Sharing the story of God and his world

In 1990, Ruth Guinness visited Malawi for the first time whilst studying at university. Ten years later, she arrived in Malawi with Serving In Mission and is still based in the city of Blantyre in her role as SIM’s Ministry Point Person for Theological and Missiological Education.

Since childhood, Ruth has felt God speaking to her in different ways: “He gave me a love for his Word and grew the desire in me to serve him in whatever way I could,” she says. After graduating, Ruth spent a year in Kenya as a short-term mission worker and then followed advice to complete her training and get teaching experience in the UK before going into mission long term.

“It would have been very easy to settle down in the UK, but I began to feel God was pushing me, nudging me and saying: ‘Don’t forget’. So, after much prayer and talking with my church, I went to All Nations Christian College to train in cross-cultural mission. Following that, I joined SIM and was sent to Malawi.” 

Ruth has witnessed many changes during her time serving in Malawi. With the population having nearly doubled and huge rises in mobile phone usage, the opportunities to connect with people have also shifted and grown. However, “although there have been outward changes, many needs are the same as they were 25 years ago,” she adds.

Worldwide, more than 90% of pastors have had no formal theological training. “There’s a huge need for the church to grow in their depth of knowledge and understanding of God’s word; to walk with the Lord in day-to-day discipleship; and to reach out to others with God’s love – to look outward rather than inward,” Ruth explains.

Through her current role supporting theological education, Ruth was given the opportunity to help create a resource that explained the story of the whole Bible from beginning to end: from creation to new creation, suitable for the Malawi context.

“I jumped at the idea”, she recalls. “It sounded really exciting to me!”

The course is called The Story of God and His World and after spending the first few months of 2024 designing the course with a colleague, Ruth also helped run three pilot courses and gather feedback.

“Each of those groups went really well,” she says. “They were all different, but I could see that God had been at work: both in the creation of the course and in the participants themselves.”

One participant told the group about a conversation he’d had at work. Using ideas from the course, he was able to share the gospel with his colleague who’d been questioning many things following the death of a loved one.

“It was wonderful to see him putting into practice what he’d learned and being able to use it to talk to a non-Christian friend.”

Another member used what he’d learnt to share the good news with a group of doctors visiting from the UK. During their evening meal together, he gave thanks to God for the meal, and quickly realised that none of the doctors knew what he was doing.

“When asked if they were Christians, the doctors said ‘No’. This was quite surprising for my Malawian friend, who’d assumed that people from the UK were Christian,” Ruth recalls.

Having started the conversation, he was able to carry on and share the story of the Bible with them, going through the six parts of the story he’d learnt on the course.


“It’s really exciting to see that this resource has given people a tool to be able to explain the gospel to people they meet. And it’s exciting to think of the potential that it can have, especially in training church leaders.

“By giving them a better foundational knowledge of God’s story, they can then help others in the church to understand the Bible themselves and play their part in God’s mission.”

Throughout SIM there are many people serving in theological education. Our vision is to see competent and equipped disciples of Jesus bringing the gospel to communities where Christ is least known, and Christ-centred churches led by missional leaders teaching and preaching God’s word faithfully.

Please pray for:

• Finalising The Story of God and His World course so it can be used by many to the glory of God.
• For everyone involved in the training of pastors and church leaders.
• For personal relationships and opportunities for discipling and mentoring.

Inspired by Ruth’s story and want to get involved in mission? Whatever your skill-set, availability, or where you’d like to go in the world, discover where God might be calling you on our Opportunities Search.