An incredible year
This year has been extraordinary! We've been running to keep up with what God has been doing. But, as this world is not perfect, we had some challenges too, like Henry's health issues - which have all been resolved. We are comforted by Paul who wrote, Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16).
Two thousand years ago, Jesus said “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matt 9:37-38). By God’s grace, we’re not only raising up new workers through our Discovering Mission series, but also training existing missionaries to be more effective with our more specialized courses. This is according to the mandate we feel the Lord gave us: to “develop more effective Kingdom workers.” That is, both more of them, and more effective ones!
Conferences
One of our goals is to create awareness of Didasko among mission organizations who do not provide their own training. The best way to become known in the missions community and rub shoulders with other mission leaders is to attend conferences.
We attended the Missio Nexus Conference in Kentucky, USA earlier this year. Missio Nexus is an association of churches and organizations in North America that focuses on the global Great Commission. We believe attending their yearly conferences will be very beneficial for making Didasko known among other mission organizations in the USA. Sorry, we were too busy networking to take any photos!
Below are more conferences where Didasko was promoted:
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| Danel Venter, South Africa | Impact conference, USA |
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| Dr Don Fisher at NEMA, Abuja, Nigeria | Missionary visiting our stand in Abuja, Nigeria |
Facilitation
Didasko provides facilitator training to those who want to help others learn about missions by leading groups. Learning with others is a more effective way to process and apply what you've learned. Kealeboga Thabapelo is our facilitator coordinator.
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| Kitale, Kenya | World Outreach Bible School, SA |
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Facilitation Fruit
We do not always hear testimonies of how God is using Didasko all over the world, so we hold fast to Paul's advice: Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Col 3:23-24).
But when we do get news from the field, we rejoice! Last year we got this testimony from Joseph and Ivan (pictured): "The first Didasko Bible and Missions course in Burkina Faso, West Africa, stirred the hearts of over 30 young people for frontier missions amongst the unreached people groups (UPGs). There was a heartfelt moment when the group was crying out in prayer for more workers in the harvest".
And here's the best part: About a month ago we heard that some of the graduates had planted a church in this very unreached area! Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Courses released this year
We are continually developing more courses. Because we want the best teachers, we collaborate with experts in their field. One of our core values is excellence, so the courses we develop are subject to rigorous peer checking. We want to mention two people: Dr Don Fisher, who does course development for us and represents Didasko at conferences, and Chris Burger, our principal editor, who ensures the overall excellence of the content of our courses.
By the grace of God we released two specialized courses this year:
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| Cross-cultural Communications | Setting the Captives Free |
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In addition to these two courses, we are far down the track developing two more specialized courses shown below. A course called "Hearing God's Voice", is in the pipeline too.
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Understanding Muslims- for the Sake of the Gospel |
Understanding Culture- for the Sake of the Gospel |
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Disciple Making Training
We are so blessed that we can have personal ministry by giving face-to-face practical disciple-making training at churches. One of the powerful tools we teach is Discovery Bible studies (DBS). We started this year by teaching a number of people at Collision church (our home church here). Some of them have started weekly Bible studies at a drug rehabilitation centre called "White Light". There have been at least five baptisms there!Some of that team recently helped us to train people at Dayspring Church in Marion, Ohio. It was wonderful to see this kind of ministry multiplication happening!
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| Betsy teaching at Collision Church | 'White Light' Team |
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| Collision Church Team in Marion, OH | DBS Group in Marion, OH |
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Promoting Didasko and Discipleship Training in Marion, OH
Didasko Missions Academy registered as a non-profit
Earlier this year we registered Didasko Missions Academy, Inc as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Ohio, USA. This allows us to give tax receipts to donors in the US. We have appointed a board that gives oversight and advice.
Click on this link to see who our board members are: https://dasko.org/about/oversight
Thank you!
Didasko is a global team, powered by passionate individuals from all over the world, and with Jesus as our rock and inspiration. Thank you to all our volunteers, dedicated pray-ers, course developers, and financial supporters—you make this ministry possible!
See who our core team members are: https://dasko.org/about/team
Blessed to be a blessing
All our courses are free of charge. But, developing courses and maintaining an online training academy costs money. As we do not receive salaries or grants, we rely on donations from individuals and churches to provide missions training for anyone, anywhere. In a way, donations serve as scholarships for people in places like the Philippines, Nigeria and India who can’t afford missions training, or don’t have access to training events.
Consider joining us on this faith journey by partnering with us financially! Your support will make a lasting impact.
Go to https://dasko.org/donate