Evangelism Training for International Missions and Church Planting
If you have other questions besides what we’ve answered here, please send us an email and someone will get back to you soon.
1. Why are there so few staff photos?
The two greatest threats to SOWERS are access and security.
While neither of these are an issue most of the time, some nations do prevent people from entering if they are identified on international missions and evangelism-based websites. And other times, even with access but where safety might be an issue, it’s wise to reduce the chances that certain groups will know what our international staff looks like.
So, the Regional Directors, CEO, and other staff do not have photos on the website.
National Directors and their staff are free to do what they wish with their images.
(Learn about our Governance structure here)
2. Why does SOWERS only use first names?
We only use first names (and sometimes an initial) for the same reasons we restrict photos. However, unlike the photos, this restriction is also used for individual Sowers.
(Meet our Staff: See how God inspired our leaders to give their lives to help spread the gospel)
3. What’s the difference between SOWERS and Sowers?
One refers to the organization. The other refers to specific people.
SOWERS, with all caps, is how we describe ourselves in print when talking about the international missions organization. It can be written as SOWERS or as SOWERS International.
When writing about individual Sowers, we just capitalize the first letter.
The name SOWERS itself comes from the analogy of sowing seeds that Jesus uses many times throughout the Gospels. The Kingdom of God, and his Word, is like a seed. It gets planted. Someone cultivates it. God causes the growth. Eventually it becomes a tree and produces fruit, and birds can nest in its branches.
We “sow” into the Kingdom of God by training churches to evangelize the lost in and around their communities.
4. In which nations does SOWERS actively work?
We have four regions of international missions and ministry, each overseen by a Regional Advisor.
Asian region: Hong Kong, Philippines, and India
Central and East African region: Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique
West Africa: Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon
French-Speaking Africa: Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo
5. Why do open air meetings and the SOWERS method work so well in these nations?
This is a question a lot of Westerners ask. When some people hear about “outdoor evangelism” and “open air meetings,” they think of people standing in downtown urban districts shouting at passing crowds, usually in a fairly judgmental or mean-spirited manner meant to trigger a reaction. Most of the time, this leads to shouting, arguing, or just plain ignoring.
This is not at all what happens when Sowers hold outdoor meetings. Using our 5-Level Training Program, meetings are attended because the team goes around the town inviting them. The meeting is held outdoors because, frankly, it’s easier and cheaper. Other advantages include:
No need to rent a facility, if such a place even exists in the area
More flexible, because the meeting can shift locations, adjust to various sizes of crowds, and allow for extensive follow up discussions
African and Asian cultures, unlike most Western ones, are more accustomed to doing things outside, including community types of events
In short, hearing someone talk outside doesn’t seem strange to them. It’s actually less intimidating, because they can just walk away if they decide they’re not interested.
How do we keep them interested? That’s the purpose of sketch board. The visual aid gives the speaker more than just a voice to engage the crowd.
So, with a pleasant but engaging speaker, a visual aid, and a trained team, a SOWERS open air meeting is a fun and memorable occasion, and an incredibly effective way to share.
6. How does SOWERS share the gospel with so many more people with far less cost?
Local churches send out teams to hold open air meetings. SOWERS trains the local churches to do this effectively and in accordance with scripture.
The only costs include the materials for the sketch boards, the booklets that help explain the Gospel, and whatever is required to run the trainings. In addition, Sowers have to raise their own support for them and their families. While the goal is to help them develop projects to become self-sufficient, there is usually more need for support than these projects can meet. And, the projects themselves usually require some start-up costs.
But, once a church has been trained, which only needs to be done once, that church can send out its own teams of missionaries to run hundreds of meetings in the years afterward, as well as train other churches themselves. It’s training, and then replication – all at the local level.
So, for relatively little cost, one Sower can directly or indirectly produce multiple churches and thousands of new believers. This is our brand of international missions.