25,000 Japanese commit suicide every year. Yet in spite of this God is moving among young people. In Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar their is a strong church planting movement evolving. Our time there will be to equip and empower church planters with a means to develop sustainable income.
Margaret Foster - Wife
We travel and preach anywhere God opens a door so the context is large.
We serve around 15,000 students, the vast majority do not affiliate with Christianity. Students on campus are facing a mental health crisis, data from our campus shows that students diagnosed with Anxiety/Depression has nearly doubled since 2018, affecting nearly 50%. Students are struggling with sexual identity and purpose and nearly 50% of them binge drink. 1 in 5 students will be sexually assaulted on campus. When they meet Jesus, students become vibrant, active influencers. We believe that as the future leaders in every area of our society, they are the most important mission field in the world
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.
Jamie and Tasha Kemp are passionately engaged with Unreached People Groups (UPGs), working to establish a Christian presence in the unreached areas of Indonesia. The Kemps’ main focus is campus ministry- reaching Muslim University students. Jamie also trains churches on how to start local youth ministries.
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.
Raegan's ministry in Romania has a three-fold mission: First to care for adandoned infants. Second to assist foster care programs for adandon children. Third to provide maternal care in a facility offering mothers alternatives to adandonment. Raegan is the network facilitator for Europe's compassion care network as well as the lead pastor at the International Church in Bucharest, Romania.
The country has about Malay 50.8%, Chinese 23.8%, Indigenous 10.9%, Indian 7.1%, non-Malaysian citizens 6.8 %, others 0.6%. The religious backgrounds include the country having about Islam (60.4%), Buddhism (19.2%), Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism (6.3%),Confucianism (2.6%), Animism (0.8%), others (including Taoism, Sikhism, Baha'i faith -- 0.4%), none (2.8%).
Steve and Trina are missionaries with Assembly of God World Missions in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. They are serving as Team Leader Overseers of Live Dead East Africa. They have responsibility for teams in 6 countries. Their primary focus is church planting among unreached people groups and training. In addition, Trina ministers to young ladies.
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.
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!
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.