Erik Laursen, CEO of New Covenant Missions, on the Rapid Spread of the Gospel in Africa (Ep. 176)

You may want your generosity to help advance the gospel in places where Jesus is still largely unknown. But how can you support global missions in a way that strengthens local leaders, respects local cultures, and leads to lasting discipleship rather than short-term impact? MEET YOUR GUIDE: Erik Laursen is President and CEO of New Covenant Missions, a global missions organization focused on equipping indigenous church planters to make disciples and reach unreached communities across Africa. After leaving a successful career in the restaurant industry to pursue global missions, Erik has spent years working alongside local believers and learning why indigenous leaders are often best positioned to reach their own communities with the gospel. In this conversation, Erik shares what he has learned about indigenous missions, church planting, disciple-making movements, and the role generosity can play in equipping local leaders. He also explores the importance of adapting ministry to local cultures, balancing physical needs with gospel ministry, and approaching missions with humility, patience, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. By the end, you may have a clearer lens for evaluating global missions opportunities—and a greater sense of how your generosity can strengthen local believers who are already making disciples, planting churches, and carrying the gospel into some of the world’s least reached places. WHAT YOU'LL GAIN: How to recognize when God may be inviting you beyond comfort and security. What healthy missions partnership looks like when local believers lead. Why effective missions strategies must adapt to local cultures. How to distinguish Great Commission mission from charity. What sustainable Kingdom impact looks like beyond short-term results. Why prayer, patience, and the Holy Spirit matter more than perfect strategy. HIGHLIGHTS: “God radically disturbed my life.” “The biggest injustice in the world is that there are still people living out there who have no access to Jesus, and we’ve got to change that.” “I felt God say, ‘We’re going to raise up multitudes of indigenous leaders to reach the nations.’” “The people best positioned to reach their communities are the people who already live there.” “What we really want to do is find the people that already have the heart and the passion for the Great Commission and then be the gasoline to their fire.” “We’re not there to build something for them. We’re there to empower what God is already doing through them.” “I like to say they’re born pregnant. As soon as they become believers, we’re training them to make disciples.” “Mission is making disciples who make disciples, not just doing good things in the name of Christ.” “I believe at the route we’re going now that by 2050, we could see a church in every village of the world and no unreached people left.” “When the Holy Spirit decides to move, it can be the hardest place in the world, and suddenly everything changes.” “God is doing all the work anyway. We just get invited to join Him.” “Just say yes, and God does the rest.” PEOPLE, BOOKS, AND ORGS: New Covenant Missions Every Home for Christ Joshua Project (see our interview with Director, Dan Scribner) Jesus Film Project (see our interview with Executive Director Josh Newell) Finishing the Task (see our interview with FTT Global Church Planting Strategist Dan Hitzhusen) ACHIEVE Alliance BIBLE REFERENCES: Acts 16:9 | Macedonian Call And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Matthew 28:19–20 | The Great Commission Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Acts 16:31–33 | Household Faith Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. John 17:21 | Unity in Mission That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.