Asia Pacific Articles...

World Missions Report: Intentional Focus

Strategic Church Planting Initiative focuses on unreached people groups in Asia Pacific.

The Assemblies of God in Asia Pacific has experienced explosive growth during the past 15 years. Strong national churches with thousands of believers are spread across this vast area. Missionaries and missionary associates work with national leaders and local pastors in evangelism outreaches, church planting, compassion ministries and training. But many people groups remain largely untouched by the gospel.

To address this problem, the Asia Pacific region initiated a study nearly three years ago to identify unevangelized language groups. This resulted in the development of the Strategic Church Planting Initiative. Through this project, unreached people groups in the region are intentionally targeted for outreach. Missionary personnel are gathering cultural information for training purposes and to be better equipped to live among these people and effectively present the gospel. Several groups are in sensitive areas where Western missionaries cannot live. Some are large with tens of thousands of people; others are much smaller. All are important and need a clear presentation of the gospel.

Buddhism, Hinduism, animism and other religions influence every aspect of life for many unreached people groups in Asia Pacific. Reports have been received of a few who have responded to Christian radio broadcasts, but in most cases no Christian workers minister among them. Often no Scriptures are available in their local dialect.

One large group traces its roots to the Kingdom of Champa that flourished in southern Vietnam in the lat 1400s. Today a remnant, numbering nearly 300,000, lives in Vietnam and Cambodia. One of the few remaining ancient cultures, the Cham has maintained its language, culture and religious beliefs. A matriarchal society, its written language is a variation of ancient Sanskrit. Some Cham have integrated into society, but only a few have accepted Christ as their Savior.

About 125 years ago, indentured laborers from India came to Fiji to work in the sugar cane industry. Today’s 366,000 Fijian Indians are mostly Hindu and account for about 44 percent of the population. Although the Fiji Assemblies of God is strong, many of the Fijian Indians have not had the opportunity to hear the gospel.

The Myanmar Assemblies of God is the third-largest national church in Asia Pacific. The Fellowship has more than 1,400 churches and preaching points with 234,000 constituents. All U.S. AGWM personnel were required to leave in 1966, but a couple established residence in the nation in 2004. Efforts are under way to reach the Bama, a people group of 25 million that comprises 60 percent of the population. The Bama have been resistant to the gospel and are largely unevangelized. They are Theravada Buddhists who claim to draw their spiritual inspiration from the earliest surviving record of the Buddha’s teachings.

The Mongolia Assemblies of God began in 1993 as an evangelism outreach in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. The fellowship has grown to 18 churches, but no work exists among the Buryat people of northern Mongolia. A segment of this people group lives across the border in Siberian Russia and has heard the gospel through Siberian believers.

The Strategic Church Planting Initiative is a cooperative effort between national fellowships and AGWM to focus on the least-reached. We also want to connect with people in the United States who have a special interest in ministering to least-reached people groups in the region. Missionaries will be responsible to train multinational teams in evangelism and church planting strategies.

Russ Turney

Russ Turney is Assemblies of God World Missions regional director for Asia Pacific.

Please contact us for more information on the Strategic Church Planting Initiative.

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