2019 Cindy Liu
His Plan
An Academic
Background
Joshua was born in Australia. His parents were missionaries called to evangelize the Dayak people in Indonesia. Consequently, their family moved to Indonesia when Joshua was two years old.
Although Joshua’s parents were Christian missionaries, Joshua didn’t have a normal Christian upbringing.
During his early life, Joshua’s parents were busy with their ministries. His dad was away trekking to preach the gospel to the Dayak people. His mom was busy running a medical clinic.
Homeschooled the first few years then later attended a boarding school for four years, Joshua was with his parents only once or twice a year. Apart from four furloughs in Australia, Joshua lived in Indonesia until he was twenty-one.
Joshua grew up amongst many different people groups: the Dayak, Malay, Madurese, Chinese, and Javanese. The Dayak people were pioneering people.
They made rice fields in the jungle in new places every year. When Joshua was young, his parents traveled a lot. When they went away, they allowed Joshua to choose his destination. Either he could live among the white people or live with the local people, the Dayaks.
Joshua often decided to live with the Dayak. Even at a young age, he knew the Dayak people would know their world better than the foreigners. It was also much safer and more comfortable for him to be involved in the local culture. In the process, Joshua learned crosscultural communication and people skills, languages, and dialects.
This unique upbringing gave Joshua insight into various cultures. These cross-cultural skills later benefited his university studies, lecturing, and business ventures. Joshua’s time amongst the Dayak people had an incredible influence in shaping his pioneering spirit.
At seventeen, Joshua started his first small business.
Later, he started another company and simultaneously attended university. He received a bachelor’s degree in education, a master’s degree in the Indonesian language, and finally, a doctorate in education.
Joshua was not genuinely converted until in his early thirties. The illness and eventual death of his future mother-in-law brought him to Christ. Although this situation brought Joshua closer to Christ, it pushed his fiancée away from Christ, leading to their eventual
breakup.
However, Joshua was challenged by the message in Galatians 1:4 ESV, “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” For the first time in his life, Joshua realized by the Holy Spirit that it was
God’s will that Joshua be saved.
Later, Joshua met a lovely woman at the mission organization where he worked. They married and now had six children. They’re both committed to playing their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. They homeschool their children, they aim to do ministry as a family, and to be available to go wherever they are called to impact nations for Christ.
Obedience
While Joshua was at the university, he received a job offer. The job was to convene courses for the university’s graduate and postgraduate programs in the Indonesian language and applied linguistics.
At that time, Joshua also owned a company in Australia, consulting with companies setting up businesses in Indonesia.
The cross-cultural insights Joshua gained as a youngster were proving invaluable in his business. His company later joined with an educational company in Indonesia to provide English teaching and specialized consulting services. Finally, the two companies merged.
This merger gave Joshua the option to travel between Australia and Indonesia, allowing him to lecture at the university and work in his company simultaneously.
Joshua moved easily between the two countries. The company had professing Christian leaders and did things correctly at first. A decision to expand the company, Joshua proposed franchising their schools.
He set up all the legal framework necessary for the franchise. Their first franchise went on sale. A newly divorced lady offered to invest all her money into one of their schools.
Everyone was very excited. However, Joshua heard clearly from the Lord, telling him, “You need to organize an independent audit of the company, so that this lady will get exactly what
she pays for.” Upon hearing these words from the Lord, Joshua announced there would be an independent audit of the company, revealing the business partners’ antagonism for him.
Joshua’s company employed a Catholic lady to undertake the audit. Late one night, the Catholic lady called Joshua to the office. She disclosed in secret that his partners were stripping investment assets from the company. They were putting the assets into their personal holiday homes. After hearing this, Joshua prayed.
He decided to do something and not be a part of a corrupt company. He had such peace about it.
Since Joshua had written all the legal documents, he knew what was required to protect investors. Consequently, Joshua called a board meeting. He disclosed to the board members and business partners their wrongdoing. They denied the accusations. Knowing the board would not accept his accusation or be prepared to change, Joshua decided to withdraw as a primary shareholder.
During the board meeting, Joshua told his partners that he was not willing to sell this franchise to the lady buyer. He had already informed her that the independent company audit had revealed problems.
He advised her not to invest. The board members threatened Joshua with the loss of all his investment and shares in the company. However, Joshua was determined to quit the company, a company in which he had injected much capital investment and effort.
Strength
Pulling out of the company was a massive loss to Joshua in human terms. The company he had established with his partners in Indonesia already employed 100 people. He also had people working for him. They were teaching English in China and doing consulting work in Australia.
At the time, the business was turning over more than half a million per year. When he decided to walk away from the business, he also walked away from the shares of the company.
It was a substantial financial loss to him as an individual. However, after accepting Christ in his life, Joshua realized, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV).
Joshua was determined to put off his old self and be committed to righteously serving the Lord. It resulted in an extensive learning curve for Joshua to be faithful to God even if he did not get his invested money back. To be faithful irrespective of what happened. As David wrote in Psalms, “In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Psalm 15:4 ESV). Joshua was determined to be faithful even though it affected his financial situation.
Although Joshua couldn’t see what the future would hold, he had a real sense of peace and confidence regardless. In a way, Joshua’s work did not change much, but he was doing what God wanted him to do.
Calling
Soon after, Joshua received some business offers. One came from a businessman with a Catholic background. He wanted Joshua to work with him to win a big audit training project. The businessman had never done anything this big before. He offered Joshua a share to partner with him in the project located in Australia.
However, Joshua was still living in Indonesia. Joshua mentioned the opportunity to his dad who said, “I believe this may be the call for you. You could work and come back to Australia to spend some time with me.” For a year since losing his company, Joshua had no income.
Now he returned to Australia with peace and won the contract with his partner. After winning the contract deal, there was little for him to do in the project physically. Joshua had time to write his doctoral thesis, work the job, and spend time with his dad who was dying
from cancer. Joshua realized God provided all his needs and a change came within his heart.
Instead of chasing business deals around the world, Joshua chased God in the spiritual world. The fantastic thing was within a month, Joshua made more money than he could have made in a year in Indonesia. God was faithful and able to work things out better than Joshua ever could.
When Joshua was young, he witnessed his missionary parents always treating the local people with respect. He recognized that people from different cultures have different strengths and weaknesses.
He learned to draw from their strengths and avoid their weakness. God used Joshua’s upbringing as a training ground to uniquely shape him and enable him to later develop his businesses in Australia—ones that led him into consultancy work for large companies such
as Kraft, Lend Lease, and Civil and Civic.
Joshua also worked with a high-level government delegation after the East Timor crisis. Joshua went to Indonesia with the first senior delegates for the Australian mining industry
to work through difficulties. Joshua’s job was to facilitate the whole process.
When God challenged Joshua to be faithful, he needed to obey. His obedience and faithfulness would open doors for him to do something different—pioneering something new knowing he was doing God’s will; He gave Joshua the confidence and peace to endure
hardship.
Revelation
After that, the Lord revealed His plan for Joshua. He received a clear vision through the book in the Bible, Joshua 1:6 ESV, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause the people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.” God revealed to him that he was to be the “cause or catalyst for the Great Commission” for these people to inherit the land, which he understood for the church to realize their inheritance in Christ to impact their nations, and those nations to influence other nations and peoples who are yet to recognize their inheritance in Christ.
Joshua felt the burden but did not know how to go about it. He prayed to God. His prayer was simple, “Lord I have no idea how to do this, please show me how.”
Joshua’s heart was for Malay Muslims and Indonesians. The plan he had was to use his business resources and skills to do mission work. He was committed to helping other Christians or missionaries set up businesses in closed countries to enable them to do
missionary work.
When Joshua first heard about the opportunity to join the mission company he now works for, he was not interested. His father who was dying at the time told him clearly, “Son, this is the company you should work for.”
Joshua did not have any theological or missionary training or experience. He felt small, insignificant, and unqualified for the job. However, he obeyed his father’s words and went to the company for an interview. Joshua still doesn’t know why the company chose him.
Joshua’s parents received a prophecy many years before, “In place of your fathers shall be your sons” (Psalms 45:16a ESV). They faithfully prayed about it.
In a sense, Joshua replaced his father in missionary work. He felt the loss of his dad and the input he would have given Joshua in his new role. It meant that Joshua had to rely even more so on Christ. The sons replacing their fathers also has a spiritual principle. It applies to spiritual sons replacing their spiritual fathers.
A fundamental principle of sacrificial succession, one that the Lord revealed to Joshua in his ministry through projects that impacted nations.
Joshua saw the biblical role “Joshua” played. He was compelled to share the vision with other Christians. To help them see the “Canaan” lands within their nations needing to be taken, persuading them to take the land within their reach.
Ministry
Joshua was confident with the vision but still had no idea how to do it. He continued to pray, “Lord I don’t know how to do this, please help me and show me how.” Although the mission company he now worked for had done traditional missionary work, their issue was how to impact nations like Myanmar.
Because at the time, it was very tough to find missionaries who could speak Burmese. However, more importantly, it was a politically closed country.
In the meantime, the mission company’s ministry in East Timor faced a considerable risk. Because the mission company had not raised indigenous leaders to take over the church they had established, the East Timorese government was threatening to throw the foreign missionaries out of the country. Everything that had been achieved was at risk
of being unsustainable or completely lost.
The mission company sent Joshua to find indigenous leaders to take over their ministry. In 2009, the mission company’s leader announced the need to transition out of East Timor in the next three to four years, and Joshua was asked to lead this transition.
After Joshua accepted the challenge, the Lord revealed to him how to apply this spiritual principle. It was to put the last—their spiritual children—first and to prepare them as leaders.
As Jesus did, the indigenous evangelists must serve their successors, sacrifice leadership for them, and sustain them as leaders to truly impact a nation for Christ. He wrote down everything the Lord revealed to him and compiled two training manuals.
According to the leading of the Lord, Joshua resolved the issue of the lack of missionaries to Myanmar. He managed the smooth transition of leadership from the mission organization to the local East Timorese.
The development of training the indigenous evangelists to evangelize their own people has impacted their nation, and this strategy enabled the mission organization to successfully preach the gospel to millions of people and helped establish hundreds of churches around the world.
Vision
The mission company Joshua serves now has supported around 700 indigenous evangelists worldwide. Their goal is to support 1,000 indigenous evangelists. They know their success is not because of who they are. They do not see themselves as important. They are not great missionaries. However, they do have something to offer. The mission company is not a church.
It is an organization funded by a businessman and run predominately by businessmen and women. God has gifted them with an ability to run large scale projects effectively and transparently.
God has given them the vision of 1,000 national missionaries following the spiritual principles God has revealed to them. They believe what they offer is small, like the boy with five loaves and two fish. Their 1,000 indigenous evangelists are only a tithe that shall increase through the support of other churches, business partners, and organizations.
Increase to the number of 10,000 indigenous evangelists stepping out to impact nations is their aim. Joshua shared the vision of 10,000 national indigenous evangelists with Abigail.