Heather Mckinstry
4% of Generation Z in America have a biblical worldview. 96% of people who make decisions to follow Christ do so prior to their 30th birthday. In MN: there are 425,000 college students and 1.2 million young adults. In USA: there are 18.6 million college students and 21.56 million young adults.
England is the 4th most secular nation in the world, with close to 70% claiming to be non religious.
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 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.
Taiwan is predominantly a Buddhist and Taoist practicing country. 19% of the population is still unreached (roughly 4.5 million people), but only 3.3% are evangelical; leaving over 23 million people who have yet to accept the Gospel.
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
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.
Their passion and heart is to reach the unreached peoples of their region, planting multiplying churches among them, and to show God’s love to the poor and needy in their city. Its their dream that as people in these communities encounter Jesus, their lives, their families and ultimately their community would be radically transformed. That dream is starting to become reality and they are excited to see it continue to unfold!
Mike and MonaRe’s mission field is Latin America, where they work primarily in evangelism and international ministry, in addition to leadership training.
Lithuania has a population of approximately 2.8 million people. It was the first country to gain freedom in 1991 from the Soviet Union, so, understanding the nuances that come with a culture that was under oppression for generations is important. Lithuania is predominately Catholic with between 75-80% professing Catholicism, 6% Secular, .8% other (Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist). Only .08% of Lithuanians are Evangelical Christian. Though Lithuania is a predominately catholic country, they like most European countries are experiencing a trend toward secularism, among the younger generations especially. Generational scars run deep, and a spirit of oppression rests on the people of Lithuania making it challenging for them to open up or build relationships. It is said that it takes approximately two years to establish a meaningful connection with one Lithuanian. With the war in Ukraine, there is a renewed fear of what Russia did just one generation ago, and a greater inward focus of self preservation and isolation. Even though they are under the protection of NATO, many Lithuanian people are weary to believe it will protect them from what Russia has been capable of doing in the past. Lithuania carries some pretty staggering statistics, they have the highest suicide rate in the European Union, (double of the United States). Depression is prevalent, yet mental health is avoided in conversation along with struggles in general. Lithuania is number 3 in the world for alcoholism, and 1 in 3 women will or have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. The outward appearance of most Lithuanians is one of looking put together, accomplished, and successful, yet inwardly, many struggle with depression, suicidal thoughts, addiction and fear of failure.
We have been appointed as church planting missionaries to join an established team in Nara, Japan. Japan is a country of 125M inhabitants, where only .5% of the population is Christian, and the number of believers and missionaries has been only shrinking for the last 30 years. Also, over 70% of Japanese church leaders are over the age of 70, which means that they are desperately hurting for the next generation to rise up and carry the torch of the gospel to their neighbors and fellow citizens. In our first year and a half in Japan, we have engaged most heavily in language learning and partnership with our local church, Nara New Life, who have been mentoring us in our future venture to start a church in the surrounding area. Our main focuses have been ministry through the vivacious young family community in our town: children's ministry, gymnastics class, local play room, parks, and soon Kaia will be joining our neighborhood pre-school. In addition we have been investing in relationships with a number of other individuals long-term, leading worship, and visiting Japanese churches around the country sharing our testimonies and building a network of national believers. Our current short term goals now: Continue language learning for another 2 years, 2024 begin surveying neighborhoods in summer for church plant (move spring 2025 to target area), establish parent relationships at Kaia's preschool.