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
Lift Up New Followers Of Christ in Thailand
A construction worker who attended church for years would not commit his life to Christ because of pressure from his family. But during an event organized by a native ministry, the Holy Spirit convicted him, and he and his wife knelt together and accepted Christ as Savior. Since that time, he has become a faithful member of the church and shares the gospel with others.
Make Disciples Despite Challenging Times in Southeast Asia
Despite challenging times in the region, ministry leaders trust that God has not forgotten them. “Even in these difficult times, we see God’s grace,” one leader said. His ministry recently completed a Bible translation revision, and the ministry’s Bible school, which has been in existence for 28 years, held its traditional three-day missions conference as part of its graduation events.
Help Expand God’s Kingdom in Ivory Coast
A tribal priest who practiced witchcraft was a persecutor of Christians and the reason a native ministry was unable to plant a church in his village. But as missionaries led a revival in another town, his pregnant wife became ill and, after the doctor said he could not heal her, she was brought to them for help.
Share The Hope Of Christ in Myanmar
Evangelism seems impossible in the war-torn country, but missionaries persevere, traveling to villages and preaching the gospel, baptizing new believers, and fellowshipping. “As you know, the situation in our country is getting worse,” one ministry leader said. “But by the grace of God we try our best to reach our people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Lift Up Ministries In Difficult Circumstances in the Philippines
Missionaries are disheartened by men’s lack of engagement with evangelism efforts in Muslim communities. “The demographic phenomenon of women numbering twice as high as men among churches and Christian communities has become the number one challenge for our team,” a ministry leader said. Three of the ministry’s six teams are full of young women, which poses an evangelism challenge in a culture where men will only listen to other men on spiritual issues.
Share The Grace Of Christ in Sierra Leone
When ministry workers with one ministry met a pregnant teenager who lived on the streets, they learned she had fled her home to avoid marriage and female genital mutilation. They presented the gospel to her during an outreach event, and she joyfully accepted Christ. The church became her adopted family and even helped her with her medical bills after she gave birth.