Amidst the poverty and dysfunction, Jonas’ father and relatives saw Jonas as the hope for his family. He was his parents’ only son. If he succeeded in school and secured a profitable job, perhaps the money he made would finally provide the peace their family had long been missing. And yet many of Jonas’ relatives believed that Jonas would probably just follow in his father’s footsteps, perpetuating the cycle of alcoholism and poverty for another generation.
The Birth of a Passion
As expectations swirled around Jonas, his mom was the person who kept him steady. She did everything possible to guide him in the right way, even sending Jonas to Sunday school when she could. Because of his mom’s faith and the truths he learned in Sunday school, Jonas came to a firm conviction: God—and only God—could change his family. Without God’s life-changing power, no job or paycheck would bring the long-lasting peace and happiness Jonas’ family so desperately needed. More than that, without Christ, Jonas himself had no purpose. So, as a boy, he began to follow Jesus.
As Jonas grew older, his conviction became a passion. Jesus was the only hope for Jonas and his family. But Jesus was also the only hope for anyone. And there were so many people—kids with alcoholic fathers, wives neglected by their husbands, men who had never heard of Jesus—who still didn’t know about that hope.
What if Jonas could tell others what his mother had impressed on him so many times—that Jesus was the answer, the purpose, the reason to life? The more he thought about it, the more determined he became: He wanted to bring the hope of Christ to people suffering in broken families and broken communities. He wanted to be a missionary.
Financial Roadblock
Jonas wasn’t ready to launch out on his own, however. He needed training so he could add knowledge and experience to his passion.
“If we want to transform the lives of others,” Jonas said later, “first, we need to transform ourselves. And to transform ourselves, we need to be somewhere where we will be trained by experienced teachers. So at that time, I realized I needed to go to a Bible college and get trained, both physically and intellectually.”
With that purpose in mind, Jonas began looking for a suitable Bible college. He found a school near his home that offered the training he needed, but there was one large problem: He couldn’t afford tuition. While Jonas’ mother stood behind him with all her heart, she had no financial support to offer.
Jonas felt lost. He was willing to serve the Lord as a missionary. In fact, he couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else. But how could he move forward without finances?
That’s when Jonas’ pastor, a GFA-supported missionary, told him about a three-year Bible college. The pastor explained that the school offered the missionary training Jonas was seeking. With his pastor’s help, Jonas filled out an application. Then he had an interview call with the principal of the Bible college. And then … he waited.
Stepping Out in Faith
After a week, Jonas received news that he had been accepted to the Bible school! Jonas’ relatives, however, were not pleased. Missionary work was the opposite of the well-paying job they had imagined for him, and they advised him to pursue a different, more profitable career. Yet Jonas was determined to stay on the path the Lord had set for him, and he continued with his plans.
But once again, he faced financial problems. His tuition, room and board were covered by the Bible college. But he still needed to buy other necessities, such as toothpaste, soap and school supplies. And he still had to get to the Bible college campus, which was a long distance from his home. Traveling required money that he simply didn’t have.
So Jonas prayed, and, in faith, he prepared to leave. “I don’t have anything,” he told God. “If it is Your will, I know that You will take me there.”
Right before Jonas left his village, Jonas’ pastor gathered the local believers to pray over him. Some of the believers brought financial gifts to support Jonas on his journey. When the gathering had dispersed, Jonas had enough money to travel to school.
Classes and Community
At Bible college, Jonas began studying subjects such as theology, Old and New Testament surveys and character formation. His favorite class was History of Christianity. “I feel that subject is very important,” Jonas says. “Because as Christians, [if we are] not knowing about the origin or the past history, it will be difficult to [help] other people know about the faith.”
Many of Jonas’ teachers—indeed, many of the teachers at the Bible colleges across the countries where we serve—have themselves been missionaries on the field. As seasoned workers, they draw from their experiences as they teach their students. Beyond simply presenting information, these teachers strive to live in such a way that they will be able to say, along with Paul, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Pastor Jadiel, vice principal of a Bible college, explains that this is the heart of all the Bible colleges: “Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with academia, with the marks and with the attendance. Sometimes it is easy to forget what the goal is—that it is just your life being transferred to others. … I cannot give the students what I don’t have.”
For Jonas, rubbing shoulders with such a committed community of Christ followers—including his teachers, other staff and fellow students—impacted him immensely. “After seeing how they live and how they conduct themselves before God and before people, it’s a great blessing to see these people and to take an example from them,” Jonas says. “… There are godly men and women who still leave everything and give their life in serving the Lord.”
