Missions part of longtime global workers’ DNA

John Ames grasped the only hope for humanity during a two-month trip behind the Iron Curtain. Those weeks defined his life’s work and revealed his heart’s passion.

Ames traveled through Eastern European countries in 1979, crossing the cultural and ideological barrier of atheism and communism to serve God. That trip gave him a profound understanding of how Biblical heroes Joshua and Caleb might have felt spying out the Promised Land ahead of the Hebrews.

“That was a great two months for me, and I came back enthused,” Ames said recently. “God can use me. I’ve been trained to start a church where all I have is my Bible and confidence that God could use me.”

Ames went first, like Joshua and Caleb. Then, he built relationships and prepared opportunities for Christians who would make future short-term trips behind the Iron Curtain.

Servants made for going beyond the edge

Decades later, Ames and his wife, Karen, have the same mission, but on a new continent. Ames now leads an Impact Team in Africa for Converge. His role is to go beyond the horizon of active Converge ministries, much like what he did behind the Iron Curtain, and make connections so others can do more ministry in Jesus’ name.

“We are in six countries where there are no Converge staff,” he said. “We’re going where the need is great. We need wisdom and discernment to know how to help indigenous leaders become movement leaders to reach least-reached peoples in their areas.”

Related: Learn more about why Converge wants to reach least-reached peoples.

Converge Impact Teams are also in Latin America, Asia, North America and Europe. These teams are part of the ministry’s strategy to develop a gospel movement among least-reached peoples—in our generation.

Training pastors and equipping churches are essential to Converge’s Impact Teams. But, even before Impact Teams existed, God used the Ames to develop pastors and guide churches around Africa to grow stronger.

World-class cities can bridge the gospel into least-reached villages

The Ames went through Converge’s assessment for global workers in 1985. They were confident of their call. Then, the movement appointed them in 1985 to serve in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Next, they moved to Paris in 1986 to learn French. Then, they deployed to Abidjan, a world-class city in West Africa, in May 1988. Converge sends global workers to such communities around the planet to plant churches so the indigenous people can reach their own cultures.

“They could go out and expand and reach their own villages that we would never be able to go to,” Ames explained.

Steve and Carol Smith first met the Ames in the early 1980s. The Ames and the Smiths were serving Converge churches in the Northeast at the time. Yet, God was calling them to missions and all four have now invested decades in Cote d’Ivoire and West Africa.

“John and Karen are examples of ‘a long obedience in the same direction,’” Steve Smith said. “They are faithful, persevering servants of the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. John and Karen have a heart to reach people with the gospel.”

Tens of thousands of workers, usually from seldom reached or unreached people groups, move to Abidjan and other world-class cities to find education and work. God’s heart for those people is what sent the Ames to Abidjan.

“Their love for the lost is seen in their continual involvement with these kinds of friendships over the years,” Smith added.

From cooking lunches to being a nationwide force for training pastors

One of those visiting workers was Francis Acquah, who came from Ghana. He ended up working for the Ames family. While Acquah was their cook and housekeeper, John Ames started discipling the Ghanaian man.

“We’d grab about an hour at lunchtime, and we began to look into Scripture. My goal was just to get into the word, develop his life, help him move forward,” Ames said. “God grabbed his heart.”

Acquah is now Dr. Francis Acquah. In December, he completed his Ph.D. in Christian Education and Missions. He has taught theology and leadership to approximately 200 disciples in the last 10 years at a Bible institute.

John Ames said Acquah encourages some of those students to plant churches among villages in north Ghana.

“Francis is well placed as a Ghanaian to know what the proper approach is, to meet with the village chief and do the right thing in the right way,” Ames explained. “He is in the south but is well placed to help his graduates plant a church in the north.”

Acquah traveled to Northern Ghana in January, researching villages and identifying a place where they could plant a church among least-reached peoples.

Related: Gospel fruit coming as pastors meet with voodoo chiefs in Togo and Benin.

The power of God’s word

Acquah’s time memorizing Scripture on the small, tiled terrace at the Ames’ home in the 1990s has become his devoted practice with his students.

Knowing God’s word has equipped the Ames family for decades. For example, as John Ames memorized Scripture during college, he discovered an undeniable fact: Being a believer meant being a servant. Scriptures like Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 4:12 ― “there is salvation in no one else” but Christ ― made God’s will simple, though not easy, for John and Karen.

“It places an unavoidable demand and responsibility on our lives. We are all called to be personally responsible for the Great Commission, to be ambassadors for Christ,” he said. “I’m called, the church is called, to reach the world for Christ. What role do I play in that?”

Related: Learn your answer by participating in Converge’s Missionary Discovery and Assessment Center.

The answer was going to Abidjan for 15 years, building every relationship and maximizing every opportunity to make disciples. By 2001, Converge’s team planted three churches. Moreover, Karen had leveraged her nursing skills to envision a health center that generated a medical ministry among Muslims.

With their vision for Abidjan accomplished and a new generation of leaders developed, the Ames returned to Massachusetts. There, John worked as the director of missions for Converge Northeast before becoming the senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist.

Even in the states, the Ames stayed active in international ministry. They went to Cameroon and other places in Africa. They went to Haiti and Estonia, traveling somewhere every year for 15 years.

“Missions stayed in the blood,” he said. “It was still in the DNA of our lives.”

By 2018, the Ames sensed God might have something else for the next chapter of their lives. Emmanuel Baptist had a youth pastor and associate pastor. The Ames were reflecting on the strength of that church and wondering how they could do the most good.

“I was convinced of the truth of his word, and I was convinced of the call of the church to reach the world with the gospel,” Ames said. “I needed to ask myself, ‘What does that mean for me?’ The words of Acts 4:12 really bugged me. If this is true, I’ve got to do something about this.”

So, they talked with Ivan Veldhuizen, Converge’s vice president of International Ministries, because they sensed God might be shifting how they served him.

Ames again found himself out past an edge

After speaking with Veldhuizen, Ames met with pastors and leaders in six West African countries for three weeks. These travels were spiritual adventures like the Iron Curtain trip. But, again, John found his bread and butter, what he loves to do: multiply disciples and start churches.

“We’ve ministered to many,” he said. “But we’ve invested in a few.”

Related: How do our brothers and sisters in Christ desire help with discipleship?

Such a strategy favors deep influence over broad interactions and makes significant fruit for the kingdom. The Ames now live in Pennsylvania, but their ministry influences dozens of African nations. How they currently serve happens at a scale only God could orchestrate.

Smith said the Ames’ role helped achieve Converge’s vision to see a gospel movement throughout the world. And the movement’s goal to be better together drives the Ames, their colleague explained.

“Discovering and coming alongside movements in Africa that have the earmarks of a ‘gospel movement’ is a part of that strategy,” Smith said. “The fact that they are back in full-time mission work shows their heart for the world.”

Because the Lord did incredible things in Abidjan, the Ames are now optimistic about what God can do next. Because of their deep roots in West Africa through mentoring and coaching, the Ames continue building relationships and establishing opportunities for more gospel-servants.

“We’re willing to network with anyone who has a desire to reach the least-reached. We really want to fulfill Matthew 24:14 so the gospel will be preached among all nations,” Ames said. “We’re looking to hasten the return of the Lord. Who knows what God will do?”

Converge is asking God for a gospel movement among every least-reached people group – in our generation. Learn how we are playing a role in accomplishing the Great Commission and how you can be involved.