Rethinking mission

When we hear the word mission, it’s easy to picture a young girl teaching English to children in Africa, a Bible preacher going door-to-door sharing the gospel, or a doctor treating patients who otherwise wouldn’t receive medical care. 

And although God uses some mission workers to do exactly that – with amazing results – modern mission encompasses far more than these traditional images. 

For Ewald, serving in Nigeria, his life as a mission worker doesn’t fit the stereotype, so we sat down to find out more…  

Where are you serving and what’s your role? 

I’ve been serving in Nigeria with my family since we moved here in 2020. We served in Jos for three years and now we’re living in Kano, which is in the north. 

I have several responsibilities: I’m the primary caregiver for our two children, and I’m the SIM Team Leader for Kano and Tofa, so I’m responsible for the SIM mission workers in these places. We have a little guest house here for people visiting us, and I’m the manager of that as well. 

I’m involved in a vocational-technical school where people can learn practical skills and Bible teaching is part of a midday break. I’m also the builder and maintainer of the SIM Nigeria website, which is a central hub of information for our workers. 

My wife Lianne is the teacher, founder, and director of the Black Diamond School, which is a newly started school for Mission Kids in Kano.

What made you choose to serve God in Nigeria? 

We adopted a daughter from Nigeria in 2015, and as part of this process, we moved to Nigeria for four months. We were in for quite a big culture shock whilst living here and after we left, I said I’d never go back! 

However, when we were exploring serving overseas, our Mobiliser [now called Mission Journey Coordinator] produced several countries for us to explore and one of them was Nigeria. 

Lianne said: “Maybe we adopted our daughter from Nigeria for a reason? Maybe God was planning for us to come here, and this was one of the ways he made us go?” Yet still, I said: “No, I’m not going back.” 

But God had other plans and after lots of prayer and discussions, we returned to Nigeria. 

How do you see God moving through your role? 

When you’re in an office-based role, sometimes it feels difficult to see God at work in the ways you might expect. But God can still move through laptop work!  

One instance I can think of is when we changed our monthly prayers from a document – with a long list of prayer points that were easy to forget – to a digital version with daily prayer requests and pictures that help people to pray for each other more than they did before. And we see those prayers being answered too. 

How have you seen Nigeria change over the past six years? 

There’s more unrest and people are poorer. When we first came, Nigerians could eat rice and ate chicken at Christmas. But soaring food costs means they’re struggling to feed themselves and their family, and people can no longer afford chicken or rice. Now their main food is corn porridge. They also can’t visit their extended family anymore because fuel and transportation are too expensive. 

At the same time, unrest or poverty also leads to a longing for God and there’s more openness for the gospel. Obviously, we don’t want people to suffer, but it does provide this opportunity for us to have gospel conversations.  

What parts of serving do you find most rewarding? 

Jobwise, I love helping and supporting people. Managing the website means I can make people’s lives easier by having a central place of information and providing an uncomplicated way to communicate.  

As team leader, I can help the team with practical issues, but also by asking questions they can answer and then helping them to work on themselves – it’s really rewarding to help people. 

Living in a different culture and working with international colleagues is also amazing. All of them have diverse cultures and it’s wonderful to get to know more about these, as well as reflecting on your own culture and how it enriches your life. 

Our children are blessed to be able to play outside every day of the year. They’re not stuck inside the house during the winter months and making each other and their parents crazy! 

What challenges do you face? 

Culture shock isn’t easy and for most people, it takes two years to fully adapt to their new environment. Not seeing your extended family is challenging, particularly when it feels like you’re missing a lot of things happening in their lives. Of course, you can call them, but it’s not the same. 

Raising kids in the mission field is also quite challenging, because while they’re influenced by our own Dutch culture, they’re growing up in Nigeria and play with children from all over the world. It can be hard to know how to support them, because we’ve not been in the same situation ourselves and you’re always wondering whether you’re doing the right thing? 

What opportunities are there for people to serve in Nigeria? 

You name it; we have an opportunity for it! With such a big field, we have lots of different ministries that can only run with people serving.  

We need office people, teachers, trauma healers, and evangelists. We also need people involved in sports ministries, medical ministries, and farming, and I’m looking for someone who can help with the website.

Where could you serve?  

We have a wide range of opportunities to explore, which you can find out about on our opportunity search.

Browse leadership opportunities and opportunities to serve in Nigeria.

Please pray: 

• For wisdom for Ewald and the Nigerian team to do what is right and good for those they live alongside.
• For resilience for Ewald and his family as they live without the comforts of living in the Netherlands.
• For God to draw people to SIM who are interested in serving in Nigeria, using the gifts and skills God’s given them.