Papua New Guinea is a land of almost 9 million people who speak over 800 different languages. For those almost 9 million people, there are only approximately 500 doctors in the country. Every year 1 in 20 children under the age of 5 will die. Many die from common things such as diarrhea from drinking contaminated water. About 40% of the country has no access to a source of clean water. While looking up statistics on PNG you will see that it is considered a Christian nation, it is very much in name only. While much of the coast has been evangelized as well as some of the bigger cities, when you go into the interior of PNG, you will be met with people who still live as they have for thousands of years. They still practice their animistic tribal customs. While some may have heard of Christianity and may even call themselves Christian, most will take one or two aspects of Christianity and merge them with their animistic beliefs. There is not a true separation and a turning away in many cases.
Our first missions experience was to Haiti in 2007 where we worked in a clinic and also an orphanage. It was our first exposure to the mission field.
Amy felt called into missions as a child and knew that someday she would use her nursing skills to reach people overseas. David felt called into missions as a young adult. He was praying in church one Wednesday night and felt like God was telling him that he was going to be used as a missionary. He wasn't sure how that would work since he had no Bible school training and was not a pastor. However, God confirmed his calling through the pastor who was speaking that night. God confirmed that it wasn't the right timing, but about 10 years later, David went to the alter at church and was praying again and God once again stirred in his heart the calling into missions and that it was the time to start the process. Once again we questioned how we could be missionaries when we weren't pastors and weren't Bible college graduates. However, God called us right out of the pew and gave us the giftings and talents that He has in order to be used to bring people into his Kingdom. David has since gone on to receive his minister's license from the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God.
Ben Julian - Son
Amy Julian - Wife
Daniel Julian - Husband
The Carranos’ ministry is to young adults/students in Spain, as well as church planting & leadership development.
The town of Garissa, Kenya is not too far from the Somali border and although a small town, there are a number of unreached people groups in and around the area. Most of the unreached tribes adhere to some form of Islam, but there is a definite stratification of class and religion within the town between the ethnic Kenyan's and the ethnic Somali's. Our site leader and his family have been in the town for 17 years working on building a small farm in the desert out side of town with modern desert farming techniques alongside an unreached tribe. Through the farm work and bringing medical doctors to this unreached tribe he has built up trust and respect in the community and has been teaching bible studies for the past 17 plus years. We would be joining his team but not necessarily the farm work as there are other unreached people groups in the area that also need to hear the gospel and can be reached through different methods that we plan to join/create.
Mark and Anjali are located in Swaziland, a small, landlocked country within South Africa and bordered by Mozambique.
98% unreached - There are more '7-11 convenient stores' than churches. Most people have never been in a church building, or spoken with another Christian . . .BUT the past 3 years have seen unprecedented growth, with thousands of people being baptized in a day multiple different times in Central Thailand! God is on the move and we get to be a part of it!
Ian and Sheila equip Romanian churches in Europe. They teach evangelism, and minister to the needs of Romanian nationals on many levels of care and outreach.
Thailand has a population of around 70 million people. The country of Thailand is primarily Buddhist, roughly 5% Muslim, and around 1% believed to be Christian (as of 2021 according to the department of religious affairs). We will be staying in Chiang Mai Thailand which has a population of close to 2 million people and thrives on tourists coming from all around the world. From our experiences in Chiang Mai, there are a lot of young children who are open to hearing more about the Gospel and their parents are Buddhists. We are excited to go to Thailand as a family with young children to hopefully make more connections with families who are in a similar stage of life.
The Gruetzmachers work directly with Hispanics here in the United States and within several countries in Latin America. Their main focus is to develop leaders, and their schedule is filled with ministry to Hispanic churches; coaching pastors and leaders; leading mission trips with Hispanic students; holding retreats for men, women, and youth; leadership training; and working with 2 Institutes for Church Planters.
In Luxembourg the Pentecostal movement only has two small churches in two cities and only one of them utilizes the local Luxembourgish language. Of the 0.025% born again believers in the nation, most accepted Christ OUTSIDE the nation and those few often have go to churches in bordering France and Belgium. It is considered social suicide for a Luxemburger to profess Christ. We will be mobilizing church planters who speak Luxembourgish to reach towns and cities such as Ettelbruck, Mersch and Wiltz where there is no church and no known Luxembourger believers. In the Ardennes area of Belgium our partner movement (Franco-Belgian Assemblies of God) only has a handful of churches and most sizable towns have no evangelical church of any kind. We are targeting 30 district towns (including Bastogne, Saint Hubert, Dianne and Bouillon that desperately need a church and church planting teams because there is zero gospel access whatsoever for miles and miles around. In Flanders, the Dutch speaking northern part of Belgium, there are over 7 million people and 40 Pentecostal churches. The average church has 15 members and the averages age of a pastor is 60+. It is a movement on the brink of extinction unless something is done. The Flemish were historically Catholic or Reformed but today less than half of the administrative districts have any evangelical witness at all. The Belgian government recently identified 21 evangelical groups as dangerous cults and has eliminated the religious worker visa category meaning that we are severely restricted in getting missionaries into Belgium legally. This is why we are setting up the planting training hubs as close to the borders of Flanders and the Ardennes to be able to send groups across the borders to establish churches and ministries until they can get non-profit or BAM established to give them a platform to remain in the country.
Burundi is one of the youngest countries in the world. In a country of about 15.5 million people, almost half of them are under the age of 14. Its also the poorest country in the world by GDP per capita. Its GDP per capita in 2021 was $221.48. About 85% of the population claims to be Christian but it’s a very syncretistic version of Christianity. They still visit witch doctors when they are sick, and are worried about the spirits of their ancestors. Burundi has a history of ethnic tensions, genocide, and protected civil war and is an under educated country.
Thailand is a primarily Buddhist country with little access to the gospel. Out of the 71.8 million people in Thailand, 71 million are not Christ-Followers. Yes, you read that right, 99.4% of Thais are unreached. In our province of Chumphon, there are 732 villages and only 26 evangelical churches. With a population of over 550,000, only 1,200 (0.2%) in our province are Christians.