“I don’t know what to do, I can’t go on like this any longer, my soul is dry, I want to lead from a deeper place, yet the pressures of ministry and the needs of the field leave me tired and weary.” I can recall each conversation as if it happened yesterday—mission and nonprofit leaders, pastors and business-for-mission leaders, and global church leaders dedicated to making Jesus known in every corner of the earth. Godly women and men passionate about deepening their intimacy with Christ and longing for a richer encounter with him. They all recognize the crisis they are experiencing – yet not sure what to do about it.

One leader from an African nation, with tears in his eyes, shared with me, “I have spent my life giving to others—helping them see the way forward, praying with them early in the morning or late at night, I nourish them, and I love it. But who is pouring into me? I’m tired. I’m lonely. The pressures of ministry are overwhelming me. I desperately need refreshment and a fresh encounter with Jesus.”

And from a leader in South Asia. “Ed, you’ve known me for over 20 years. You’ve been in my home countless times. We’ve prayed together, talked strategy, and seen God move. But my soul is dry. The pattern of my life and that of many leaders I interact with is the same: overwhelmed, burning out, ineffective at times, and giving out more than is sustainable, not to mention the expectations... It feels like the container of my soul is nearly empty. He ended by asking, “Was this the pattern of Jesus's life?”

I heard all he said, but “Was this the pattern of Jesus's life?” hit me like a ton of bricks, yet strangely, it felt like a refreshing breeze on a scorching hot day. These leaders gave me a rare window into their souls—something most of us are too guarded to share. I must admit, their words sank very deep into my inner being because I, too, desperately needed to tend to my soul. I was way beyond a manageable pace in life and ministry, and my family, friends, and teammates were paying the price. The refreshing breeze grew stronger because of the transparency and tenderness we shared together as we confessed our souls’ longing desire for a deeper intimacy with Jesus. We had to “do” something about it!

We mission people tend to fill our days with ministry responsibilities—meetings, strategy sessions, planning new initiatives, and travel. As someone once said (and it’s not flattering), “busyness is synonymous with godliness”. There are good and necessary ministry tasks, please don’t misunderstand me, yet they often crowd out the space for deep communion with Jesus that we desperately need. The result is that the very successes we seek in ministry, which aren’t wrong, end up depleting our soul.

Over the past five years, I’ve had countless conversations with workers around the world and their stories still echo in my ear—the weight of ministry expectations, accumulated losses, disappointments, the pressure of saying “yes” to everything, neglecting family and relationships, and the unsustainable pace many leaders feel they must keep. They voice a deep yearning to experience Jesus more deeply and lead from the place of encounter. These workers want to change the narrative of their lives because they know ministry flows out of abiding in Christ (John 15:4) and from fullness in Christ (John 8:36).

Jesus's ministry started at the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptized and heard the voice from heaven: “You are my beloved; on you my favor rests” (Luke 3:22). After this, He withdrew to the mountains for 40 days of prayer (Luke 6:12–19) and spent entire nights in communion with God. It’s from this deep communion that Jesus then called and connected with His disciples and sent them out to participate in His work. This three–fold pattern— communion with God, community with others, and mission in the world—is seen throughout the Gospels. It is the pattern that now shapes all we endeavor to do at Frontier Ventures in our global mandate.

Years ago, as Frontier Ventures listened to leaders around the globe, we kept hearing a yearning emerge, a yearning where spiritual health flows from the inside of the leader to those around them. In essence, we heard them saying the transformation that they so desire to flow from them to others needed to grow deeply in them first. So, we began exploring the pattern of Jesus's life and ministry to guide our approach in our mission expression and future. We wanted to understand Jesus's rhythm—His life narrative that would inform ours. We began discovering in the gospels an integrated approach, a 3-fold pattern that can be summed up in three encounters, encounter in communion, encounter in community, and encounter with the world.

As we peered into the encounters that became the good news of the kingdom, we see Jesus alone with God in numerous places, we see Jesus with the disciples in homes, in gardens, lakesides, and roads, and we see the world changed.

We’re learning that it is from an integrated and deeply formed life where communion with God and transformative community with one another becomes the very place from where we minister in the world. Our mission statement is, “to nurture new ways for least reached peoples to experience fullness of life in Christ”. It has become increasingly clear to us that the very fullness we seek to offer the world through our mission must also be the very deep abiding in Christ that we experience. Why? Because it is from this fullness that the springboard of blessing to the world comes out of our deep communion with God and experience of community together, and with others. It is my strong sense that the challenges of mission of the next 50 years will require a different kind, the deeper kind, of relationship with God and others.

This three–fold pattern of Jesus is evident throughout the Gospels: He often took time for solitude and silence to commune with His Heavenly Father; He fostered deep friendships in community with others; and from these spaces of intimacy with God and fellowship with others, He engaged in sustainable mission along the ancient roads of Galilee. And Jesus invites us into this pattern.

Frontier Ventures has taken what we’ve learned at the edges of mission, where missionary attrition and discouragement has taken its toll, and we are endeavoring to change the narrative where input from spiritual formation matches or exceeds ministry output. We see a renewed excitement to share Jesus from transformed and renewed souls. Families and organizations are being impacted as well.

We have new initiatives and continue to review our family of ministries. We desire the three–fold pattern of Jesus to be imprinted in all we do: from deep communion with God, we are invited into transformative community with others, and the fruit of mission emerges and flows.

Here are just a few examples of how the joy of the good news of the kingdom flows into our global ministries that are supporting leaders among least reached peoples:

Perspectives Global leaders are being invited to join a new initiative at Frontier Ventures called, “Camino”, or The Way of Jesus. It is a space where they nurture their inner souls with solitude and reflection, authentic community with other global leaders, and encouragement to grow in sustainable mission patterns.

The Second Half Collaborative Cohort is for global leaders from various mission agencies with significant cross- cultural ministry experience. The ten–month cohort follows the three–fold pattern of Jesus through learning stations, spiritual direction, small group meetings, and coaching.

The three–fold pattern is being woven into our Family of Ministries like NextGen and Institute for Community Transformation, as well as our Missiology, Publishing, Innovation and Formation Catalytic functions where identity as the beloved is prioritized along with mission purpose.

Dr. Robert Mulholland (former Provost at Asbury Seminary) once said, “Often we will expend amazing amounts of energy and resources to be in-the-world for God. But, you see, we are called to be in-God for the world.” Reflect on that quote for a moment. That was my experience—lots of energy and activity—in the world for God. Dr. Mulholland’s change of emphasis “to be in–God for the world” is the reorientation that we so need to lead from a deeper place in mission, the place from which Jesus lived and carried the good news.

As I study Scripture, I continually see this three–fold pattern of Jesus's life—a pattern that became permanently planted in His followers as He exclaimed, “As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21)—and my prayer is the pattern of Jesus's life becomes permanent in how mission flows from us to the nations, “May it be so, Lord Jesus”.