentistry, what if we taught it? Instead of being the solution, what if we equipped the local church to be the solution?
Prayer Opens the Door to Partnership
That question led to Northern Ghana, where there was one part-time government dentist for millions of people. With prayer and a lot of uncertainty, we took a step of faith and trained local believers using the same tools we used at home. In just days, they were serving their own communities with skill and confidence. A year later, they were still doing the work, and doing it well.
What began as a burden became a movement. Not because of strategy alone, but because prayer opened the door to partnership. The work didn’t end when we left. It multiplied.
Years later, another burden emerged in Ethiopia. Early one Christmas morning, a leprosy-affected woman carrying a baby crossed the street, crawling from a trash pit. Behind her were children, no older than eight or nine, searching for food in the garbage. It was happening every morning, unnoticed, right in the neighborhood.
That moment brought despair. After years of medical camps, vacation Bible schools, and relief efforts, it felt like nothing was changing. The temptation was to do more programs, build more facilities, and take on more responsibility. But in prayer, God revealed something unexpected.
The answer wasn’t do more.
The answer was step back and equip the church.
Partnership Centers the Church
That decision marked a turning point. Instead of leading every effort, we focused on empowering local churches to lead. They cared for the leprosy-affected. They served children. They hosted Bible schools. And because the work belonged to them, it lasted.
This is the heart of holistic ministry. It’s not about removing ourselves from the work, but repositioning ourselves within it. Partnership means walking alongside, listening well, and trusting that God has already placed His people where transformation is meant to happen.
The church is not an accessory to missions. It is God’s chosen agent of change.
When Prayer Becomes the Turning Point
What these stories have taught us is that prayer is not the pause before action. It is the action that changes everything. Prayer is where burdens are clarified, where pride is stripped away, and where God reshapes our instincts into a willingness to listen.
In each of these moments, the breakthrough didn’t come from doing more. It came from stopping long enough to ask a different question: What is God already doing here, and how can we come alongside it? Prayer shifted the focus from our ability to respond to the church’s capacity to lead. And when that shift happened, the work no longer depended on us being present to succeed.
That is where sustainability is born. Not from imported solutions, but from God’s wisdom unfolding within local communities through His people.
Continuing the Conversation
If these stories resonate with you, this conversation doesn’t end here. Teach a Man to Fish unpacks these moments more deeply, showing how prayer, patience, and trust in the local church lead to transformation that endures long after outside help steps away.