Several years ago, I made a promise to our deacons and our church that I would personally visit every mission field we support and bring back a report of what God was doing through our missionaries. This past August, I had the privilege of fulfilling that promise in a way I could never have imagined. What I witnessed in Ivory Coast, Africa, was more than just an effective mission outreach. It was a beautiful picture of a ministry model that closely resembles the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Two of our church’s missionary families had joined together for a special outreach, and I had the opportunity to see both ministries in action.
Seth and Paige Cuthbertson serve the Lord full-time in Ivory Coast. Paige grew up in our church’s youth group, and I had the privilege of watching her develop a heart for missions. She eventually married Seth Cuthbertson, who grew up in Africa as a missionary kid. Together, they are faithfully serving the Lord on the mission field.
At our 2025 Missions Conference, Seth and Paige connected with Jared and Faith Bell of Grace Dental & Medical Missions. Faith also grew up in our church and knew Paige well. During that conference, a plan began to take shape that would bring their two ministries together in Ivory Coast. The Bells would bring medical and dental care to people in need while partnering with the Cuthbertsons to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For me, this was an incredible opportunity. These were the final two missionary families I had not yet visited, and now I would be able to witness both ministries working together on the same mission field.
My wife, who normally accompanies me on these trips, was unable to travel this time, so one of our deacons, Aaron Csorba, joined me. We traveled to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where our adventure began.
From the very beginning, I was struck by the sweet spirit of the missionaries and volunteers. There was a genuine love for the Lord and for one another that was evident in everything they did.
Our journey from Abidjan to Sassandra was supposed to take about four hours by car. Instead, it turned into a six-hour adventure when the driveshaft fell out of the bottom of our Toyota Land Cruiser somewhere along the way!
This was no minor mechanical problem. We were stranded on the road in Africa with a vehicle that wasn’t going anywhere.
But what happened next was remarkable.
Our group gathered together to pray, asking the Lord to provide a solution. By the time we finished praying, there was a mechanic underneath the truck working on the problem!
To this day, I have no idea how that happened so quickly. But I do know this: God was already preparing the answer before we even finished asking. What an incredible reminder that our God knows our needs before we bring them to Him!
Little did I know that this was only the beginning of a trip filled with unforgettable demonstrations of God’s goodness.
A Ministry That Mirrors the Ministry of Jesus
When we arrived and began observing the medical and dental outreach, something became very clear to me. This was not simply a group of missionaries providing medical assistance to people in need. They were following a pattern that we see throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
The clinic was established inside the church, with a tent outside where patients could check in and wait to receive care. While people waited, there was an opportunity to preach the Gospel and share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
But the ministry did not stop there.
A man named Anyes worked diligently in a second stage of the check-in process. He would carefully write down each person’s medical concerns while also seeking to understand their spiritual condition. He wanted to know what they understood about the Gospel they had just heard preached and whether they desired spiritual help as well.
I was deeply impressed by this approach.
The people were coming because they had physical needs, but the missionaries understood that their greatest need was spiritual. They wanted to minister to the whole person.
As I watched this unfold, my mind went to the ministry of Jesus.
Jesus made Capernaum a central location of His earthly ministry. The name Capernaum has been associated with the idea of a village of comfort, and what a fitting picture that provides!
During one of my visits to Israel, our guide shared with us that there were natural hot springs in the region where people would come seeking relief from their physical suffering. I have often thought about the beautiful picture this presents. People came seeking physical comfort, but in Capernaum they could encounter the One who offered something far greater than temporary relief.
They could meet the Great Physician Himself!
Jesus did not simply come to heal broken bodies. He came to redeem broken souls. His ministry demonstrated compassion for physical suffering while never losing sight of man’s greatest need—salvation.
What a beautiful parallel to the ministry I witnessed in Ivory Coast!
Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus meeting physical needs while addressing spiritual needs. He healed the sick, touched the lepers, gave sight to the blind, and showed compassion to the hurting. Yet His ministry was never limited to the physical.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
On more than one occasion, Jesus spoke of faith making a person whole. What a beautiful picture of the completeness of His ministry!
And that is exactly what I saw taking place in Ivory Coast.
People were receiving medical and dental care, but they were also hearing about the Savior who loved them and died for them. Physical suffering was being addressed, but eternal needs were not being overlooked.
We witnessed many people come to faith in Christ through this outreach.
Leaving the Crowd to Reach One Family
One particular story stands out in my mind and perhaps illustrates this ministry model better than anything else I could share.
A Muslim man had a wife who desperately needed medical attention, but he was unable to bring her to the clinic.
The missionaries had a decision to make. They could remain at the clinic, where crowds of people were waiting for assistance, or they could step away from the busy outreach to help one family.
They chose to go.
Immediately, I thought of Jesus and Jairus.
In the Gospel accounts, Jairus came to Jesus because his daughter was desperately ill. Despite the crowds pressing around Him and the many needs surrounding Him, Jesus was willing to go to the home of this one man and minister to his family.
That same spirit of compassion was evident in what I witnessed in Africa.
The ministry leaders took a small team and went to this Muslim man’s home. There, they cared for his wife and shared the Gospel with the family.
What happened next was extraordinary.
The man was so overwhelmed by the love and compassion shown to his family that he made a remarkable statement:
“Never have I been loved like this from any Muslim, and the God of the Bible is my God from now on!”
What a testimony!
This man had witnessed something he could not explain away. He had seen the love of Christ demonstrated in a practical, personal, and sacrificial way.
The missionaries did not merely tell him that God loved him. They showed him.
They were willing to interrupt their schedule, leave the crowds, and go to his home because his family mattered.
Isn’t that exactly what we see in the ministry of Jesus?
He never became so consumed with the multitudes that He lost sight of the individual. Whether it was Jairus and his daughter, the woman at the well, blind Bartimaeus, or Zacchaeus in a tree, Jesus always made time for the one who needed Him.
And in Ivory Coast, I watched missionaries follow that same pattern.
More Than a Medical Mission
Our trip was filled with stories like these. Again and again, I witnessed people who were willing to sacrifice their time, comfort, and resources to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ.
I cannot adequately express how blessed I was by the ministry of Grace Dental & Medical Missions and the faithful service of Seth and Paige Cuthbertson.
Their partnership was a beautiful example of what can happen when God’s people work together with a common purpose.
One ministry brought the ability to address physical suffering through medical and dental care. The other provided the ongoing missionary presence, local relationships, and Gospel ministry. Together, they were able to reach people in a way that reflected the compassion and priorities of Jesus Christ.
This was not simply humanitarian work with a little religion added to it. It was Gospel-centered compassion, where meeting physical needs became an opportunity to introduce people to the Great Physician.
I came away from this trip with a renewed appreciation for the missionaries our church supports and the tremendous sacrifices they make to carry the Gospel to the world.
These are people who genuinely love the Lord. They love the people God has called them to serve. They are willing to go where others may not go, care for those whom others may overlook, and share the hope of Christ with people who desperately need Him.
What a privilege it was to witness their work firsthand!
As I reflect on my time in Ivory Coast, I am reminded that the most effective mission model is not necessarily the newest or most innovative. Sometimes, it is simply the one that most closely resembles the ministry of Jesus.
See the hurting. Show compassion. Meet the need. Share the Gospel. Point people to Christ.
That is the mission model I witnessed in Ivory Coast.
And what a Christ-honoring ministry it is!
I cannot say enough about these missionaries, their love for the Lord, and their faithful service to people who are suffering physically and spiritually.
I went to Africa to fulfill a promise I had made to our church. I returned having witnessed a powerful reminder of what missions ought to look like.
God is great, and what a privilege it is to serve Him!
