[1]Joseph heard the story of the Gospel in his heart language. He heard it through a method he was familiar with – Bible storying. Because of this, his life has been radically changed. Now, he’s sharing the same stories that transformed his life, and through his influence, he’s seen more than 50 profess their faith in Jesus as Savior.
International Mission Board missionary Aaron Kuglin serves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2020, he started a Bible storying group. Each session, a Bible story is read and repeated orally to the group. They group discusses the story, and then each person around the table retells the story in their own words. The morning training ends with the team going out on the streets and retelling the story in their own words.
In July 2020, one of the members invited Joseph to join them. “He did, and he was intrigued,” Kuglin recounted. Joseph attended every time, hungry to hear.
He came from a Catholic background, but he wasn’t a devout follower. Kuglin described him as “religious seeking.”
Joseph “really latched on” to the story of the woman with the issue of blood that Jesus healed. Each night, Joseph rode home with Kuglin and discussed the Creation to Christ stories from the meeting.
He came back a few weeks later and announced to the group that he’d like to join. After hearing the stories of Scripture, he decided to put his faith and trust in Jesus for salvation.
[2]When Joseph shares his testimony, he points out that when Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease,” in Mark 5:34, it really resonated with him.
As a believer, Joseph hit the ground running.
Kuglin intentionally discipled Joseph for a solid year. This included group storying sessions, individual discipleship time with Kuglin and just doing life and sharing meals with the Kuglin family.
As the Kuglins left to spend a short time in the United States, Joseph was interested in how he could learn the Bible more. A national partner had an evangelism school and Joseph joined and graduated the program.
Then, his evangelism efforts took off on their own. Focusing on the stories from the Bible that clearly tell the Gospel and champion evangelism, Joseph teaches his own group of 6-10 national believers each week how to Bible story. He’s a key leader of this team that meets three times a week – learning stories, intentionally praying together and going out to do evangelism in the community.
Each month, there have been multiple believers. More than 50 people have prayed with him and the team that he leads.
Kuglin said Joseph has been an invaluable resource for his ministry, especially as it’s been growing throughout the country.
“He is one that has taken it and run with it. I haven’t had to prompt him,” Kuglin said. “I’ve fed him with a couple visionary ideas, and he’s made this evangelism group go.”
Joseph became a believer because another national believer brought him to an IMB storying session/training. Now, his ministry has multiplied.