One Mission: Many Roles
Rev. Nikki Nettleton first experienced a deep sense of knowing she was going to be a missionary when she was 13 years old. While attending a mission conference with a friend, her attention was captivated during a parade of nations. She watched colorful flags from all over the world fill the room, carried by people who were culturally dressed according to the country they represented, and she innately knew that she would join them someday. When she arrived back home and reported to her family and church that God was calling her to be a missionary, they believed her. And God continued to bless her obedience as he led her forward.
A few years later as a student at Indiana Wesleyan University, she joined a team on a spring break mission trip to Croatia, where she fell in love with the people and made strong connections. It seemed that God was leaving doors open for her to return and preparing her heart for deeper understanding.
Nikki with her husband Trent in their early missionary days.
At The Wesleyan Church’s General Conference in 1996, her idea of what serving as a single missionary would likely look like pivoted. As she listened to Dr. Don Bray speak about unreached people groups, her heart was distraught.
Until that moment, she was unaware of what it meant to be unreached, and how many people groups were still without access to the Gospel. She was struck by the imbalance—more workers and resources were sent to places where the church was thriving, while regions without churches or gospel witnesses received far less. How were people going to be reached with the gospel unless people were willing to prioritize them?
After learning this, she responded during an altar call, and surrendered her idea of what her missionary service would look like. Nikki gave her full “yes” to Jesus – she would do whatever he asked of her for the least reached. For her, this was a consecration moment.
In college, she continued attending a weekly time of prayer, where the focus was on unreached people groups. Utilizing the book “Operation World,” which outlined a different people group on every page, she began to feel more empathetic.
“I became more and more aware of the number of people around the world who had never encountered a Christian, lived near a Christian, and aren’t going to have a chance to hear the gospel and accept Jesus unless someone moves to them or there’s a miraculous encounter through a dream,” she said, “so I think it became a justice issue in my mind.”
Around the same time as her General Conference experience, Nikki met and then married Trent, who shared a heart for the least reached, and they began to explore where they might go to serve together.
Working their way through the application process with Global Partners (Wesleyan World Missions at the time), they knew they wanted to work where there was an existing Wesleyan Church and then be launched by the church into a nearby community without an evangelical witness. They were later launched by the Church in Croatia to serve in a country nearby.
“There are so few who are willing [to serve in unreached places], so if we’re willing, why wouldn’t we?” Nikki reflected.
Nikki and Trent went on to serve in Eastern Europe for 15 years, where they also had their two children. They fell in love with the people and experienced a lot of beautiful and exhilarating moments, but they also experienced just how difficult it is to serve where there are so few evangelical followers of Jesus.
After 15 years, they returned to the U.S. where Nikki eventually transitioned into her role as Director of Learning and Leadership for Global Partners in 2015. She was recently elected to her newest role as Executive Director this past May.
Though her job has shifted a few times since her missionary service, the mission has remained the same. The mission is still to see Christ glorified among ALL peoples; to reach the unreached.
Nikki and Trent with their two children during their time in Eastern Europe.
“Whether that’s in pioneer work we’re engaged in on the ground, or we’re coming alongside and equipping others to strengthen the church’s vision and capacity to reach the lost around them and the unreached beyond them, or stepping into a leadership opportunity where we’re building the organizational infrastructures … it’s all pointing to the same thing,” she explained. “It’s so that those who have never had access to the good news of Jesus have the chance to know him and worship him as he deserves to be worshiped!”
Nikki said she loves how The Wesleyan Church has emphasized Acts 1:8, and that as a Church, we understand the Holy Spirit’s empowerment is for us to be witnesses in all places. The gospel is never meant to get stuck with us, she noted, it’s always meant to keep going and reaching beyond.
“We’re called to be a vehicle through which the church can be encouraged to be witnesses wherever they are and to keep reaching beyond, and beyond, and beyond – so that every people group on the planet who hasn’t had a chance to hear the Gospel yet has a chance to hear it,” Nikki said.
As Nikki prayerfully steps into to this new role, she encourages readers to consider: What is your role in the mission to make Christ known to all peoples?