Jean coaches worldwide church leaders in Asia, Africa and the U.S.A. on how to conceptualize, plant, cultivate and multiply churches and ministries that are indigenous in nature. She makes sure to do this in ways that are culturally relevant, self-functioning, self-determining, self-supporting, self-propagating and self-giving, and that promote a healthy self-image and a healthy community-image.
A few days after her graduation from North Central Bible College in 1986, Jean began the journey of planting a church among Cambodians in St. Paul, Minnesota. Because of her training in cross-cultural communications, her first strategic action step was to move into a Cambodian community and “do life” with them. For 6 years, Jean lived among the Cambodians. Their family struggles became her family struggles, their weeping became her weeping, their celebrations became her celebrations, and their laughter became her laughter. After those 6 years, she then headed to Cambodia to serve as a missionary, where she spent another 16 years among the beautiful Cambodian people.
Jean was called to be a missionary during her High School years in St. Paul, Minnesota, through her exposure to and friendships with Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese refugees.
Japan has a population of 126 million people with roughly 37 million of those living in the Tokyo area. We have close to 600,000 foreigners living in Tokyo with that number expected to rise dramatically in the next few years based on Japan's shrinking labor force. Less than 1% of Japan's population consider themselves an evangelical Christian, with an estimated 95% of the population never having had an adequate presentation of the gospel. It is widely recognized as the 2nd largest unreachable people group in the world. Japan also has one of the highest populations of elderly people in the world and one of the lowest birthrates in the world. Japan's culture is heavily influenced by Buddhism and Shintoism but with many living out an atheistic or agnostic existence. Our church is located directly across the street from Tokyo University, one of the largest universities in Japan. There are around 28,000 students currently enrolled there.
The Carranos’ ministry is to young adults/students in Spain, as well as church planting & leadership development.
Majority of Norwegians are involved in secular Christianity, with less than 3 percent being born again Christians.
Roger and Debbi Audorff want to help Mexico become a sending nation for missions, and they believe that with proper training, this will be able to happen. While the immediate spiritual battle is with the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses—Roger and Debbi believe that the Catholics in Monterrey could realize that God’s Word is for them to live out in their daily lives. However, idol worship of Guadalupe is prevalent in the city among the Catholic population, and the Audorffs are praying for the spirit of idolatry to be broken by the name of Jesus. Monterrey is also home to much poverty and has had many recent problems with drug trafficking.
Currently our goal is to bring the church to all 18 Unreached People Groups in Ghana to see large percentage of over 1.7 million people reached with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Discipleship, Church planting, relationship building, evangelism, living among the UPG, partnering with local churches and missionaries, teaching and preaching. There are about 18 unreached people groups of 111 with a population of 1,658,000 and the total population is about 31,639,000. The southern part of Ghana is predominantly Christian and the northern, muslim. The largest religion is Christianity with about 60%.
Western Europe and specifically France is increasingly becoming a secular nation, and now it is one of the main host countries for Refugees who are seeking asylum. Almost 60% of French people say they are atheist or agnostic. France also represents the European country with the largest population of Muslims. Both the French nationals and all those who are currently seeking home in France, are in need of an encounter with Jesus and God is at work - - now we have the chance to be a part of it!
Amazon River Basin has 306 tribal groups, the majority of which are unengaged/unreached. 900,000 people populate those tribes
Luke and Tanya McKinley’s mission field is the country of Estonia. Their primary focus is church planting in Tallinn, Estonia. They work with a team of missionaries in a multiplication network.
Mark and Janie have served as missionaries in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, since 1994, where they have been involved in university campus ministry, leadership development, and church planting. Through their “Churches for Churches” program, the Durenes are helping with new church plants in 5 cities, including Teung, where River Valley Church partnered to launch the church. Currently, they are helping to train several other potential church planters, and also serve as mentors to many other pastors throughout the northern Thailand area. In addition, they are the directors of the Global University Thai’s second Bachelor’s program, where they are training current and future Thai ministers. Mark serves as the AGMF Thailand Country Moderator, as well as on several national boards, including Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (Northern region); Every Home for Christ, Thailand; Thailand AG Northern Region Board of Presbyters; and others. Janie writes Sunday school curriculum for several churches and directs the children’s program at a church in Chiang Mai.