Missionaries strive for building up new believers so that the church in a given area can be strengthened. This is done through developing friendships and discipling new believers. In the process, sometimes a person who did not feel 
they had much worth in this world find new confidence and self-worth as they realize that God has given them talents and abilities. I have seen the effect of this in Honduras, and it is remarkable to watch. As a missionary, Christy was developing a friendship with a woman in the community. She was teaching her English and informally discipling her. Here is what she said about the young lady:
“She admired me extravagantly, beyond any deserving. And if I cared about her enough to single her out to spend long hours with her, well then, perhaps that secret person on the inside, who from shyness and deprivation had kept herself so covertly hidden all these years, was a woman worth knowing. This gave her the courage gradually to let her true self out of prison.
“Having tasted freedom, she was certain that the world of knowledge and beauty was hers for the taking. And because she gave me full credit for laying the world at her feet, she could not find enough ways to express her gratitude…. Once I unfolded a scrap of paper to find written on it:
I love you for what you are making of me.
I love you for what I am when I am with you.”
I wonder who, if anyone, would say this about me. Do I live in such a way that my encouragement and support is changing someone else’s life for the better? How about you? Dads, would your sons echo this sentiment due to how you are training them each day? Moms, can your daughters say this about you when you spend time with them? Do our friends or coworkers hold these feelings toward us?
Henry Blackaby wrote – Due to the essence of the church being koinonia (“intimate fellowship & community”), there should never be anyone in your church who is lonely.
Yet, there are many in our own churches who are lonely, who are struggling. In what way am I building up their lives and helping them to know the love of God through me? Life is all about relationships – an intimate relationship with God and intimate friendships with others. Am I building up others by teaching them and informally discipling them through my words, actions, and attitudes? Are you?
(Quotes from the book “Christy” by Catherine Marshall)