We’re Seth & Julie Bowman. Here’s how we’re living deeply after a family mission trip to Africa last summer.
Seth: I didn’t expect the hardest moment to happen in Chicago. But that was how it started, watching the airport screen flip to CANCELLED. Our flight to Newark was gone, which meant our flight to South Africa was gone, which meant the trip we’d been praying over for years was in peril.
Julie: I felt real fear. We were suddenly rebooking everything- through Nigeria. I woke up the next morning in that airport hotel with this pit in my stomach asking: ‘What does this mean? What are we walking into?’ I knew we didn’t have the right travel visas or immunizations to go there. Family members were texting us: ‘It’s not safe to go to Nigeria. Don’t leave the airport.’ And traveling that far with our kids (ages 10 and 12) required a whole different level of trust. I kept thinking, ‘Lord, You called us to this. But I’m scared.’
Seth: The airport in Lagos was definitely… different. I’m glad the kids saw it. Flashing lights because bulbs were blown out. Half the terminals dark. It was one of those ‘this is the real world’ moments.
Julie: Right before boarding one of our flights to eventually get to South Africa, God handed me a lifeline- Psalm 16:8: ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.’ Then, seconds later, I ran into an old friend from our first CSPC small group. A United pilot. In that massive airport hallway. Just walking by. What gifts! I felt like God whispered, ‘I have people everywhere. Even here.’ After that, I could breathe again. I could step forward.
Seth: And that’s where it really began- this journey God used to mature our whole family. Our son Reed, who has difficulty with change, suddenly adapting on the fly. Julie learning to trust in the face of real fear. And all of us stepping into something we didn’t realize would shape us so deeply.
Julie: We thought we were going on a mission trip to Africa. But what we stepped into was a new way of living: slower, relational, present. The kind of ministry that sits around a fire until the conversation naturally ends- it sees people, it doesn’t rush.
Julie: When we finally landed and stepped into Johannesburg, it felt like exhaling after holding our breath for two days. Our hosts from the City-to-City Africa team, and our team lead Lynne Robinson, had planned every detail flawlessly: transportation, meals, lodging, everything. The moment we met up with the rest of the CSPC team, the fear and stress from Chicago and Lagos just fell off. It felt like, ‘Okay Lord, we’re here. Do whatever You want.’
Seth: And it wasn’t a ‘doing’ trip- not in the American sense, anyway. No building projects. No task lists. It was a vision trip: relationship-building, presence-driven. We were there to see our ministry partners, encourage them, and witness firsthand what God is doing. At first, that felt foreign to me. I’m a doer. I like tasks. I like progress. But one of the staff said something that stuck with me: ‘Seth, this is a lot of what serving the Lord looks like- meals, conversations, unhurried time.’ It humbled me.
Julie: That same idea hit me through Pierre, one of the South African leaders. When I blurted out, ‘I feel like I should be doing something,’ he smiled and said, ‘That’s such an American thing to say.’ Then he explained the African emphasis on the ministry of presence: how ministry is fundamentally relational, not functional. How people come before efficiency. How presence is a gift. It was like someone naming something I didn’t even know I’d forgotten.
Seth: And then came the City-to-City pastor training- leaders from all over the English-speaking parts of Africa. Pastors, church planters, evangelists. Men who’d planted churches in villages, cities, deserts, and even tiny islands near Madagascar. Hearing their stories blew me away. One guy told me his church was originally planted because a group of Afrikaans bikers approached him and said, ‘We need a pastor.’ Another had lived through violence during South Africa’s infamous farm attack murders and was still faithfully preaching.
Julie: We sat around a braai (African barbecue) for hours: talking, laughing, listening. No clock watching. No agenda. Just being with people. And I remember thinking, ‘This is what Jesus did. This is ministry.’
Seth: One of the sweetest parts of the whole trip was our time with the CSPC mission partners Thobi & Mpilo Sithole. We’d hosted them in Knoxville the year before, but being with them in their home country was completely different. On Sunday, we went to their church- a young, vibrant congregation full of people in their late 20s and early 30s. They were meeting in a hotel ballroom with a kids’ ticketing system and everything. It felt both familiar and different: American structure, African soul.
Julie: The moment we sat down with Mpilo, it felt like coming home. The Holy Spirit just poured out of her. We talked for hours: laughing, crying, sharing the hardest things happening in our lives. It was one of those conversations where you think, ‘This is my sister,’ even though you’ve only met a handful of times. God knits hearts fast when His Spirit is in the middle.
Seth: What encouraged me most was hearing how our own community group at CSPC had impacted them when they visited. Mpilo told us Thobi hadn’t stopped talking about it: the openness, the honesty, the space for tears, confession, and rejoicing. I remember thinking, ‘We actually gave something meaningful to a man whose faith I deeply admire.’ That inspired me.
Julie: And then came something I wasn’t expecting- the way they talked about disagreement. They said their church can have people from totally opposite political views in the same small group talking about Scripture, wrestling through hard topics -even things like gender identity- without hostility. There was curiosity. Grace. A desire to keep the conversation going. It convicted me. We can be so quick to divide in America.
Seth: Being with them reminded me that the Gospel is the same everywhere, but the way people live it can look so different. Watching their leadership -young, joyful, outward-facing- made me think, ‘This is the Church on mission.’ And our kids saw it all. In real time.
Julie: Ministry of presence again. It wasn’t about us doing anything. It was about showing up, listening, learning, and letting God knit us into His family across continents.
Seth: And that ministry was reshaping our family without us fully realizing it.
Julie: Looking back now, I can see exactly what God was doing in each of us. Reed -our sensitive, change-averse kid- walked through delays, cancellations, strange airports, unfamiliar cultures… and adapted. He grew up on that trip. I could almost see the maturity being etched into him. Our daughter Lydia, too. Their worlds got bigger. Their view of God expanded. They saw that the Gospel is at home in both the polished aisles of Johannesburg’s airport and the dim hallways of Lagos. That God is God everywhere.
Seth: For me, the trip cemented something- a calling, maybe. I’m in seminary now, and while I don’t know exactly what the future holds, I know Africa is part of it. God’s not done with us there. This trip stirred something deep. It made me want to be faithful in whatever small part God lets me play.
Julie: For me, the biggest spiritual change was trust. I had to trust through fear- the feeling of stepping off a ledge with my kids beside me. And God met me every single time. Psalm 16:8 became the truth I clung to. (It still is.) But the deepest lesson was the freedom of presence. Slower, relational, incarnational presence. I realized how much of my life is spent chasing tasks, signing up for ministries, producing, performing. Africa taught me to rest. To sit with people. To listen. To value time instead of efficiency. Jesus did that- He became flesh and dwelt with us. That kind of presence is holy.
Seth: And the ministry of presence wasn’t just something we observed. It sustained us and encouraged us. Being with our African brothers and sisters gave us courage to keep going in our own ministries back home.
Julie: It’s funny- we’ve been on beach trips, mountain trips, all kinds of family vacations. They’re nice. But this? This was joy. Above-the-line, eternal joy. Purpose that doesn’t fade when you unpack your suitcase.
Seth: We thought we were taking our kids on a mission trip. Turns out, we were stepping into the very heart of what God is doing in the world.
Julie: It was all about presence, trust, and growth. And family- the four of us, and deeper connections to our brothers and sisters in our larger family in the Lord.