Countries Where We
Assist Native Ministries
Overview
Southeast Asia is home to an incredibly diverse population. The island nation of Papua New Guinea alone is home to more than 1,000 people groups who speak more than 800 languages. Christianity has taken root and continues to grow among ethnic minorities who face increasing persecution from oppressive regimes.
Islam is another challenge to native believers in Southeast Asia. Christians in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, face high levels of persecution from radical Muslims, who are pushing Sharia-inspired laws in more communities. Meanwhile, a growing Muslim population on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines continues to breed radicalism and hatred for Christians. In both of these countries, however, Christianity has sustained continued growth.
With the growth of Christianity in Southeast Asia comes an enormous need for trained church leaders. Thousands of rural congregations languish without adequate leadership, falling into unbiblical teaching, moral failure, and syncretism.
In addition to persecution from radical Muslims and hostile governments, native missionaries in Southeast Asia are challenged to minister to unreached people groups in regions of extreme poverty and where there is rampant drug usage. The countries of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand comprise Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, one of Asia’s two main opium-producing areas. Myanmar is also the world’s largest producer of methamphetamines.
How You Can Make a Difference
Ways To Give
Evangelism & Discipleship
Through the work of one indigenous ministry in Vietnam, more than 3,000 house churches exist in the country’s Central Highlands. A ministry on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines has shared the gospel and planted churches among the island’s 13 Muslim-majority tribes through carefully trained native missionaries. Though ministry inside North Korea is impossible under the present regime, native missionaries established underground churches in six locations in northern China among North Korean women who were trafficked across the border. GIVE NOW to help evangelistic and discipleship ministries like these in Southeast Asia.
Community Engagement
In Indonesia, several Christian Aid Mission-assisted ministries are providing business training to desperately poor pastors and equipping them to start microenterprises to support their families and fledgling churches. GIVE NOW to help community engagement ministries like these in Southeast Asia.
Compassion
In Myanmar, where multitudes fall prey to drug addiction, a ministry is sharing the love of Christ through its two addiction recovery centers where addicts are cared for and discipled in God’s Word. GIVE NOW to help compassion ministries like this one in Southeast Asia.
Exclusive Stories from the Mission Field
Help the Unreached Find God in Laos
A 28-year-old woman wondered if she had offended local spirits or failed to sacrifice enough to them, as neither they nor doctors had healed her of an illness. A native Christian worker visiting her village told her that Christ had the power to heal her, and she invited Him into her life. She obtained relief after workers prayed for her, her health much improved over time and she stopped fearing spirits. When she shared her testimony with others in her neighborhood, five people accepted Christ. In another village, a worker held a Bible seminar where nearly 20 people put their faith in Christ. Workers need donations of $25 or $50 to share the gospel and disciple new believers. Pray for God’s protection over them.
Help Enable Gospel Proclamation in the Philippines
Praise God that outreaches to various tribes are building God’s kingdom as native Christian workers share the gospel in Bible studies, Vacation Bible School and personal conversations. New Christians have shown marked growth in discipleship; one village elder whose son was jailed on murder charges said he would have retaliated had he not become a Christian. “Thank you also that you missionaries are here to encourage me to follow what we have studied in the Bible, that we need to humble ourselves, for in due time God will lift us up,” he said. Workers need donations to share the gospel and follow up with new Christians. Pray that churches will work together in harmony.
Help Spread the Gospel in Indonesia
Workers from a native ministry shared the gospel with 17,201 people over the course of six months and planted 46 house churches as 743 people put their faith in Christ. Among them was a mother of three children in her mid-30s who was contemplating suicide after her husband tried to kill her because she asked him to end an affair with another woman. Before she could hang herself, she heard a voice telling her to go to a building that she later learned belonged to the ministry’s church; a worker counseled her, and she gave her life to Christ. Donations are sought for such gospel work. Pray that new churches will grow strong in unity and glorify the Lord.
Provide Aid to the Needy in Burma
Military conflicts have driven thousands of people from their homes, and native Christian workers are often the only ones in position to help them. Workers recently brought rice, oil and the gospel to 74 families in one area, 65 in another and 60 at a separate location; over the course of six months, they provided 1,476 people with food and the message of Christ’s salvation. “We left biblical tracts with them along with Burmese Bibles, and we shared the salvation of the Lord Jesus,” the ministry leader said. “We also did some counseling of hungry souls.” Donations of $35 or $70 are sought for such physical and spiritual aid. Pray that bloodshed will come to an end.
Help Bring Compassionate Aid in the Philippines
A university student entered a native ministry’s church building to take a few photos to post on Instagram and spent nearly an hour asking questions about Christianity. She took home a New Testament, read Mark and Matthew, returned for the Sunday worship service and said she finally felt the peace and contentment she had sought. She put her faith in Christ in spite of opposition from her family.
Help Send Salvation Message in Indonesia
A female church planter who led an impoverished mother to Christ began working alongside her in the fields so the work would get done earlier, creating time for Bible study and prayer. They prayed for the woman’s husband, who had long suffered mental illness, and he was healed and also received Christ.
