Billions Magazine | May-Aug 2023 | Australian Edition

ALONG THE Mekong

People Into the Unknown An Unexpected Re-direction

Church Planting in Japan

Places

Adventure is Out There

Missional Business in the Mekong Passing the Baton On

BI l Lions

Participate Pray Across Asia

Mekong Prayer Groups

Heart for Asia. Hope for Billions.

We are OMF International, founded by James Hudson Taylor in 1865 as the China Inland Mission. We serve the Church and share the good news of Jesus Christ in all its fullness with the people of East Asia.

Billions comes out three times a year and is free for supporters. It started life as China's Millions in 1875, the title highlighted the numbers of people without the hope of Christ. In 2000 we changed the name to reflect East Asia's growing population. Today we still want to help all Christians get involved in God's global plan and to pursue every avenue to reach East Asians for Jesus.

From the Editor

‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. ’ Revelation 7:9

I find myself in awe of this wonderful vision, imagining how this collective of diverse worship expressions to our creator come together in unison to produce something so beautiful.

Whilst the inspired words of the gospel transcend this diversity, God has created every tribe, people and language wonderfully unique. Since our biblical mandate is to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19), we must contextualise the gospel for all people to understand how it can meet their deepest needs and penetrate their worldview. By empowering and supporting local Christian leaders, they can in turn build sustainable indigenous discipleship movements that reflect their own unique culture.

The people of Mekong are culturally rich and diverse, yet many have still not heard the gospel. Local Mekong Christian leaders and churches need our support, beginning with prayer. You can download our Mekong prayer guide to pray and learn more. How might you use your unique gifts to support discipleship movements in other cultures?

Scott Brown

Editor > au.media@omfmail.com

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Page 6

ADVENTURE

is out there

During my first experience of the Mekong River I almost got my (now) wife, Mel, arrested.

It was just after completing a month long mission trip with a team in northern Thailand that my brother and I ventured up to the Golden Triangle – the intersection of the Thai, Laos and Myanmar borders. In our youthful naivete we took a rickety boat from Thailand to Myanmar, had a scrap of paper (supposedly a Myanmar visa) stapled to our passport and bought a small cobra in a jar. Since my brother and I were heading to Europe afterwards, we asked Mel (who had been part of the mission trip) to take our newly acquired cobra back to Australia for us. Fortunately, the intercepting Australian authorities let Mel go with a warning, and she still decided to marry me some years later!

As I discovered through my travels to Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar (very briefly under sketchy circumstances), the Mekong region is an amazing place. It is stunningly beautiful. There are many exciting places to explore, the food is fantastic, and there is a great diversity in cultures, language and people groups. Yet its people are largely left without gospel witness or the hope of Jesus Christ. Many remain difficult to reach due to barriers in geography, politics and opposition.

Still, we remain undeterred. ‘We are Passionate to Reach the Unreached’ is one of OMF’s core values. And as this edition of Billions highlights, the Lord is at work. Great things are happening.

Living simply, serving local communities

The Mekong weaves its way through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. For those willing to take on the great adventure of mission there is a world of opportunity. From rural communities tucked away in towering mountains to the urban sprawl of large cities that hold working migrants from multiple people groups, the opportunities are real and many.

An OMF Mekong leader recently explained to me their team’s project-based ministry philosophy - live simply, and pour resources into projects to help and serve the community. These projects may be educational or medical or micro-business or translation/literature work. These kinds of projects build trust, form relationships, and open opportunities to share the gospel. We want to see many more brought

from darkness to the light of Jesus, the source of redemption and forgiveness (Colossians 1:13).

Another leader in the region spoke about a long held dream to attract Christian businessmen to invest on the area or particular people groups. This kind of investment opens up opportunities to support the local church, connect with suppliers, hire intentionally to share Christ with employees, and hire local Christians to do so. Along with more traditional mission methods of education, church planting or medical work, these programs can be used to disciple and train local believers.

OMF longs to see indigenous, biblical church movements spring up throughout the Mekong Region and beyond. And by God’s grace we are seeing this happen. In the eastern Mekong, over 80 local missionaries have been trained and sent to more than 30 unreached people groups in the country to share the good news of Jesus. In northern Mekong, one team has progressed from being a team of foreigners to one of all nationals, to supported remotely. May the Lord continue to bless and multiply these indigenous church movements.

Become part of the movement, part of the adventure

The needs are great and the opportunities many in the Mekong. We pray the Lord would raise up more workers from all places and all backgrounds to join in the great adventure of cross cultural mission in southeast Asia. There are lots of resources and ways you can begin exploring your part. You can:

• Download our ‘Praying Down the Mekong’ Prayer guide

• Join a prayer group focused on a country or people group

• Go on a short term mission trip

• Contact your state office

• Come to a mission explorer event such as our Mission Coaching Weekend

• Meet missionaries who have served in the Mekong at our National Conference next year, March 15-17

Adventure is out there. Will you go?

Paul Jessop OMF (AU) National Director

60 million people, 5 countries, one God-given vision. As the Mekong River flows through diverse landscapes, home to around 100 different people groups, so OMF Mekong Minorities exists to see locally driven movements of reproducing churches among all these peoples, obeying Jesus and his Great Commission. Mekong people groups range in size from a few thousand to 20 million people. In most of these groups, Christians are a tiny minority. Here are six ways we seek to see God’s kingdom come in the Mekong region:

Mekong workers share the gospel in ways that can be readily understood by those hearing it for the first time. But it’s also important that local Christians can easily adopt the methods used to share the message. We often introduce the gospel through Bible stories of God’s work from Creation to Christ. Where possible we share with households, recognising that God often uses families as the foundation of new churches.

Thailand myanmar

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 directs us to make disciples of all nations. We believe that when Jesus said his blood ‘is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26:38), he intended that many from each people group would receive his forgiveness. What is it going to take to see many people coming to Christ and forming church planting movements among each of the Mekong peoples?

Our teams use creative strategies to enter hardto-reach places, connect with local people, learn their heart languages, and seek people of peace who can help the good news of Jesus Christ enter a new community. As we seek those God’s Spirit has prepared, we serve them practically, identify ourselves as Christ’s followers, and seek to engage in gospel-sharing conversations.

Mekong workers set growing focused prayer as our foremost ministry. Convinced that prayer comes before any movement to Christ, Mekong teams centre themselves around prayer and call others to pray for the peoples of the Mekong region. Many Mekong teams have organized an annual month of prayer for their people groups. Several of these have been running for over a decade and involve thousands of people worldwide.

As new churches become independent and reproduce by planting new churches, we place special value on training leaders. Only by investing authority in leaders from within the people group can we see movements really become indigenous, carrying on far beyond what cross-cultural workers can do themselves and lasting long after they are directly involved.

Laos

When people do believe in Christ, discipleship begins, often in groups. Those who cannot read the Bible for themselves can drink in the sustaining food of God’s word through oral Bible stories, which they hear, discuss, and practice each week. Goal setting, vision casting, and accountability are built into discipleship groups, so that new Christians not only grow in their faith but also immediately reach out to their own family and friends and disciple them in the same way they are being discipled.

Thailand CAMBODIA

Vietnam

Does this all really work?

Most of the peoples of the Mekong region have very few Christians today for good reasons. The places they live are difficult to reach. The complex mix of cultural identity and minority languages make communication challenging. Pressure from families and authorities creates many hardships for local believers.

Despite these challenges, we are seeing movements to Christ developing in several people groups in different parts of the Mekong region. Local Christians and churches are increasingly partnering with Mekong teams in effectively bringing the good news to those who are waiting to hear. Even the Covid-19 pandemic has helped us find new strategies to reach the hardest-toreach people. In this issue, you will hear how God is leading Mekong teams and local Christians to answer the question: What is it going to take to see the Mekong peoples reached?

As discipleship groups meet, they begin to do the things that churches do, such as prayer and worship, hearing and obeying God’s word, fellowship, outreach, giving, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and choosing leaders from within the group. We help these groups to gain an identity as a local body of believers who have the vision and accountability to multiply themselves by going out and planting more churches.

We long to see the Mekong River region become a sea of praise to our heavenly Father, with people streaming to him from all the high mountains and scattered valleys of this vast area. ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea’ (Habakkuk 2:14). Join us in learning about these precious people groups, praying for the knowledge of God to flow into them, and considering whether God has a role for you in serving Mekong peoples.

Final 58

A key focus for OMF’s Mekong Minorities teams is sharing the good news of Jesus with the people groups in the region that no one else is reaching. One team’s creativity and determination is now paying off in exciting ways:

A conversation can unexpectedly lead to a defining moment. A new direction becomes clear and a new path emerges. In the Bible, Nehemiah asked about the situation in Jerusalem, responding in prayer and daring action. They are moments in which a sense of urgency calls out ‘something has got to change,’ and is met with the faith and possibility that asks ‘what if…?’

The situation

One OMF worker, John 1 , had already been serving in East Asia for several years when he was challenged to consider that there were still people groups scattered around his country of service which no one was sharing the good news of Jesus with. Worse than that, nobody was attempting to. It had been over 100 years since mission work began in the country. How much longer would it be before someone went to share the gospel with these remaining groups? The size of the task was not the only obstacle. Christians also face strong opposition to sharing the good news. The people groups in question were largely located in extremely remote villages where they had for centuries followed traditional religions and had deeply rooted rituals of spirit worship. They were group-oriented societies that often disapproved of someone choosing to follow a new path. Though the challenge was immense, John and his team had a strange but unshakable confidence that the Lord had brought them this far and had proven that he was able.

the church

The shift

The solution was not in working harder or frantically trying to go to every last part of the country. Instead, the answer was all around the team, within the Church. Though still small and relatively young, there was a growing population of followers of Christ within the country. Why not work to see them raised up, trained and sent out into crosscultural ministry? Jesus taught us to ‘ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers…’ (Matthew 9:38). They don’t have to be sent out from somewhere on the other side of the world or even from another country nearby. Workers could be national believers willing to engage in cross-cultural ministry.

The discovery

As a small team carried out detailed and systematic surveys, they found that the challenge was larger than initially thought. Their original list included the names of fifty-eight different people groups. With more of the study completed they discovered the exact locations of these groups, but also found that the number of groups in desperate need of someone to share the good news with them had nearly tripled.

The strategy

New workers are recruited through personal referrals. People hear about the opportunities to share Christ with those who have never heard of him before and have their own moment of decision, like Nehemiah, as they pray and consider whether the Lord is calling them to rise up and act.

The next step is a four-month training programme, where people are discipled more deeply while taking intensive classes on subjects such as the Bible, worldview and cross-cultural ministry. Afterwards they move to a sending base, from which they are sent out in pairs to the locations where the need is the greatest.

Going from village to village, they introduce people to Jesus until they find someone who is open to the gospel. When a family is eager to learn about him, the national workers will stay to continue establishing them in the faith. Local Christians live with the family for anywhere from six to twelve months. By day they work the soil with their hosts, tending their crops and cultivating their land. By night they gather around the Scriptures, telling stories and teaching, forming them into disciples, gathering them as a church and leading them in worship. Eventually the church is launched to continue as a part of a wider network of Protestant churches.

The status

Today this work includes two full-time training centres where nearly 200 national workers have been trained. Fifty village churches have been formed and of the 158 groups they identified, only three are still awaiting their first encounter with the gospel. The national workers continue to help the churches multiply into surrounding villages. The faithful body of national workers endures much difficulty in seeing this work carried out. They experience physical hardship and personal threats. Some have been arrested and spent time in jail. Many have walked with fellow Christians undergoing severe persecution. Yet they continue in the confidence that the good hand of our God is upon them and he will see it through (Nehemiah 2:18).

Pray for

• The remaining three people groups to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus

• Lasting fruit from the 155 people groups who now have some gospel witness among them

• Local Christians to persevere in ministry –‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Galatians 6:9).

the answer was all around the team, within

Shaping the culture of work

Wherever we live, work is a significant part of our lives. Yet many churches –around the world and here in Thailand – virtually ignore it. We worship God and serve in church on weekends but often struggle to see the connection between our faith and work on weekdays. There is no doubt that this is a gap we must bridge. As Christians, how do we live all of our lives, including in our workplaces, in the presence of God?

This is particularly significant in Thailand, where an ageing population and falling birth rate means the economic and social burdens falling on workers are growing exponentially. 1 In my ministry in Northern Thailand, the young people I have met, the stories I have heard and the journeys we have taken together have highlighted for me that the burdens are real and young people long to be better supported in their work.

As I thought more about what it means to be a church in Chiang Rai, I realised this was a signifi cant opportunity. This part of North Thailand has seen more than 150 years of missionary work. Still, only 0.4 per cent are Christians. A growing segment of young adults is asking questions that most Thai churches are not yet answering: integrating faith with lifestyle, work, family and money. To share the good news of Jesus with them, I realised we needed a new approach.

The cedar tree

We started a two-pronged gospel engagement strategy. We began with The Living Room Church, a Christ-centred simple church movement, which my wife Kul and I started with three Northern Thai Christians in 2016. In 2020 I founded TonCedar, a non-profit marketplace start-up ecosystem. Our aim is to build churches that help

people live out the calling they have received from God – to live out their discipleship in Christ creatively in their work each day. Here, I want to focus on TonCedar. 2

Our name comes from the Thai word, cedar tree (“Ton” meaning tree), inspired by Ezekiel 17:23: ‘On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.’ We long to be a tree in our community, striving to be strongly rooted in the word of God, branching out and producing fruit in the professional ecosystem of North Thailand, and providing entrepreneurs with a nest and shelter in the shade of our branches.

We began with the TonCedar Fellowship programme, which mentors and supports small businesses to generate long-term, sustainable community impact. As our TonCedar Fellows and their businesses developed, we started Project Samart to create job opportunities for marginalised people by providing salaried work and mentorship from our young entrepreneurs.

Purpose Lab began as a way to reshape conversations around being a Christian in the marketplace, encouraging and equipping local churches to journey with their members as they live for Jesus through their vocation.

Most recently, we launched co:lab space to grow a community for local entrepreneurs. Part of this community includes joining one of the Living Room Church meetings on Thursday evenings for a time of worship and around God’s word, discipling individuals and communities in the workplace.

Glimpses of progress

The impact of these programmes has allowed us to shape work culture in ways that we could have never imagined. One of our TonCedar Fellows, Soonthon from Magpie Farm, dreams of impacting his community in Pangkhon by reviving a sustainable farming model among the new generation, countering the rural-urban migration that often turns villages into ‘ghost towns’. Another TonCedar Fellow, who is not a Christian, shared, ‘I never thought someone would want to support me without wanting anything in return. The team helped me to see and accomplish many things that I couldn’t have done as a solo business owner, inspiring me to think more deeply about the sustainability of the business and hire a team as well.’

An ongoing journey

As we continue to juggle the various projects, the work ahead remains challenging. Apart from the constant need to fundraise and build capacity and resources, helping people grasp our vision requires patience and faithfulness as well. Yet in all these, we believe that since God planted the vision of TonCedar, he will bring it to completion in his perfect time.

Sam TonCedar Founder OMF Mekong Minorities and OMF Singapore

Pray for

• A flourishing community for entrepreneurs in Chiang Rai with our co:lab space

• The TonCedar team as we grow in size and work responsibilities. For a common vision of redemptive work and a culture of faith and prayer

• Strategic partners and donors who will support and launch our work

Sam shares the story of the Living Room Church at go.omf.org/living-room-church

2. You can read more about The Living Room Church on our website: go.omf.org/living-room-church

AN UNEXPECTED re-direction

Soccer, banking, and Christian youth groups

Debbie Linder with Jeremy Tam

The OMF Sattha Games brought together an international team of skilled soccer players to play local teams in Central Thailand - a soccer ministry program organised through missionaries and local churches. Towns would host matches, providing a way for local Christians to meet new people in their communities and share their faith.

I first met Jeremy in 2016 just before he headed to Thailand to join in one of the Sattha Games in the town of Manorom. God had been stirring an interest in mission in him, and he was keen to use his soccer skills for ministry. He didn’t realise that choice would change the direction of his life.

English, soccer, and a growing church youth group

At Manorom, alongside a local pastor, Jeremy and the team visited local primary and high schools, teaching English and playing soccer. During the visit, one of the students admitted that he wanted to go to church - but he just didn’t have transport.

That Sunday, the local pastor picked the student up; and the student brought along two of his friends! The following week, there was a group of seven boys. The church began to teach and disciple the small group, but it wouldn’t be small for long.

Jeremy recalls, “A month later, the group had grown to around 23 kids of both boys and girls, aged 10-12. God is just so amazing!”

A turning point

The trip to Thailand also deeply challenged Jeremy’s faith. When an accidental stumble during the night stopped him from playing, he was angry and frustrated; God used this experience to speak deeply into his heart and draw him closer to Him.

When he returned from his trip, he attended an end of year event with the bank he worked with. They had made a record profit and threw a huge party to celebrate at the Sydney Opera House. Jeremy stood in the crowd, but his heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t want to invest his life in the world of finance anymore.

Jeremy started looking for ways to serve longer term in Thailand. When he found that OMF Thailand needed a new finance manager, he made enquiries. He resigned from his job and went to Bible college. He later married, and he and his wife Ophelia have been preparing for ministry together, running a Thai prayer group and working with students in Sydney.

Ministry among Vietnamese youth in Sydney

Three years later, at the recommendation of OMF mentors, Jeremy and Ophelia are working with Vietnamese youth in Sydney. They recently ran a youth camp for 30 teens –their biggest problem was not having enough leaders for the number who wanted to go! They don’t know what the future holds, but they continue to make faithful choices, one step at a time, as God challenges them. I thank God that one faithful step 6.5 years ago has brought them so far.

Debbie and Johan Linder (now in OMF New Zealand) mentored and prayed with Jeremy and Ophelia along their journey as a part of the OMF Australia team.

PRAY ACROSS asia

News from along the Mekong

God’s Word into local languages, by local people

Local church growth and training

What the Lord is doing among the people of Laos is truly remarkable. National church leaders have a vision for multiplying disciples and churches among every people and every place. Local Christians are being trained and empowered for ministry; every day their number is growing. Pray for the rapidly growing number of Christians and churches as they work to disciple people and nurture their growth.

God’s people in 17 provinces

Persecution continues to be a challenge and Christians in Laos need our prayers. Pray for Christians who have remained faithful to God despite being kicked out of their homes or villages. Praise God there are Christians in all 17 provinces! Praise God for sustaining His people in the midst of such pressure; pray that fellow Christians may “continue to remember…those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (Hebrews 13:3)

God’s Word equips us for every good work and does not return void. It refreshes the soul and lights our path. Praise the Lord for the Christians from various ethnic groups in Laos currently involved in projects to make His Word available for their own people. Whether it be crafting selected stories in their language or a full translation project, we rejoice at every opportunity that is being given for people to encounter God’s Word in their language.

Diversity within people groups

Pray for wisdom as we seek to reach people groups with diversity in language and culture, such as the Hmong people. 5 million Hmong are scattered across China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and North America, speaking over 30 dialects. Conventional categories of country, language and even culture do not necessarily apply. Pray for wisdom and insight as we seek for diverse peoples to know Jesus.

Open doors in perfect timing

Give thanks that we’re seeing cross-cultural work among the Mekong peoples in God’s perfect timing. Praise God for open doors – that despite years of uncertainty and apparent insurmountable hurdles, this has not been impossible for Him.

Completion of a New Testament translation

We’re thankful for the completion of a New Testament to encourage Christians among Mekong minority groups. It’s come at just the right time. Give thanks that God used even the pandemic and challenges to draw previously isolated Christians together, as they met in creative ways they had not tried before to build each other up. Give thanks for an ongoing and increasing desire for God’s Word in several Mekong people groups.

Mission agencies by local Christians

East Asia’s indigenous missions movement is maturing and growing, and having an impact among Mekong people groups. Mission agencies are being started by East Asians within East Asia! Give thanks for East Asian Christians going to places all over the world to share the gospel. Pray for wisdom for OMF as we seek to partner with this mission movement in helpful ways.

Isolated Christians in remote places

Pray for Christians living in remote areas facing difficulties in relationships within their families and local communities, such as Vietnamese Christians living in remote highlands who struggle to access Christian fellowship and biblical teaching. Pray for Vietnamese Christians in more populated areas to have a heart for mission among remote groups that foreigners are not as easily able to reach.

Natural barriers and supernatural prayer

Pray for people groups living in very remote areas, among whom there are no churches, known Christians, or Bible translations. One such group is the Banu, who live in hard-to-reach rocky mountainous areas and are representative of both the need for the gospel in these places and the natural barriers in the way. The cry of Romans 10 rings out, ‘And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?’

Mekong PRAYER GROUPS

Vietnam - Robin and Helen

A country with many hard-to-reach minority groups, Vietnam is a gateway to reach East Asia. In 2021, Robin and Helen were asked to lead a prayer group for Vietnam by a cross-cultural worker who had lived for many years near Vietnam’s northern border, and has been a great help to the group. They mostly meet online the last Thursday of each month. (Though they have also met in person for lunch - at a Vietnamese restaurant of course - in Melbourne.) They’ve seen God answer prayer in three couples who are seeking to serve in Vietnam – and a family serving there today.

Myanmar - Glyn and Nanette

After a short-term mission trip to Myanmar in 2014, Glyn and Nanette were so struck by the extent of Buddhist influence over the country that they committed themselves to running a regular prayer meeting upon their return to Perth. Along-time friend of Glyn’s had started a prayer group in Western Australia a few years ago for Vietnam, calling it EAT LEARN PRAY. When Glyn and Nanette returned from their Myanmar trip, they wanted to start a similar group for Myanmar. The two groups joined forces and decided to alternate the prayer group meetings, praying for Myanmar one month and praying for Vietnam every second month.

Laos - Ruth

Keen to pray for Laos, Myanmar or Vietnam? (Maybe even all 3?!) Download our free prayer guides for your Bible study group and personal prayer time.

About 10 years ago, a group of Christians started meeting in Sydney to pray for Laos; however, not all current members are based there. The group now pray together every month on the first Friday by phone. Recently, the group has seen God answer prayer in several ways, including the provision of visas for a family, who were able to visit a neighbouring country. Some have responded to Jesus and learning truths from the Bible. One recent highlight has seen several cross-cultural workers - who had to leave as a result of the pandemic – returning to Laos or planning to do so in the next year. The group commonly receives requests to pray for Christians facing opposition.

by Amy Cheng

How did God lead you to apply with Serve Asia to go to Japan?

I had been considering doing mission in Japan but when I completed my music degree, I decided to give being a professional musician a go. God had other plans as shortly afterwards the pandemic hit and music activities abruptly stopped. After feeling a little lost, God guided me to the OMF opportunities page where I discovered an opportunity to do university student ministry in Sapporo, Japan. Having been greatly impacted by university student ministry in Australia, I really wanted to bless others with the opportunity to get to know God deeply in this pivotal stage of life.

Why Japan?

After getting into manga and anime in high school, in my second year at university I started hearing about how few opportunities there are for Japanese people to meet Jesus. I decided then to seriously consider if I could go and serve in Japan and started doing a Japanese language diploma alongside my undergraduate degree.

What do you love about Japan and its people and culture?

I really love the natural beauty of Japan as well as learning more about its history and development. Japanese people value nature quite highly which can be seen during Hanami (a Japanese custom of flower viewing), and they are just as respectful of nature as they are of people.

What’s one thing you’ve learned about Japan or Japanese people that’s surprised you?

Probably the complex influence of Japanese language and culture upon each other. It has been interesting to learn more about the development of the Japanese language and see how it has been influenced by Japanese cultural norms which in turn influence language. This is probably most evident in the internal battle I face whenever I want to speak in different social situations.

What are you looking forward to seeing God do in Japan during your time there?

I would love to see God working in the hearts of students, transforming them by His Word to grow in their confidence and understanding of the gospel. I’d love to see students then boldly sharing the good news of Jesus with friends, family and others on campus.

How would you like people to pray for you and Japan?

Pray that I will adjust well to living and working in Japan and that God will be at work in and through me as I minister to university students. Pray that God would soften the hearts of many Japanese people to know and love Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

An interview with Isabelle Palmer

MISSIONAL business IN THE MEKONG

20 years in the making

This Mekong missional business has a key verse: John 10:10. In the last twenty years as Ana* has served in a team of vocational trainers, she’s seen God bring hope, light and a secure future – an abundant life for many from whom it had been stolen.

There are possibilities and impossibilities where our team serves. We can’t just talk about Jesus and the gospel – because here, talk is just information. Here, people don’t expect information to affect their lives; information isn’t about applying knowledge to life, it’s about memorising separate facts. It doesn’t matter whether ideas can’t co-exist, because each one can be kept in its own separate box. People are almost always happy to hear what we say and agree with us to please us – because it’s just information. So in our vocational training and staff development, people are often surprised to hear that what we teach them is actually something they need to do, not just know.

How then, to communicate the gospel effectively? How can we see the work of the Holy Spirit transform lives? It may sound impossible. But we serve the God of the impossible, and we’ve seen Him do the impossible day after day, in our lives and the lives of the people He loves so much.

We’ve seen Him work through the missional business as we live what we teach, deepen our own relationships with Him, model grace as we pick people up when they fall. Serving within a missional business provides long term stability to live out the gospel in a community context.

Doing, not just knowing

Running a missional business takes sheer energy. There is little separation between life and work for our team. We teach evening classes in English to meet felt needs in the wider community. This also allows us to run a residential vocational training program with the Bible as its foundation. So as well as learning hospitality or construction skills, our students learn to trust and follow their Creator. Many stay on as staff, running a bakery, a café, a guest house, and a building program. They earn a livelihood and go on to teach others, blessing their communities through their work. They continue learning, growing in skills both in business and in mission.

A hope and a future

One of the best things about teaching and discipling here is that God’s Word comes alive. We run a monthly time of in-depth teaching which our staff can choose to attend. One night, as a speaker explained what Jesus said He came to do from Isaiah and Luke 4:18-19, staff were literally on the edge of their seats. They know what it means to have their eyes opened, to be freed from captivity, to have hope and a future; they’d been seeking it, they’ve experienced it.

Across the region

When God works, even more impossible things happen. The students want to tell others. They want to learn how to teach children, lead a youth group, share Jesus. They are enthusiastic to know more, share with their kin – and others across the region. As students become disciples of Jesus, they make disciples through the witness of their changed lives, deepened understanding of the Word, and sharing the good news of Jesus in their own languages. Only He can do that - we can teach, model, encourage and show grace, but only He can change hearts and open eyes and minds.

How you can pray

• Give thanks for God’s working the impossible in people’s lives through missional business, and for many lives that have been made abundant in Christ.

• Pray for local Christians who boldly share the gospel in their home villages. Pray for the Lord’s protection and for the Holy Spirit to open hearts and minds.

• Pray for energy and perseverance for Ana and her team in the realities and challenges of running a missional business.

From one Christian to a Christian in every home

From one Christian to a Christian in every home

A despairing teenager sat on a hillside minding the buffalo. Looking up, she called out, “If there’s anyone there, help me!” Years later, she found her way to our school and asked to study with us. She made a commitment to follow Jesus. When she went home for term break, she told everyone what she had learnt, aware that its power had changed her life, but unaware of the antagonism with which her words would be met. Children and teens hung on her words, but elders feared that she was challenging the spirits of the area and soon she was not welcome in the village. Yet, she kept visiting. From one despairing young woman, almost every home in her small village now has one or more Christians. Eventually, she was able to obtain documents which allowed her to relocate to our town. She now manages our café. She loves the customers and trains new workers in the food and drink service. Others from her village now study and work with us, and despite the challenges, they return home regularly, presenting the gospel in their heart language.

A of Prayer

When I attended the OMF Mekong Minorities team annual conference for the first time almost 20 years ago, a colleague introduced to us a newly published prayer guide for a country where sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ is restricted.

One of the events during the conference was a concert of prayer where we would pray for our teams and the people groups that we serve in the Mekong region. We visited different prayer stations, one of which was based around the new prayer guide. There was a copy on the floor, and I felt compelled to kneel down and lay my hand upon it. After the prayer concert, I got my own copy and prayed through it in my daily devotions. At that time, I lived in a different country but faced similar restrictions. The prayer guide not only allowed me to pray in specific ways for that country, but also inspired me to pray for the country where I lived.

Joy in persevering prayer

Mekong Minorities teams serve among people groups who are often marginalised. Many live in rural and hard to reach places where education and medical provision are lacking. Sadly their culture and languages are often not respected. Nevertheless, the biggest obstacle keeping them from believing in Jesus Christ is spiritual, and this can only be addressed through prayer. We want to see God’s transforming power working among the Mekong people groups through strategic prayer and ministry. I believe it is the power of prayer that has sustained me throughout my years of ministry. Apart from my own prayers, those of our prayer partners are a source of my strength and hope. It is my greatest joy to know God answers prayers, even though it may take many years to realise.

20 years of answered prayer

Since the prayer guide was published 20 years ago, we’ve heard news of tears and sorrow from Christians in that country. Instead of being discouraged, we continued to pray and asked our prayer partners to pray into those challenging situations. By the grace of God, our teams on the ground press on to reach these people groups.

The teams strive to share a vision of locally-led churches that reproduce and plant more churches. Over the last few years, and in answer to the prayers of many supporters around the world, new churches have been planted, Christians have been discipled and trained and are going on to teach others. We are excited to learn that local Christians are inspired to share the good news of Jesus Christ with their own people group as well as other people groups beyond their borders.

Praying through Scripture for the Mekong

Let the Bible inspire your prayers. Hebrews 5:7 reminds us that ‘during the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.’ In 1 Timothy 2:1 Paul urges ‘that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.’ ‘And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.’ (Ephesians 6:18)

Please join us in prayer to the one ‘who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine … to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’ (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Please pray for

• The Lord to raise up prayer coordinators to facilitate the composition and distribution of prayer updates through different media channels

• More people to become faithful prayer partners and join our ministries in supporting or frontline roles

• The Holy Spirit to transform the lives of believers as a witness to Christ

Specific prayer points, stories and information to help you pray for Mekong Minorities are available at omf.org/mekong

• For movements of locally-led churches planting churches among all the people groups of the Mekong region

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Passing the baton on

‘We have the baton. We’ll take it from here!’ said the Kaobu1 leaders. They knew our team had been working to reach every Kaobu village with the gospel, but now they were telling us they would do the rest. What a wonderful thing to hear!

Our team was formed in 2004 to catalyse locally led church planting movements among two related people groups in the Mekong region. There were no known Christians among these groups, and no one was sharing the gospel with them. They were hard to reach and had long-standing traditions of spirit worship. Initial research trips into the area frequently saw locals running to their huts with fear of the strange foreigners who were there prayer walking. Local legends said white people would eat their souls and steal their children. Not a great starting point!

It helped that our team was determined to encourage and support Christians from nearby tribes to share Jesus with these groups. As no one in these groups reads or writes, we used a completely oral approach to evangelism, discipleship and church planting. This included raising up leaders

who were also illiterate farmers. We would leave the issue of literacy to others who would come later.

Training for discipleship

In mid-2005 people began to turn to Christ. By 2012 there were over 1,000 Christians in these groups and numerous churches. In monthly training sessions for the leaders, we used Bible story sets, along with radio broadcasts and media to train disciples. As the numbers grew in each village we told them only to send their three or four leaders for monthly training. We did not appoint leaders because as outsiders we felt we didn’t really know the true situation. As it turned out, the first leader we would have chosen did not follow Jesus for long. As churches and leaders grew, they planted new churches. At training sessions, we modelled worship, prayer for healing and deliverance, Bible story-telling and practising the stories

so that everyone could retell them. Even before the pandemic in 2020, our team had entered into the final phase of the church planting model ‘Model, Assist, Watch and Leave or Launch’. We had already shifted our main efforts to a different group in the region.

Handing over

In 2018, it was clear the time had come for our team to move on. Over 150 disciples attended the conference that year. From the beginning, we had emphasised that the baton was in their hand so the transition was actually natural and relatively easy. The way we did things the leaders knew it was their movement. Although their spiritual fathers may be in a neighbouring country, they didn’t consider it a foreign movement. They didn’t expect anything from us. They were truly Three-Self churches – selfgoverning, self-supporting and self-propagating.2

We had taught them how to gather, and their churches were growing in number, health and the knowledge and grace of God. The leaders were meeting monthly on their own and had been doing a yearly master plan with us for several years. They began doing their own annual plan and would show us for input and comment, but not for approval or funding. They funded their own existence and expansion. In fact, they sent donations to us several times.

In 2022 I spoke to one Kabou man whose story encouraged me greatly. Around 2005 I led a prayer walking team to his village. Shortly after that, people started turning to Christ. At that time he was the

village headman, or leader, and pressured the new Christians to stop following Jesus. Later, however, he too was converted and later became their pastor. He said over half the village had become Christian, but they are praying for and reaching out to the remainder to come to faith too. After hearing about our team’s fruitful drug rehabilitation ministry elsewhere in the region, they recently started a similar ministry to help people in a village where they want to plant a new church. In the Leave/Launch phase, we still need to be available to give guidance just like the apostle Paul’s team in Acts. For example, some church leaders called recently with questions about the theology of medicine. One teacher had told them they would lose their salvation if they were vaccinated. Each phase of this church planting movement has brought them different questions and problems as they grow into the fullness that God has planned for the Kaobu church in the Mekong region.

Pray for

• Kaobu churches to continue growing and spreading to the remaining villages

• The Kaobu to have God’s heart for other groups around them yet to hear of Jesus

• Fruit from the drug rehabilitation ministries

2 The three principles were first articulated by missionaries Henry Venn, and Rufus Anderson in late 19th century.

Let's Go

opportunities to serve in the Mekong region

Did you know on the OMF Opportunities website (opportunities.omf.org ) you can search over 200 current opportunities to serve with us? Some are just two weeks long, while others are longer-term roles over several years.

We’ve picked four opportunities to serve in the Mekong region. Perhaps they could fit you or someone you know in your church? Scan the QR codes to find out more about each opportunity, or get in touch with your local Area Representative (details on page 2). If you’re considering applying for any of these opportunities, chat to your local church leaders first. After that, we’d be delighted to start a conversation with you about where you might go.

Explore Mekong

Length: 2 weeks

go.omf.org/explore-mekong

On this two-week trip you’ll explore Northern Thailand and our ministry among minority people groups. Take the time to pray, learn, and visit our long-term workers. It is an excellent opportunity to deepen your understanding and engage in prayer. Whether or not you're considering longer-term involvement, this trip is perfect for discovering more and deepening your understanding. Typically, this placement is available every summer.

Serving Third Culture Kids

Length: 2 weeks

go.omf.org/mekong-reunion

The Mekong Reunion camp is a highlight of the year for many children in the Mekong region whose parents work with OMF. While their parents engage in Bible teaching and strategic planning, the children and young people participate in a special program that helps them grow in their relationship with Jesus and form new friendships. To support the conference, we need a team of approximately 15 kids workers to help run the program.

Church Planters

Length: 3+ years

go.omf.org/mekong-church

Come alongside teams of local Christians and cross-cultural workers in the Mekong region to help foster church planting movements. Some teams are based in very remote areas, others in bustling cities. But every team has a passion to share the good news of Jesus with those yet to hear it. Your experience in church planting, evangelism and discipleship or leadership training can encourage existing church planting movements or pioneer movements among new people groups and in new places. Language and culture learning is an essential part of successful long-term ministry in the Mekong.

Social Media Manager

Length: 3+ years

go.omf.org/mekong-social

Join the OMF team in Northern Thailand and use your social media skills to share the gospel with the Tai Yuan people. After 150 years of gospel work among the Tai Yuan still fewer that 1 per cent are Christians. OMF are exploring a new approach. As a Social Media Manager and Content Developer, you will work with the team to develop a social media strategy that helps Tai Yuan people to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus. This is an exciting chance to make a real difference in people's lives, while also growing in your faith and developing your professional skills.

Learning among the Iu-Mien

Kei1 shares his journey from short- to long-term mission:

‘I am a new OMF worker among Iu-Mien people in Northern Thailand. I arrived in 2021. I first visited them as a Serve Asia worker in 2015. The blessings of that trip went beyond my time in Thailand and continue in my ministry today.

Before

The first time I heard about the Iu-Mien people was when I met an OMF worker who serves among them. I started praying for the Iu-Mien people. Every time I heard updates from the worker when they came back for home assignment, my desire to visit increased. When I was in my last year of seminary, I had the opportunity to visit the Iu-Mien people in Northern Thailand.

During

Mainly I stayed at the Iu-Mien children’s hostel and visited several Iu-Mien villages. It was an exciting time to see with my own eyes the peoples, areas, and ministries I had been praying for. Although the OMF worker who had first told me about the Iu-Mien wasn’t there, I could connect with Iu-Mien pastors and other Mekong workers. It helped me to get to know the people and what a ministry might look like. At this time, I had many opportunities to share my testimony with others. It reminded me how God had guided me into cross-cultural work. Throughout my Serve Asia placement, I was convinced that God was leading me to serve him long-term.

After

I could now pray for Iu-Mien and Mekong teams more specifically. However, I was still not clear about the country and people group I should go to. For a few years, I served in Japan, my home country, and asked my church and my prayer supporters to pray for guidance about my future. I also asked for advice from the Mekong workers I had met. I prayed for God’s guidance by comparing my prayers, experiences, and gifts with the current situation. The most helpful material was the prayer guides for the Mekong. Through prayer, God made clear he was calling me to work with the Iu-Mien people.

Today

As a long-term worker, I look forward to working with Iu-Mien to know God through reading the Bible translated into their language and serving God together. It is a blessing from God that through going out to serve him, both those going out and those sending out are given a new perspective and their prayers grow in faith and expectation.

The Greatest Need

What do almost 20 million Zhuang people in the Mekong region need? They need to know about Jesus.

Primarily located in Southwest China, the Zhuang are the largest of China’s ethnic minority groups. With a population of 20 million people and less than 1 per cent of them being Christians, it is hard not to sense their need for Jesus

With so few Christians, most Zhuang people have very little chance of hearing about Jesus their lifetime. So the reality for the Zhuang is eternally serious.

So what is the answer?

In Psalm 67:2 the Psalmist prays: ‘that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.’ God’s heart is for all people (including the Zhuang) to know him and his saving power. It’s time for us to align our hearts with God’s and start working with him to see this happen.

Most of us cannot speak any of the 16 major Zhuang languages or one of the numerous sub-dialects within those language groups or go and live among them.

But, every one of us has time and can pray. Let’s use our time and our ability to pray and ask God to give Zhuang believers the courage to share the gospel with those who have not heard, and for other Mandarin-speaking believers to go and share the gospel with them too. Let’s pray, believing that the remaining Zhuang people will come to know God and his saving power soon. To this end, friendsofthezhuang.org includes information, prayer requests from local Christians and Bible texts in some of the Zhuang languages. We also share answers to prayer. Join us and be part of a work of eternal significance.

Explore more at friendsofthezhuang.org

Arrivals

Andrew and Joanna Wong

Church planting in Japan

Three years ago, we arrived in northern Japan aiming to plant a new church in Yahaba, a small regional town of about 27,000 people. To say it was a daunting task would be an understatement! Our team – ourselves and Hoi-yan, a fellow Aussie - had all served with OMF for only about 5 years. Did we really have the knowledge or experience to be entrusted with such an ambitious project? Aside from a single drive-by visit one weekend, we all knew virtually nothing about the town or its people.

Starting well, with love

We didn’t launch headfirst into activities to attract people to church events. Instead, we started with praying, meditating on God’s Word, studying books on church planting, and simply learning how to love one another. We put particular emphasis on Jesus’ not-so-secret but often forgotten strategy of showing people we are his disciples – loving one another as He has loved us (John 13:34-35).

In the same way that the DNA of a human being is passed on at conception, we knew that what we established as our “disciple-making DNA” in the embryonic stage of the church would have significant repercussions for the future. Experience has shown that the way we do discipleship and evangelism will likely be the model that is copied (for better and for worse) for decades to come.

A fruitful mission strategy

Slowly, we started making connections with local people and pointing them to Jesus. Andrew joined a local band and taught them Christian songs. The band leader’s wife started meeting with Hoi-Yan and other women for a weekly dinner and Bible study. Our daughter’s friends came over each Sunday to hang out and watch ‘Superbook’ – a Christian animated series. Joanna met with school mums and regularly prayed with them. Casual interest for some turned serious – one lady started weekly one-on-one Bible study, another asked to learn about Christian parenting.

By placing a love for one another and a love for God at the heart of our mission strategy, we have found our last four years to have been full of joy. As the team in Yahaba continues to persevere in our absence, we look forward to returning to Japan in 2024.

Charissa Mak

Please share a bit about your journey to mission I first heard about mission through a mission biography when I was in primary school—and then more biographies in high school (all OMF biographies). I didn’t want to go on mission myself because I’d moved around a lot in my childhood. But then I had a chance to go to East Asia and saw the spiritual hunger of people who had never heard about Jesus—people who were just like me, except that I had a chance to grow up in a Christian family. I realised I’d received many spiritual blessings and opportunities, while many people haven’t had that. That left a deep impact on me. I went to Bible college to prepare to serve long-term. I served in Taiwan for two years in the end but God cut that time short. I would ask Him, “Lord, why did you put me through that, only to have to come back after only two years to serve my family?”

How did He answer your question –why only two years overseas?

Looking back, I see it enabled me to experience the journey into mission—what it was like to take steps of faith in response to God’s leading, learn to trust Him with my life, prepare and go as a first term missionary. I experienced God’s faithfulness and a deepened relationship with Him. It also gave me understanding and empathy for people who step out in faith to follow God, and start out as a missionary with limited language and no friends. I came to see the journey God took me to Taiwan wasn’t wasted; it was preparation for being able to journey with others into mission and help churches to understand their role in partnering well with their missionaries. It’s been such a blessing to serve on the homeside to support others to go.

It’s been a blessing for us that you’ve served as Volunteer Coordinator with OMF the last four years. What have you personally found encouraging in this role on the homeside? It’s been an encouragement to see God answer prayer and grow our homeside team’s understanding of how we could partner with volunteers, to send and encourage Christians to take part in God’s mission. The other big encouragement has been seeing God answer prayer and raise up people willing to serve because they love God and have experienced His grace. God has brought people with different gifts at just the right time. It’s been a real joy to work with our volunteers, to hear their stories, and to see them experience God’s joy as they serve Him.

National Volunteer Coordinator to Member Care Coordinator (NSW)

“Lord, why did you put me through that, only to have to come back after only two years to serve my family?”

What will your new role in member care involve?

Serving in a cross-cultural context can bring a great degree of stress for our missionaries, doing life in a different language and culture, serving with colleagues from other cultures. They’re away from family, friends and support networks. They face opposition to the gospel. This can leave missionaries feeling isolated and vulnerable, in need of support to survive and not give up. Member care is providing part of that support—connecting our missionaries with people and resources to navigate challenges so they can grow, thrive and be effective.

The most important aspect is prayer and spiritual support, pointing missionaries to God as their Master Carer. As humans we are limited in our love and wisdom to care, but God is always with our missionaries. He loves them, knows what they need and will provide for them. It’s a tremendous opportunity for our missionaries to grow as they depend upon God and experience His care.

In addition to prayer and spiritual support, another aspect of member care is emotional support. It’s a huge pressure when missionaries feel weak and don’t have everything together. Sometimes the things that missionaries struggle with are quite sensitive, and part of member care is to give them a safe space to process and hear from God.

Equipping churches to care well for the missionaries they send is another part of my role. Ultimately, it’s the church that sends their missionaries, and they have a vital role in member care. For missionaries to know, “My church is with me,” and I’m not serving on my own, encourages them and helps them to keep going when it’s hard. We’d love to hear from churches seeking to learn to care for their missionaries.

Is there a particular aspect of your role you’re looking forward to?

I look forward to journeying with our missionaries and hearing stories of God working through them, and in them; seeing our missionaries grow, and God’s kingdom grow through their service. I’m also looking forward to working alongside OMF’s Homeside Ministry Team Coordinators so that we’re doing member care together in partnership with our missionaries’ supporters and churches.

Any tips for people looking to serve on the homeside?

Be willing – Be willing to serve behind the scenes to enable others to go—even if you don’t get to be the one who gets on the plane.

Be open – Be open to how God might use you —your skills, gifts, abilities, passions, work experience. God doesn’t waste anything; He’s very creative.

See the fruit – Understand that it takes a whole chain of people to get the gospel out, and as you serve on the homeside you will share in the fruit of that labour. You are part of the team that God’s working through to achieve His purposes.

How can we pray for you in your next season of ministry?

Pray that I will depend upon God as He loves our missionaries and knows what they need. Pray that I’ll love and get to know our missionaries, and have wisdom to discern what each person needs to grow and thrive. Pray that I can balance family, OMF and church commitments.

Pray that God will raise up someone to take over the Volunteer Coordinator role, who will love the volunteers and support them well.

“As humans we are limited in our love and wisdom to care, but God is always with our missionaries.”

Retirment Into the Unknown: 20 years in Southeast Asia and Australia

Steve and Sarah Paterson

The memory is clear and powerful. It was February 2003 and we stood in front of our house, watching a refugee organisation drive off with the last of our household goods. We felt like Moses or Abraham, following God into the unknown.

Twenty years later, we are taking a similar step of faith - this time trusting God as He leads us out of OMF. We don’t know what God has for us, or when we will see and enjoy what He has prepared. We do know that we will be following our amazing God where He leads.

The place of greatest blessing

Our time of serving God through OMF in Southeast Asia and in Australia has taught us so much about His faithfulness and the need to trust Him in all circumstances. His ways are not our ways, and trusting Him always brings the best outcome and the greatest blessings.

Over the past 20 years, we have seen God guide us and answer countless prayers in our lives, as well as the lives of so many others. God has intervened with significant health issues, financial challenges, changes of plans, conflict, family challenges and so much more.

Learning community in Southeast Asia

Arriving in Southeast Asia was exciting. In the first year, we felt like young children as we tried to communicate and tried to find identity in such a different place. It was exhausting negotiating what seemed like chaos where we received constant attention and people calling out, “Hello Mister!” whenever we passed by. Our independence had dissolved; we had to learn to rely on God, on strangers and those in our local community.

Our local community helped us to learn about daily life and taught us what true community is like. They taught us about the importance of living in the moment and being willing to invest in everyday conversations. We learnt to slow down and see and experience what God was doing in people's lives.

We then moved from the hills for our first placement as English lecturers at a small, private university in a large city. It was a challenging time, with daily blackouts and a new culture to adapt to – then a pregnancy with unexpected complications, which involved returning to Australia for the birth of our first child, Daniel.

From Australia, as we cared for our newborn son, we were stunned to see scenes of the

devastation from the Boxing Day Tsunami. Around 200,000 people died near where we lived; the hospitals were overflowing. It made no sense. How could it be real? If we had been there, our son, who was born with the chord around his neck, may not have survived.

Still, we headed back to Southeast Asia with our new baby, to friends suffering trauma. After a few months of orientating aid teams and providing pastoral care for people doing frontline disaster work, we visited one of the areas of devastation, hoping to start a new team. As a result of that trip, Steve and Daniel came down with Dengue Fever.

Steve’s illness was very severe. It is hard to describe the devastation of that time for our family. His symptoms included delirium; within a few weeks we were evacuated to Australia, and our time in Southeast Asia was over. Was this the end of our missionary career?

Not the end, just a new beginning

As we prayed, the Lord led us to another opportunity to serve – to lead OMF’s ministry in South Australia/Northern Territory. We saw that it wasn’t the end at all; we could use what we had learnt in Southeast Asia to help others understand and prepare for missions. We spent a few years in this role, then moved to Sydney to lead OMF’s ministry in NSW/ACT.

The past 17 years of serving in OMF Australia have been an incredible privilege. We journeyed with people right through their mission experience - from their first enquiry to retirement. We met people at conferences and Bible colleges, challenging them to discern God’s leading. We partnered with churches in sending new workers. Each missionary sent became a friend as we prayed for them regularly and saw God working in and through them.

The joy in God’s work

We found that the greatest privilege in our work were the times when we heard missionaries’ stories about what God was doing. There were times of weeping and rejoicing, but in both we could see God at work, growing His kingdom and His disciples. Our own challenges helped us to sit with people in these moments and share both their joy and pain.

We’ve been away from family, lived in difficult places, and at times been lonely - but there has also been so much joy! We’ve had opportunities to share about Jesus alongside people from a diverse array of cultures both in Asia and Australia. We’ve also seen God call more workers to the harvest, which has filled us with joy. God is at work today, and every day is a new beginning. As we step out in faith for a new season of life, we know that God has done a lot to shape and refine us through our time with OMF. We’ve learnt a lot about people, a lot about ourselves, and we know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Mission Discussion Nights

SALT (WA)

Sunday 7 May 6:30–8:30pm

Topic: Dreaming of a Harvest in the Desert: Church Planting in Northern Japan

INFUSION (VIC)

Thursday 11 May 7:30–9:30pm

Topic: Faith and Finance

SCOPE (NSW)

Tuesday 16 May 7:00–9:00pm

Topic: The Making of a Missionary

Mission WORKSHOPs

NSW

Saturday 20 May 1:30–4:30pm Location: Pennant Hills Baptist Church

NSW

Sunday 21 May 2:00–4:00pm Location: Evangelical Free Church of Australia

MissionS COACHING

WEEKEND

NSW | VIC | QLD | WA 13–15 October 2023

CONFERENCES

QLD MISSIONS CONFERENCE

Saturday 12 Aug 8:30am–1:30pm

Theme: Zeal for all to know the Gospel

WA MISSIONS CONFERENCE

Saturday 12 Aug 8:30am–1:30pm

Theme: Zeal for all to know the Gospel

OMF MISSIONS CONFERENCE

15–17 March 2024

Theme: Passion for the Lost