Hello, friend. We have plenty of ways to measure impact. Followers. Views. Growth. Reach. Attendance. Achievement. And without realizing it, those measurements can become the way we measure our own significance too.

But Scripture gives us a very different picture of the people God uses. Shepherd boys. Small armies. Ordinary disciples. Men and women whose names most of the world will never know.

God has never needed impressive people to accomplish his purposes. Our calling is not to become important enough for God to use, but to be faithful with whatever opportunity he has put in front of us—and trust him with the outcome.

In today’s edition:

🇲🇳 What Mongolia’s young church can teach us about faithfulness

👀 Why you don’t need to be impressive for God to use you

🇨🇴 How to pray for families in Colombia after a devastating earthquake

What God Can Do With a Few 🇲🇳

When Mongolia emerged from decades of communist rule in the early 1990s, only a handful of Christians were known to live there. Today, tens of thousands of Mongolians identify as Protestant Christians, and hundreds of churches have taken root across the country.

Yet Mongolia remains a place of significant gospel need. 

Many people, particularly outside major population centers, still have little access to the gospel. Churches can also face regulatory challenges as they register, gather, and serve. What began with almost nothing visible has become a young church faithfully carrying forward the gospel it received.

But the numbers aren’t what make that faithfulness significant. Those first believers could not know what God would do through their witness. They simply had opportunities to make Jesus known and took them. Faithfulness doesn’t require knowing what God will do with it. The outcome belongs to him.

How to Pray

🙏🏼 Pray for Mongolian believers to faithfully pass the gospel on to the next generation.

🙏🏼 Pray for churches to navigate regulatory challenges with wisdom and perseverance as they gather and serve.

🙏🏼 Pray that more Mongolians, especially those with little access to the gospel, would hear about Jesus through faithful local believers.

God Doesn’t Need You to Be Impressive 👀

YouTube videos with over a million views. Social media influencers with over 100,000 followers. Rapid economic growth with AI. Playing in a World Cup final with over 60 million people globally watching.

And then there’s me. 

I don’t know how to upload a video onto YouTube and if I did, no one would watch it. 

I don’t understand computer science enough to lead a growing AI company. 

I’m coaching a church soccer league, and, sorry to say it, none of those kids will ever be in a World Cup final. 

And I’m just trying to get my kids to listen to me, much less have “influence” over    hundreds of thousands of people on the internet. 

Am I having any impact on this world? Does my life count? 

Maybe it’s not just me feeling that way. Maybe you see yourself there too. Maybe you’re also tempted to feel insignificant because you don’t fit into the mold of what the world counts as significant.

But this isn’t what the Bible says. The Bible is clear that God uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27). 

God used a shepherd boy—a boy!—to defeat an undefeated, military-trained giant (1 Sam 17). God used an army of 300 under the leadership of Gideon and defeated an “innumerable” army of the Midianites (Judges 7). God used a slave girl to lead a foreign army commander to faith (2 Kings 5). 

God says his kingdom is like a mustard seed that starts small but grows to be the largest tree; he says his kingdom is like leaven that starts unnoticed yet eventually permeates the whole.

And isn’t this the pattern God always works by? 

God sent his Son as a baby, born to ordinary parents and raised in the despised town of Nazareth. Yet Jesus, rejected by the majority, sparked a silent revolution that has continued to this day. The mustard seed continues to grow, the leaven continues to spread. And it does so through weak and insignificant people being faithful in small things.

If God’s kingdom grew the way Amazon, Apple, or Tesla grew then God wouldn’t get the glory. These industries grow by the strength, strategies and tactics of men. But God has designed it so that his kingdom grows through the weakness of his followers, so that God alone can get the praise and glory. 

Look at the twelve disciples. A doubter. A tax collector. One who would deny him. One who would betray him. And yet, through these disciples the church was born and continues to this day through people like them. So if you think you’re too weak to be significant, to have any impact for the Lord, you’re actually perfectly qualified, because it is God who makes us sufficient for the task (2 Cor 3:5).

While saying God uses the weak, Scripture is also clear that God uses the holy. It is important to remind ourselves that we ought to fight to live holy lives for God so we can be more useful for God (2 Tim 2:21).

So what should you do? Be faithful and make Jesus known. Don’t think you’re too weak. Don’t think “I’m not eloquent enough to share the gospel,” “I don’t know enough of the Bible to tell people about Jesus,” “My past is too sinful to be used by God,” “I’m too young to be used for Jesus,” “I’m not important enough for people to listen to me.” These are all lies. 

My co-pastor recently told me about his weak faithfulness and how God surprised him through it. He was working at his office and some contractors came by and were doing some work in his building. He wanted to share the gospel with them, but didn’t know how and was fumbling a little as he tried to strike up conversation. As their work drew to a close at the end of the day, he asked if he could give them a Bible, which they accepted. After exchanging contact information, my friend returned home thinking he had “blown it,” was too “weak” in his efforts, and missed, yet again, a good opportunity to share the gospel.

However, he received an email the next day. 

It was from the contractor who had been working in his office. The contractor was Turkish and recounted that he had a dream when he was a teenager, a dream about Jesus. He wanted to know if he could tell the dream to my friend so that my friend could help explain the meaning of the dream to him and who Jesus was. This dream happened over three decades ago, and yet, simply because my friend was faithful and gave him a Bible (an act he thought at the time was weak), this Turkish man is now reaching out, asking to be told more about Jesus!

All that to say, this is another instance of God shaming the strong in the world by using the weak. We never know what God will do, but he is always acting for his own glory. 

And so, today, this week, and forevermore, do not be ashamed of being weak and insignificant. You are a prime candidate to be used by God. 

Make Jesus known. Tell someone, with fumbling words, about what he has done for you. Give someone a Bible. God is not asking you to be almighty or powerful. 

The end is not up to you. He will accomplish his purposes. But he will accomplish them through you in your weakness. He is inviting you into the joy of being faithful and watching him overcome the strong things in the world, growing his unstoppable church through what seems weak to the world.

—Jonny Atkinson

In the Aftermath 🇨🇴

Earlier this week, a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. Hundreds have died, thousands have been reported missing, and rescue workers continue searching for survivors beneath collapsed buildings.

For families across affected communities, life changed in a matter of seconds. Some are waiting for news of loved ones. Others are grieving, injured, or suddenly without a home. As rescue and relief efforts continue, communities are facing urgent needs for shelter, medical care, clean water, and other basic necessities.

In moments like this, faithfulness can look remarkably ordinary: showing up, providing food or shelter, comforting a grieving family, or remaining present long after the world’s attention moves elsewhere. As local churches respond, they have an opportunity to care for people in both practical and spiritual ways, pointing those who are suffering to the hope of Christ.

How to Pray

🙏🏼 Pray for survivors, the injured, grieving families, and those still waiting for news of missing loved ones.

🙏🏼 Pray for rescue workers and relief organizations as they search for survivors and provide urgently needed care.

🙏🏼 Pray for Colombian churches to faithfully serve affected communities with compassion, generosity, and the hope of Christ.

📍 Attention Worthy

🛠️ Your faithful work matters to God. Your good works cannot earn your salvation, but that doesn’t make them worthless. In Christ, God delights in the Spirit-produced obedience of his children.

🧠 Young people are already learning theology. Songs, social media, and culture are shaping what they believe about God. Here are three ways churches can help them discover that good theology is practical, exciting, and worshipful.

📅 Don’t spend today living for tomorrow. Planning has its place, but our obsession with what comes next can make us miss the life God has given us now—and the eternity he calls us to hope in.