Our ministry is helping Asians take the next step in their journey to learn more about the Lord by sharing our faith in Jesus through:
- openness about our own life and witness
- starting with pre-evangelism (the existence of God and evidence of our Creator),
- then doing one-on-one evangelism (sharing and explaining the Gospel),
- connecting Christ-seekers with Asian Christians (when possible),
- shepherding those who have no opportunity for local Christian fellowship.
Our Asian contacts come from different parts of their country; some live overseas, and some even in the US. Many in our network come from regions that are less than 10% Christian. We intentionally turn conversations into an opportunity to talk about our faith. We strive to discern whether they have implied questions about matters of faith, and we seek to keep in step with the Holy Spirit in each interaction. We also strive to raise awareness of the difficult spiritual conditions in Asia and inspire Americans to pray more fervently, knowledgeably, and effectively for Asians.
During our 14 years of ministry (11 on location in Asia), we have developed a large Asian network through:
- doing marketplace evangelism by teaching English,
- multi-media evangelism through holiday lectures and events, and
- through friendship evangelism by hosting and attending social gatherings.
We had the chance to share Jesus with around 1600 Asian children, teens, and adults in larger group settings and small groups. Please pray these seeds continue to bear fruit that will last! In recent years, as certain ministry doors have closed, we have noticed the window the Lord has opened through technology to minister remotely! Through this new route, we are now focusing on going deeper with around 20 individuals who can impact their families and communities for Christ. We interact with each Asian friend and occasionally some of their family members through technology. This is possible through using special apps for voice calls, video calls, and texting, as well as using email and social media communications.
Our ministry contacts have grown up without a Judeo-Christian worldview, so we are starting at square one of helping them build a spiritual foundation (Romans 15:19b-21). We are shepherding individuals who are isolated in their faith who have little to no access to any Christian materials. During this spiritual drought, people are searching for Living Water. Those we interact with have often come from regions that are still in heavy spiritual darkness. Many of our urban ministry contacts have relatives who live in regions without established churches or trained pastors. There are religious groups in these regions, including home-based churches, pseudo-Christian cults, some Islam, and multiple Asian religious groups. Therefore, another key aspect of our ministry is helping our contacts identify correct Christian doctrine.
In our one-on-one shepherding, we:
- offer ongoing prayer support,
- share pertinent verses from the Bible and explain them,
- introduce hymns/praise songs,
- and provide informal Christian counseling.
We also help translate certain Biblical study materials. God has laid it on our heart to develop simple di-glot materials (in both English and their language) to help Christ-seekers and Christ-followers to put down spiritual roots. These would help them to be able to withstand the current rocky soil conditions there (Mark 4:17).
From 2008 to the present, the Lord has used us to help 30 Asian individuals come to faith through our ministry as we have shared the Gospel with them. Amazingly, 6 of our contacts have also become involved in Christian ministry endeavors. We rejoice that as we interact with others, dozens more have expressed belief in God and the desire to pray and/or to read the Bible and learn about Jesus.
We believe Mark 4:26-29 guides us to patiently minister to each individual over the years as the passage says, “And [Jesus] said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed…and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how… first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn… the harvest is come.” Through this long-term strategy we have seen God soften hearts. He continues to reveal opportunities for us to ministry from His Word to those enduring a major illness or a death in their family, marital or parenting challenges, unemployment, mental health crisis, natural disasters, injustices, etcetera.
Please pray for us and our dear Asian friends as we minister so the Gospel message can go safely through technology. We thank the Lord who says, “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron” Isaiah 45:2.