OneWay missionary continues the ministry he began with his wife, Sarah
In 2018, as students at Moody Bible Institute, JP and Sarah Lindsey joined the OneWay team hoping to serve as full-time evangelists in the Middle East. A year later, Sarah was diagnosed with cancer, putting on hold their plans to go overseas.
One month after the Lord took Sarah home, we wanted to share what is next for JP as he continues a life of ministry.
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A month after the passing of his wife, JP Lindsey is confident that God has heard the prayers many have prayed for him.
He takes comfort and peace in the image of Sarah running into the outstretched arms of Jesus. He says he is able to live out Philippians 1:21 (“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”). You can read more about Sarah’s story on her blog.
For JP, a life in Christ looks like continuing to pursue the ministry that he and his wife began more than four years ago with OneWay’s Gospel Advance team.
JP is a teacher and trainer, working to demonstrate to people around the world the power of hiding God’s Word in their hearts. As he takes a more active role alongside OneWay’s Equipping Evangelist, JP calls himself the “Timothy” to Equipping Evangelist’s “Paul.”
To date, JP has trained believers in Rwanda and Minneapolis. Over the next four months, he plans to lead trainings in Kenya, Armenia and Nicaragua, potentially returning to Rwanda as well. He also plans to grow Heart Bible in Minneapolis and throughout the U.S., praying that God will open more opportunities for church involvement.
As JP travels Africa and the U.S., he will rent his house in Minneapolis to a refugee family, staying with friends and family when he returns to the area.
Training looks different depending on the audience. For believers in low-literacy, oral cultures like Rwanda, the idea of a “Heart Bible” typically catches on faster than in cultures with less exposure to orality like the American and Iranian Church. The goal of Heart Bible for the Nations is to help believers around the world understand the scriptural and practical basis for committing Bible stories to heart.
It’s a spiritual practice that JP himself cultivates daily. His goal is to have about 70 stories committed to memory by the end of the year in thematically-linked story sets from the Heart Bible curriculum.
In the Heart Bible method, trainees don’t learn to memorize the Bible word for word. JP explains a few of the memory techniques that he employs:
“I usually read [a story] a few times, and then I’ll close my eyes and try to play it back in my mind (what happened, and then what happened and then what happened). I read it out loud, and then sometimes I try to get moving. Sometimes it also helps to try and write out the story in my own words. Those are all part of the things we teach people to do.”
He also focuses on learning Farsi, meeting with a teacher twice a week and practicing as he connects with native speakers in Minneapolis. Farsi is spoken by Iranians, Afghans, Tajiks and Kurds — people groups that JP and Sarah felt called to minister to — making it a strategic language for evangelism.
As he travels the world practicing and training in Heart Bible, developing curriculum and cultivating global partnerships, JP asks for continued prayer.
“That was [Sarah’s and my] heart to do together,” JP says, “so I know it’s going to be really difficult to do alone, having for so many years hoped and prayed that I could do that with her.”
Pray that God’s comfort would remain close to JP and ask for God’s wisdom and leading as the Heart Bible team grows.
Sarah's story: A life that's not my own
"It isn't what I can do for God that gives me worth, but my worth is in who He has made me to be: His daughter, redeemed, servant of Christ, chosen, image-bearer of God, and disciple."
These words preface the praises and groanings Sarah Lindsey wrote after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
After a lifetime spent dreaming of going on mission near and abroad to love and advocate for "the least of these," Sarah and her husband JP would soon be confronted with navigating what it means to trust the Lord — no matter the circumstance.
This book is a compilation of the blog entries that Sarah wrote as a means of "expressing her thoughts and experiences for whoever might be interested in following along." As an avid journaler throughout her life, Sarah shared, "I have always loved to reflect and write, and my hope is that through these modest reflections, someone may feel less alone or more encouraged."
Through great trials, devastating loss and godly pursuit, Sarah writes about what it means to truly live "A Life That's Not My Own."
You can purchase a copy of Sarah's book for $15 at the link below.
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