Joshua Rivers has a humorous way of describing the goal of the missionary task. “We want to work ourselves out of a job,” he said.

Rivers and his wife Gracie are International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries who work among South Asian peoples. With a massive population, this area of the world can be challenging to reach.

How can this couple take on this enormous mission? Along with other IMB missionaries, the work involves South Asian believers and global missionary partners.

Local churches fulfilling the Great Commission, Rivers said, is what IMB missionaries want to see. Their prayer is to see churches in South Asia take over the work of reaching people with the gospel and building healthy, reproducing churches.

Rajendra and his wife Vidhi are church planters whom Rivers has discipled and trained. They are witnessing God do mighty things to build His Church in South Asia.

One time, Rajendra asked Rivers to preach and do a training service at one of the partnering churches. As Rivers was preaching on the Lord’s Prayer, a woman in the service went into convulsions just as he said, “Our Father who is in heaven.”

The woman, who had a background of black magic and demon worship, seemed to be suffering from demon possession and reacting to the name of God. 

“We stopped the service and started praying over her, commanding the demon to leave,” Rivers said.

The woman calmed down and came back to the church the next day. Gracie had a chance to talk with the woman and shared the gospel with her.

The woman made a profession of faith in Christ as she was talking with Gracie. She ripped off the black magic amulets around her wrists and ankles she had worn since she was a child and threw them to the ground.

“Since then, she’s been very involved in church,” Rivers said. “She’s growing spiritually and has reconciled with her husband.”

Global missionary partners are also vital to the work in South Asia. For example, Rivers said there are many Chinese speakers where he lives, and he needs help with communication.

Recently, Rivers attended a conference with other IMB missionaries for the purpose of networking, exchanging ideas and supporting each other’s work. On the first night of the conference, he saw Stephen Yang, who works with the IMB among Asians.

Yang told Rivers about two young men who are fluent Chinese speakers and want to serve in South Asia. Rivers was thrilled because he resolved a major need on the first day of the conference.

“The case for Chinese-speaking missionaries is so compelling because there’s 100 million [Chinese-speaking] believers,” Rivers said.

Rivers emphasized that the sending of Chinese-speaking missionaries to places like South Asia is growing. He believes the Lord can use those who are fully grounded in Scripture and the gospel message.

“Not only do we want to receive more laborers, but we also want to be a part of shaping the sending culture in the sending nations,” he said.

Global missionary partners (GMP) are supported by their own sending agencies or churches and serve on IMB teams around the world. Rivers has seen many GMPs be instrumental in professions of faith being made among unreached people groups. They often understand the culture easier, communicate better and blend in more in security-sensitive areas.

“We would like for them to come right away and get plugged into churches and make an impact,” Rivers said about GMPs, as numbers have grown with how many GMPs are serving among South Asian Peoples. Sending organizations from Korea and Taiwan are among the leaders in sending GMPs who are working with Rivers.

*Some names have been changed for security reasons.