We love beginnings, yet the long work of discipleship is sustained less by dramatic starts than by faithful returns.
The Quiet Joy of Return
As I returned to the northern desert this past August, I felt the quiet joy of watching a village grow up. Faces were taller, voices steadier, and the laughter felt familiar. People now knew the small things—how Peter and I are always laughing when we are together—and I knew them as well. The children of the village are growing up: some preparing for school in a year or two, some going to the bush to begin their training as pastoral herdsmen—a cycle that will lead them into the Moran and, with God’s blessing, back again. In L’Moti, faith and a young church have strengthened year by year. This recognition cut to the heart of this reflection: the powerful nature of showing back up. In cross‑cultural ministry, presence over time accomplishes what a single visit never can—trust takes root, and discipleship takes shape.
From there my memory turned to Southeast Asia, where credibility has grown only through steady return. We did not earn trust with a presentation but with presence—reading the same passages again with the same people, keeping our word, and coming back when ease suggested moving on. Like the Wesleyan circuit riders who returned again and again to scattered communities, not because it was efficient but because presence formed people, our “little fire” circuit in Marsabit follows the same conviction, as does our upcoming mission to Vietnam. Return does not feel like a rerun; it feels like a promise kept. The first time through a city, people meet an idea of us. The second time, they meet our word. Doors once polite become warm. Conversations deepen into trust. Proximity without boundaries dissolves into sameness, but proximity with holy distinctness creates room for formation. We enter again, not to impress, but to be present. The classroom is still the classroom, the alley café still smells of fish sauce and coffee, and yet the soil is different, less rocky, more ready. Returning shapes us as much as it shapes the work. In the end, mission is not a string of arrivals. It is a pattern of faithful returns.
Proximity Discipleship
By proximity we mean a pattern of presence that is close enough, long enough, and holy enough to form people. Close enough to share ordinary life. Long enough for trust to take root. Holy enough to remain distinct in speech and conduct. Proximity discipleship depends on return: without showing back up, proximity collapses into a visit, and visits seldom make disciples.
Proximity without repentance becomes performance; repentance without proximity becomes private sentiment.
Kenya: North and South, Leaving and Returning
In southern Kenya, pastors commute between OMTI lectures and village responsibilities with disciplined regularity. They show back up for new lessons each term after weeks of slow and steady ministry work in their home villages, return to manyattas to pray for the sick again when improvement seems unlikely, and reopen their Bibles after days filled with the logistics of a pastoralist lifestyle. The rhythm itself becomes a witness.
Further north among the El Molo and neighboring communities, the roads grow rougher. We drove hours to reach a shoreline church plant, only to be turned back by cultural miscues and timing. The next morning we went again. The act of returning became its own liturgy. People noticed. Trust grew. Doors opened that remained shut the day before.
An Echo in Vietnam
Five years ago we began entering Vietnam to discern partnerships for the work God was calling us to. The path was slow and relational by design. Three years ago, when funds were insufficient, we sensed a clear call to return again—this time to the Central Highlands region. While waiting to depart, the airline repeatedly sought volunteers to release seats. Across two rebookings, we received travel vouchers totaling $12,000. God provided not only for that Vietnam journey, but also for the next trip to Kenya.
On that return, God pressed foundational truths that began to reshape our theology and our methodology. We met a single contact who, in God’s timing, introduced us to the ministry partner we now serve alongside in the Highlands. A pattern began to emerge: steady, faithful returns cultivated trust with exactly the people we were sent to help.
Vietnam: Language, Scripture, and Trust Built by Return
In Vietnam’s English classes we read Scripture aloud, then read it again—slower, clearer, attentive to inflection. Repetition revealed meaning, and repetition also built credibility. As we returned in 2023, 2024, and 2025, classroom practice and community presence moved in tandem. Showing back up—at the same passages, with the same people—formed disciples and forged trust.
Why Showing Back Up Works
The Theology Beneath the Practice: Return to the Cross
The Christian word for showing back up is repentance. Not a single catastrophic moment, but a daily realignment with the crucified and risen Christ. We return to the Cross because there the truth about God and the truth about us meet without pretense.
“If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” — Luke 9:23 (ESV)
This is the wind‑down of the disciple’s day: returning again and again, showing back up again and again at the Cross of repentance. Repentance restores communion; restored communion restores vocation. Then we go again.
Therefore the life of a disciple moves in a holy rhythm—back to the Cross, back to the work.
The Cycle of Return
Proximity discipleship and repentance belong together. We cannot disciple others well unless we first submit to Jesus as disciples ourselves. The very desire to live close enough, long enough, and holy enough with people pushes us back to the Cross, where our loves are reordered and our motives are purified. Then, strengthened by grace, we return to people again. This is a continual cycle—back to the Cross, back to the work—sustained not by resolve but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why Returning Matters for Everyone
Not all are sent overseas. All are sent. The Great Commission is not fulfilled by spectacular moments alone, but by ordinary faithfulness lived near our neighbors. Returning is how love becomes visible. Like the pastors at OMTI who show back up term after term—and then return home to show back up in manyattas and marketplaces—we embody Jesus’ presence by reappearing with patience, prayer, and practical care.
Faith becomes attractional when presence is dependable. Slow, steady return is how the love of Christ takes on weight in a place.
Fatigue, shame, logistics, and the slow erosion of hope argue against returning. The answer is not bravado but grace. Return to the Cross in prayer. Name the fear. Ask for courage. Then take one small step—send the message, confirm the visit, open the text.
A Word for This Week
The Kingdom advances through many beginnings—and through many returns. Let us keep showing back up, to the Cross and to the work, until faith becomes sight.
A Short Prayer of Return
High King of Heaven, bring us back today—to Your Cross, to Your Word, and to the work You have given. Grant courage to return where we have drifted, and grace to keep showing back up until love is formed in us. Amen.
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27