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.
London Lowrance - Daughter
Finley Lowrance - Daughter
Melissa Lowrance - Wife
Cape Town, with a population is 4.5 million people, is known across the continent as the Mother City and is one of the most influential cities on the continent of Africa. With the average age being 29 years old, there is great potential to reaching many university students, young professionals, and families. Nestled behind Table Mountain is the University of Cape Town which is the premier university in all of Africa. Our goal is to launch a thriving Chi Alpha ministry in this influential university of almost 30,000 students. Cape Town is also the Parliamentary capital of South Africa and boasts other major industries like manufacturing, tourism, oil and gas, agriculture, marketing and media in addition to Information Technology an
River Valley 500. Amada is full time staff in the health care ministry at Youth With A Mission in Perth, Australia. She leads the Birth Attendant School, an 11 month training program that trains missionaries to be birth attendants in developing nations. Part of this school is an 8 month field assignment, where Amada leads teams of students and trains them in vital areas of mother and child health in pregnancy, birth and postpartum, working in low resourced hospitals throughout Africa and Asia.
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.
River Valley 500. Paul and Robyn are serving in Northern Thailand. They are leading church planting teams reaching university students through English teaching centers.
Slovenia is a country of 2 million people with a proud heritage and rich traditions, however it is a country that struggles deeply with alcoholism and depression. It has deep roots in Roman Catholicism, however the majority of the population has no personal relationship with Jesus. Currently there are 13 pentecostal churches and with about 1,000 evangelicals in the entire country.
The Portuguese speaking nations of Africa are home to some of the largest and fastest growing churches in Africa. The growth has greatly out-paced Biblically trained leadership needed to conserve help establish new believers in the faith and preserve established believers in that faith. The Assemblies of God in Angola with its 2.5 million members, is the second largest AG church in Africa, followed closely by Mozambique with nearly 2 million. The Bible college we began in Angola in 2012, since December, 2023, under complete Angolan leadership and we continue serving in a mentoring/consultant ministry. We have been asked to help in the same manner in Mozambique and will spend a part of February in that country.
We serve the nearly 1500 MKs living in almost 200 countries, territories and provinces around the globe. One of the leading causes for missionary families to leave the field is because of concerns or needs of their kids. Our goal is to serve MKs and their parents so they can continue in long-term ministry even in difficult and hostile environments. MKs face the same challenges that their non-MK counterparts face. The difficulty for many is the added pressure of constant cultural change and adjustment.
Richard and Kim work with Youth Alive, which strives to equip Christian students to reach their peers with the Gospel. This is provided in schools through training, resources and outreach opportunities.
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.