Convinced that everyone needs to hear the Gospel, our heart is to make disciples of Jesus in communities where He is least known. For over 130 years, SIM has been outworking this vision, starting from its beginnings in Nigeria when three young men felt compelled to share the Gospel with 60 million unreached people living in the region.  

As a direct response to SIM’s global purpose and continuing the pioneering spirit of our founders, the Faithful Witness initiative began in late 2019. Jonathan, SIM’s Faithful Witness Lead, explained, “We are inspired by the fact that more than 3 billion people still have heard little to nothing about Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. We are compelled by the fact that Jesus is worth everything we are and have.”   

“Our vision is to launch multi-ethnic, multi-skilled teams of 10 to 15 workers in places around the world that have little or no access to the Gospel and where SIM does not yet have a presence. The aim is to grow SIM’s global footprint to provide Gospel access to communities that otherwise would live and die without ever making even one Christian friend. We want to see our teams break down barriers to the Gospel so more workers can follow.” 

Since its inception, Faithful Witness has mobilised 98 workers from 22 nations and five continents to serve in nine least reached communities. When selecting locations for Faithful Witness teams, they work closely with established SIM regional leaders to identify unreached communities capable of supporting the infrastructure needed for new teams. The goal is to launch two new teams annually over the next decade. 

Our Faithful Witness workers serve in remote and challenging areas where the Gospel faces significant opposition, whether due to deeply rooted familial honour or restricted religious freedom. Despite these challenges, the Gospel is bearing fruit and Jonathan thanks God for His faithfulness. “God has faithfully blessed our teams with courageous, quality, and mostly non-western workers. In doing so, we are increasing the capacity of SIM’s sending offices in the Global South,” he shared.  

“We have seen God’s provision and protection for these workers, even in the face of very real hardships. And, of course, we have seen God cause our teams to bear fruit: A church planted in a heavily restricted Central Asian nation, the very first members of a particular people group in Mali have put their faith in Christ, Buddhists where lead to Christ by the team in Ayutthaya, Thailand... just to name a few of our many blessings.”    

To anyone considering serving with Faithful Witness, Jonathan offered this encouragement: “Jesus is worth all that we are and have. When He takes hold of you, don’t hold anything back.” 

Jonathan, the son of faithful believers and raised in California during the Jesus movement of the late 60s and early 70s, shared, “There has never been a day of my life that I wasn’t swept along by the strong current of God’s intention to redeem and restore his good creation and us along with it. We must first understand ourselves as the object of God’s mission before we can ever participate in it.  

GO: Do you have a heart to use your skills and gifts to make the Gospel known in least reached community with Faithful Witness? Speak to a Mission Mobiliser today by filling in the form on the back page or visiting sim.org.au/faithfulwitness.