Stories

‘On Sunday I was at church and Daniel, from my Advance Group, was the guest speaker sharing from Luke. He said ‘Please don’t bow your heads or close your eyes. If you today want to give your life to Christ for the first time, stand up publicly in front of everyone.’  Thirteen people stood up and gave their lives to Jesus!
The next day I chatted with Daniel about the service and he shared that a key reason for his boldness to not just share the gospel but offer a chance for people to respond, was that he was regularly meeting an Advance Group. Through his group, he had an accountable way of growing in confidence in sharing the truth of the gospel and always wanting to make the most of any opportunity to see people come to Christ.’ – Andy Hawthorne, CEO of The Message Trust, UK

‘I grew up thinking that evangelism was complicated, hard and something reserved for specific people with the right skills – definitely not me! As a result, I don’t remember sharing my faith with anyone. That all changed six months ago when I was invited to be part of an Advance Group here in Brazil and the honesty and community that I found was amazing. I could be real about my fears and doubts about evangelism, and I soon discovered that many people felt the same as me. But as I continued to go along to group meetings, prayed with the others and pressed into God’s heart for mission and sharing the gospel, I started to get much more confident about who I am, about sharing who God is and all he has done for me. Evangelism is much easier for me now and I am excited to see how God will use me next.’ – Franciele, Advance Group Member in Brazil

‘During the second session of my Advance Group, I felt challenged about my approach to sharing my faith and realised that every day there are so many moments that Jesus gives me to share about him with those around me. Now, even when I’m just going to the store, I know I’m there to share the gospel not only to buy my groceries!’ – UK Advance Group Member

One church leader in Uganda shared his experience after receiving the Advance Mentoring Guide and beginning his own groups – ‘Now we’ve got this Advance material in my church in Uganda, we have a new passion to share the gospel and do it well so we’re going to be accountable to one another, and we’re going to go out and share the true good news of Jesus.’

‘The Advance material is a powerful tool that’s helping to build unity and accountability in our team. Each session equips and encourages members in being an effective evangelist and some of my favourite sessions include The Identity of Evangelist, The Task of the Evangelist and The Submission of the Evangelist.’ – Evangelist Mark Young, founder, MASY, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Isaiah is part of Advance Youth in the North East of the UK, and is constantly looking for opportunities to chat those around him about Jesus. As part of an English exam he was sitting, he had to give a presentation on a topic of his choosing. Initially, he thought he’d talk about his passion for running, but as he was preparing, he felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit saying, ‘Why don’t you speak about Jesus?’

So, drawing on what he’d learnt through Advance Youth, Isaiah decided to step out and use the chance to speak openly about his faith, why he’s a Christian, why he loves Jesus and to explain the message of the gospel. To his surprise, when he’d finished, seven hands went up wanting to ask him about Jesus. The teacher allowed him to answer some questions there and then and the questions carried on after the lesson too. Now he’s regularly sharing the gospel in school and is finding opportunity after opportunity to share with his friends!

‘Here in Osaka, Japan, we’ve started using Advance materials in our church meetings to encourage and equip our congregation in their everyday evangelism. 10 people have been coming along (which is great as so many people here in Japan work long hours and don’t have extra time to come along to extra church meetings) and we’re already so encouraged and excited to see what God will do through Advance for us here in Osaka.’ – JP, Advance Ambassador in Japan.

Whilst out in Uganda, Isaac, one of our Advance Ambassadors, introduced Advance to a group of young adults.

As they began to go through some of the Advance material, they started to talk about how abiding in Jesus would lead them to bear much fruit.

‘These young people so loved and valued the teaching, that they started to come every day to meet together and delve into it further, simply because they’d never had anything like this before. After the 2 weeks I’d been with them this group had already multiplied into 4 further Advance Groups!’

‘We can’t wait to use Advance as a tool to help grow and multiply the work of evangelists here in Cuba. I’m so excited to see what God is going to do!’ – Charlie, Cuban Christian

There was a small church in Peru who were planning on having to stop and close its doors permanently due to decreasing numbers.
But during this time, the people of the church were introduced to Advance and, with nothing to lose, they decided to launch an Advance Group. What followed was a huge growth in boldness and passion to share the gospel which has resulted in the church growing in such a way that it is now going to stay open and is full of people who’ve heard the gospel from Advance Group members!

‘Whilst I was a shopping yesterday, I felt prompted to share my story with someone in the store. Before being part of an Advance Group I would never have done that! I was there in the middle of the shop sharing about Jesus with a stranger and then when I finished, the man started to cry, and we prayed together that he would meet Jesus. When I left the store God spoke really strongly to me reminding me that he directs my steps and conversations to share about his love with those I meet in all situations.’ – Wesley, Advance Ambassador in Brazil

‘Whilst praying for people in my local hospital, I met one patient, called Mary, who had been badly injured in a road accident.
During our conversation, she shared about how scared she was to have surgery the next day. I could see she was in such pain, and I could do nothing for her except share about Jesus. As I shared his love for her and the gospel message, I could see her face getting brighter. I can’t wait to have another chat with her and I’m praying that God gives her peace and transforms her life with his life.’ – Grace, Advance Group Leader, Zambia

In the UK, Advance Group member Dave*, leads a youth group. In one session the young people were looking at Romans 1:14 and the importance of sharing the gospel with those around them.
They were really engaged, and Dave realised that so much of what was being discussed was what he’d been looking at with his Advance Group. Since then, Dave’s been sharing a lot of the Advance material with his youth group, and it’s been amazing to see a younger generation also being encouraged to share the good news!
*Name changed

‘The Advance Group guide is the best material I’ve ever received for breaking down what the gospel is and how I can share it. It’s changed how I view evangelism and how easy it is.’ – Church Pastor In Uganda

During the first session of an online Advance Group in South Africa, the group chatted about the importance of accountability. Lerato* shared how she wanted a mentor to encourage her in sharing the gospel and to keep her accountable.
Soon after that session, Lerato was out walking and bumped into an older lady who she knew from her church. As they chatted, the older lady agreed to be her mentor!
How great it is when God see’s our heart, and quickly provides answers to our requests?
*Name changed

A pastor in Luanda (Angola), was praying and fasting for God’s direction for his church in 2022 when he felt God say: ‘Evangelism’. The whole church got together to pray and press into God and at the end of the week, Victor, our Advance Ambassador, visited the pastor to share about the work of Advance, not knowing anything of what had been going on. The pastor was so excited to hear about Advance and how he and the church could use it to share the gospel that the church now has Advance Groups set up and are committed to encouraging and equipping their members to boldly share the gospel at every opportunity.

Aleksander has been coming along to Advance Youth sessions for two years and is constantly sharing about Jesus with his friends, even seeing two of them come to faith in this past year! The other day he was praying about having more opportunities to share the gospel and then took the chance to invite seven of his mates along to an outreach event where the gospel was being shared. Off the back of this, two of his friends came along to church and Aleksander is now starting a bible study with one of them.

University lecturer and leader of a local Christian ministry in Rwanda, Ben*, was recently introduced to the Advance Mentoring Guide. He began using it within the university chaplaincy to help reach others with the gospel and has found the resource has stirred up a renewed passion for evangelism saying, ‘Our churches need to start Advance Groups, we need to think about evangelism again!’
*Name changed

One Advance Group member in Poland has felt for 35 years like she couldn’t share her faith with others – always feeling ill-equipped or unconfident. However, since joining her Advance Group, she’s felt empowered and enabled to share about Jesus and how he’s impacted her life. Since then, she’s shared her faith on multiple occasions with those in her workplace, and loves seeing how God’s using her!