RTIM REVIEW
#PlanForTokyo
PLANNING FOR TOKYO
As I flew home from our Plan for Tokyo trip in September, I was overwhelmed by the providential hand of the Lord. With over 40 participants, we had plenty of opportunities to hear from various individuals on their interest in Tokyo. While some represent organizations that we hope to partner with in the work to come, others were evaluating their desire and fitness for a potential assignment in Tokyo. Two of those individuals have contributed to this issue of the RTIM Review.
David Rainer aspires to plant an Englishspeaking congregation in Tokyo, and Kris Castro aspires to plant a Japanesespeaking congregation once he’s reached the necessary proficiency in Japanese. David has already lived in Japan, as you’ll read, and Kris’ heart has only grown as he’s met with a number of Louisville residents for a regular prayer night focused on Japan. I suspect Kris won’t be the last person mobilized by first praying for a place. In fact, another family, the Strueckers, developed a heart for Japan while consistently praying for the country around the dinner table a few years ago. Lord willing, they’ll be landing in the country to start language learning soon. I can’t wait to introduce you to the folks heading to Japan in the coming years. Each one of their stories is evidence of God’s sovereignty at work.
From the very beginning of the Tokyo campaign, our heart was to work with our friends in other organizations. So, we were thrilled when brothers from the ACME Fellowship, the CROSS Conference, the Immanuel Network, and the Pillar Network joined us in Tokyo as they began to plan how their organizations can partner in the coming years. You’ll hear from brothers from those organizations in “Associationalism for the Sake of Japan” and “A Sending Church’s Perspective.”
While we have shed a light on the gospel need in Tokyo this year, there are so many other needs around the world for healthy missions work. In October, we launched the William Carey Project in partnership with the Pillar Network and Radius International. We want to challenge local churches to strategize with like-minded churches to team up and send qualified missionaries to language groups that have never heard the gospel. You can think of this as associationalism for the sake of unreached language groups. While we strive to see healthy churches in large cities across the world, we must also recognize that there are entire language groups that have never heard the gospel and don’t speak a trade language that would give them access to the gospel in another tongue. We’d love for you to join us in praying for this project.
2025 has been a full year. We’re thrilled to share with you all that the Lord has done in 2025, and we’re excited for the upcoming Practicum in 2026. Do you know a student 18 years old or older who would benefit from six weeks overseas working alongside RTIM global workers committed to churchcentered missions? If so, I’d encourage you to tell both the student and your pastors about the Practicum!
Finally, as the calendar year closes, we know that all individuals and churches are making year-end giving decisions. If you support a Reaching & Teaching global worker or staff member, I want to personally thank you for your ministry investment. If the Lord has given you additional resources to steward, please consider giving him or her a year-end gift. If you haven’t yet made a gift to Reaching & Teaching and don’t know a global worker or staff member, I encourage you to consider our Global Fund. The resources donated to our
Global Fund allow us to continue to provide the services that our workers and their churches deserve.
As 2025 draws to a close, I want to thank you for your partnership in the gospel. We are praying for the Lord to draw many around the world to himself through the efforts of faithful churches that are being planted and strengthened by RTIM global workers. Please join us in praying toward that end!
Sincerely,
Ryan Robertson President
RYAN ROBERTSON
Ryan Robertson serves as the President of Reaching & Teaching. Robertson has previously served in executive leadership positions for public companies and other non-profit organizations and has been a board member of several different charities. In 2014, he obtained his CPA from the State of Massachusetts. Robertson is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Missiology program at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ryan and his wife Erin have three children and are members of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, where Ryan serves as an elder.
RETURNING TO JAPAN
David Rainer
Aspiring Missionary to Tokyo
ACHING
“Goodbye, I’m leaving this house and this country for home. With a heart full and aching with wonder to reap every seed I have sown. If the time were not now, I think I might stay right here with my feet on the ground. But the sunset is flown away to the west and it’s her I must follow on down.”
My iPod shuffled these folk lyrics into my ears and onto my breaking heart as I walked the streets of our neighborhood — where we raised our son from infant to toddler, where our daughter was
born, where we were broken and built up by the Lord as missionaries in Japan. We were returning home to the States the next day. Even though we hoped to return, there was no realistic open door. On that final night, I walked and soaked in the land I loved as long as I could as this song providentially put words to my tangled emotions.
That ache for Japan never died. We returned to the States, adopted two children, and raised our four kids in the Deep South. I served the Lord as a pastor. And yet, through it all, I was Japan-haunted. I learned the secret of contentment and looked to Jesus to satisfy all my longings to return. He faithfully gave us passion and joy to bloom where we were planted and shepherd the flock among us, learning
to love new ministry and missions partners. But Japan was a relentless whisper that I could never completely silence.
RETURNING
Fourteen years after leaving Japan, in January 2025, I learned about the #prayfortokyo campaign. I asked the Lord to help me lay aside old wounds and reengage Japan in a robust way through prayer. Weeks later, God kindly and sovereignly orchestrated conversations that I did not pursue and could never have imagined. These conversations led to my family prayerfully considering going as the planting pastor for an international, English-speaking church in Tokyo.
My wife and I recently returned from the Plan for Tokyo vision trip. We were humbled, encouraged, stirred, and confident in the Lord calling us and others to go for the sake of Christ being known and his church being established in Tokyo.
REFLECTING
We were humbled by the years of prayer and planning that have gone into this dream. Our goal is to establish a healthy, word-centered church that can launch gospel ministry, plant churches, sustain and equip missionaries, reach the lost, and model cooperation and church health.
We were encouraged by the many networks and ministries God is bringing together to plant healthy churches in Japan. They are like-minded in doctrine, theology, ecclesiology, and methodology. Missionaries who come to Tokyo will not be alone. They will
be surrounded by believers both on the ground and holding the rope at home who share their core values and convictions to glorify God according to Scripture (Ps 133:1; 1 Cor 1:10).
We were stirred as we met with multiple ministries, pastors, and missionaries already in Tokyo. Japan is often called a missionary graveyard, but the Lord is committed to reach all nations and to fill the earth “‘with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’” (Hab 2:14 ESV). There are many faithful servants laboring in this difficult terrain — and praise God, there is fruit!
We left Japan confident that the Lord will establish his church, even in Tokyo (Matt 16:18). I thought of several passages. “‘For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations ... says the Lord of hosts’” (Mal 1:11). “All the ends of the
earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you” (Ps 22:27). The work is hard and slow, but Jesus has given the church all authority to go and is with us always (Matt 28:20).
INVITING
Coming to Tokyo is an opportunity to be stewarded. It is a privilege. We know from our previous years in Japan that the darkness can feel overwhelming at times. Some missionaries have been plodding faithfully for decades and seen little results. But Christ is worthy of the praise of all the peoples in Tokyo. Confident in the Lord’s promises and presence, seeing what he is already doing among his people with a vision to reach Tokyo, I heartily encourage potential missionaries to pray and consider coming. It will be difficult, but “‘it may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few’” (1 Sam 14:6).
DAVID RAINER
David graduated from UAB and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served as a pastor in South Carolina and as a missionary in Japan. David currently serves as the Pastor of Discipleship at Concord Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN. David and his wife, Mindy, have four children: Anthony, Aislinn, Luke, and Evangeline. He enjoys being with his family, the outdoors, reading, and sports.
A JAPANESE PRAYER NIGHT
Kris Castro
Aspiring Missionary to Tokyo
It all began nearly four years ago when a few Japanese students at Southern Seminary — three brothers and one sister, all members of healthy Louisville churches — invited my wife Linh and me into a conversation. They knew we were burdened for Japan. Jo Yozawa, now back in Tokyo, was one of them; Timothy Seminoff, who remains at Third Avenue Baptist Church and plans to work with college students in Tokyo, was another. Along with another brother and sister, they dreamed with us: what if we prayed for more likeminded missionaries and more workers for the unreached and unengaged in Tokyo and throughout Japan?
That dream became Japan Prayer Night. It was a small gathering that served our big God. We met, we prayed, and the Lord answered. First, Jo Yozawa, after years at Southern and Third Avenue, returned to Tokyo. Now married to Kana, he faithfully serves the Lord there. Then Robbie and Briana Hughes, who once prayed alongside us, arrived in Tokyo with Reaching & Teaching.
“It was a small gathering that served our big God. We met, we prayed, and the Lord answered.”
They were welcomed by Yokohama International Baptist Church, where they are now immersed in language learning and serving the church there. Third, a partnership began between RTIM and YIBC, which is an answer to our prayers.
Through these connections, I was able to join many like-minded pastors, church leaders, and organizational leaders for the Plan for Tokyo trip last month. We met more people and more churches, both in the United States and in Japan, who share our burden for healthy local churches to be planted in Tokyo.
To this day, every third Saturday, Japan Prayer Night continues. We gather, share Japanese meals, and pray.
Sometimes, Japanese families here in Louisville join us. We occasionally hear from missionaries in Japan via videoconferencing. As we commune through fellowship, God’s word, and prayer, we have seen how the Lord meets us. We hope that this story encourages you to pray, even in small groups, trusting that God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20–21 ESV).
KRIS CASTRO
Kristan was born and raised in the Philippines. With his parents and siblings, they immigrated to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2001. Although living in open rebellion against God and pursuing a life of self-pleasure, Kris began—by the Lord’s mercy—to trust in Jesus in his college years. Kris met his wife, Linh, at a Bible school in Georgia, then moved to Louisville for seminary. The Castros joined Immanuel in 2016. They have a son named Judah. Kris enjoys photography, having people over, and spending time with his family.
A SENDING CHURCH’S
PERSPECTIVE
Ryan Fullerton
Sending
Church Pastor
In September, I had the privilege of visiting the great city of Tokyo with one of my sons, one of my fellow pastors, and a dedicated band of prospective RTIM missionaries and RTIM missions supporters. Here are a few things I am thankful for after completing that trip.
GOD’S HEART FOR TOKYO GIVEN TO MANY
It is hard to exaggerate how big a city Tokyo is. It’s gargantuan. The population of my home country, Canada, is roughly the same as that of the Greater Tokyo Area. Google it. It’s true. I know big numbers are not everything. God loves all the small towns of the world, but the book of Jonah makes it clear that God wants to move where there are masses of humanity. In fact, Jonah ends with God’s heart for a great city being expressed through a compassionate rhetorical question. God asks Jonah, “‘Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left?’” (Jonah 4:11 ESV). My heart answers that question, “Yes, Lord, it is right that you would pity such a great city. It is wonderful that you display your glory by showing compassion to great cities like Nineveh.”
It seems to me that God is giving many the same compassionate heart. Thousands of students are praying for Tokyo, and on my trip to the city, I saw God is answering those prayers. The
dedicated band of pastors, mobilizers, and future missionaries on this trip to Tokyo encourage me to think that many are graciously being given God’s heart for this great city.
GOD’S ONGOING WORK IN TOKYO
One of my favorite parts of our trip was the morning we spent hearing a detailed history of Christianity in Japan. I’m a sucker for a good history lecture. I loved hearing the history of the church in Japan because it is so encouraging to remember that we are not sending missionaries to Tokyo to start something. Instead, we hope to continue what God is already doing. For at least 400 years, God has been at work in Tokyo and throughout Japan. This shouldn’t surprise us. In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised that believers would receive power to spread the gospel from ground zero in Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. He has been keeping this promise for 2000 years now, so it is not surprising that we found evidence of his work in Tokyo. On our trip, we saw church buildings, attended a church service, met with multiple pastors, and heard stories of the different places where God has been at work in Tokyo. It’s true that less than 1% of Japanese people are Christians, and that most Japanese people don’t have a Christian friend. So, there is clearly a lot of work to do. But the work is not beginning in 2025. God has been advancing the church
since the day of Pentecost, and we have the privilege of joining those who have gone before us. It’s always a little easier to trust the promise of God that he will build his church when you can see how much of that promise he has already kept. Knowing God has already been working makes me thankful.
WALKING WITH MY PASTOR AND FUTURE
MISSIONARY THROUGH THE CITY HE LOVES
My fellow pastor Kris loves Tokyo. He loves Jesus more, but he loves Tokyo a lot. He longs to see Jesus glorified in Tokyo. In the coming years, he hopes to learn Japanese and plant a Japanesespeaking church in Tokyo in cooperation with indigenous Japanese believers. When Andrew Fuller sent William Carey to India, he never saw where Carey lived, moved, or served Jesus. He just sent him off and prayed for him. He could only lower Carey down to India and hold the rope from afar. In our day, I can travel to my brother Kris’ field of service in under 24 hours. I can meet his future coworkers. I can learn and experience some of the challenges he will face. I can taste the sushi that will be his daily bread. I hope that my exposure to Tokyo will make me a better rope holder for Kris. I hope that knowing more of his context will make me a better counselor and colaborer for the brother I love. I appreciate that the missions agency he is going out with will know so much about his context as well.
RYAN FULLERTON
Ryan was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up all over western Canada. Throughout his teen years, he lived in open rebellion against God, pursuing all the world had to offer. Through the simple and intelligent witness of his step-mom, he came to trust Jesus Christ in 1995. Shortly after his conversion, he studied at Prairie Bible College in Three Hills Alberta, and then at Tyndale College in Toronto, Ontario. Ryan is married to Christy, and they have four children: Jordana, Luke, James, and Jones. They now live in Louisville, Kentucky, where he serves as the Lead Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church.
ASSOCIATIONALISM FOR THE SAKE OF JAPAN
Matt Schmucker Director of CROSS
In September, I traveled to Tokyo as a representative of Cross Conference with a small group of leaders from various gospel-minded organizations. Our goal was to meet workers on the ground and to figure out how we can partner to build more gospel infrastructure.
Japan ranks sixth — behind India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and China — for the largest number of people living in unreached people groups. Tokyo alone, with its 37 million residents, is often cited as having the second-largest concentration of unreached people in the world. In short, we saw masses of people, cultish religions, and very little gospel.
Through one lecture on the history of Christianity in Japan, I was struck by how long missionaries have been working in Japan, and at the same time, how seemingly little we have to show for it today. But the work of reaching Tokyo was almost never going to happen on the backs of missionaries coming out of the West; the language and cultural barriers between locals and foreigners are as great as I’ve seen anywhere. It became obvious that we need a way to train and send out Japanese men as church planters. Based on my experience in South Asia, this will be a slow, plodding process. We will have wins and losses along the way. But what’s the alternative?
What would I do? I’d likely focus on a few things:
– Publish faithful literature and make it widely available at no cost.
– Build internship programs for future pastors on the backs of faithful churches.
– Launch seminary-level training for future pastors.
– Grow a network of sponsoring churches and individuals from the West.
The trip was both a challenge — seeing the great need — and very refreshing, as I had time to walk or sit with other ministry leaders and hear their plans and dreams. Ministry leaders often don’t get much time where they’re not leading. I walked away hopeful that with enough time, resources, and God’s grace, Tokyo could be the center from which the gospel pushes out to Japan and much of Asia. Lord, let it be!
Lastly, I’m reminded of C.H. Spurgeon’s quote, and I am motivated to live up to it: “If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervour at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is in the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world.”
CROSS exists to call 18-25 year olds to make their life count by making Jesus’ name known. They do this through an annual conference that emphasizes the gospel, the local church, and God’s heart for the nations. To learn more about CROSS,
Omar Johnson Board Member, ACME
In September, I had the privilege of representing The Association of Churches for Missions and Evangelism on a planning trip to Tokyo. Joining me were about 40 other leaders from churches and missions organizations. We gathered to explore gospel work underway in Tokyo and to strategize together to see the good news spread and disciples multiplied. Our shared vision was that healthy churches would be started and strengthened in Tokyo — churches that could serve as hubs for kingdom impact in Japan and beyond.
Even on the 14-hour trip to Tokyo, I sensed the Lord’s providential hand at work. Because of a ticket mix-up, I found myself in the exit row — me by the window, a Reaching & Teaching worker on the aisle, and a woman named Laquay between us. She was traveling to Tokyo for a new military post. While we were heading to Tokyo to plan gospel work, God planned for gospel work to begin on the way there. Laquay shared her story and some of her struggles with us, and we were able to share the good news of Jesus with her. God is sovereign over seating charts and over salvation. Pray for Laquay.
Once in Tokyo, we began a whirlwind exploration of the city, culture, and people. Though there were crowds everywhere, I was struck by the cleanliness and quietness in the streets, and by the beauty and orderliness of everything. These were not just masses of people but people made in God’s image, all reflecting something of his character even if they did not yet know him.
At one point, I visited a local bookstore and asked if they had a religion section. In America, even the most secular of bookstores usually sell some religious
books, even if they promote a god different from the God of the Bible. In Tokyo, however, the employee looked puzzled. There was no such section. Formal, organized religious thought seemed as foreign as my dark-skinned face.
And yet, the people of Japan are deeply religious, as evidenced through their rituals. In one heartbreaking scene outside a temple, I watched crowds wave smoke from an altar onto their bodies, hoping for a blessing. It’s an empty hope. The blessing they need is not found in an altar, but in Christ, who sacrificed his life on the altar of the cross to save peoples from all nations from their sins.
One afternoon, as I stood in the lobby of a coffee shop waiting for my order, I watched streams of people flooding down the street — and this was just a side street in a seemingly nondescript part of the city! I remember thinking, “Most of these people are headed to hell because they’ve never heard of Christ.”
And yet, Christ is being proclaimed. We met faithful Japanese pastors and other gospel workers translating biblical resources into Japanese. They are training leaders and hoping to start a Christ-exalting, church-centered campus
ministry at one of Japan’s top universities. Praise God for gospel laborers.
But they are few. And the harvest is plentiful.
Our group of 40 leaders on the trip is now praying and planning together. We are asking the Lord to raise up more workers, plant more gospel seeds, and send more gospel laborers into the harvest of Tokyo so that more and more Japanese people might know the only name under which heaven by which they can be saved — Jesus.
Pray with us. Partner with us in this effort.
The Association of Churches for Missions and Evangelism (ACME) exists to unite and mobilize likeminded churches to fund pastors, church planters, missionaries, and other projects around the world through grants. To learn more about ACME, visit acmefellowship.org
YEAR-END HIGHLIGHTS
PRAYER PROMPTS
1. Pray for Endurance & Fruitfulness
Ask the Lord to strengthen our 151 global worker units as they labor to make mature disciples in hard places. Pray for endurance, joy, and visible fruit as they faithfully proclaim Christ in global cities and among unreached language groups.
2. Pray for Healthy, Established Churches
Pray that the churches being planted, revitalized, and strengthened in 51 countries would be rooted deeply in God’s Word. Ask God to raise up biblically faithful elders, committed members, and churches marked by holiness, unity, and love.
3. Pray for Local Leaders to Be Trained & Sent
Lift up the pastors, ministry leaders, and emerging teachers being trained by our workers. Pray that this next generation of leaders would be equipped, courageous, and faithful.
4. Pray for Provision, Protection & Growth in 2026
Pray for God to meet every need of our global workers—financial, spiritual, emotional, and physical—as they serve. Ask the Lord to grant protection, open doors for ministry, and prepare RTIM to send even more workers in 2026 for the sake of Christ’s name among the nations.
Matt Bennett Director of Long-Term Ministry
The Lord has been very kind to our Long-Term Team in 2025. Over 30 units have come through our application process successfully. We’ve enjoyed yet another year of partnering with churches to support their sent ones. In addition, we have developed and filled five new roles that have helped us build more healthy structures:
– Member Care Administrator (Tim Hamer)
– Lead Administrative Assistant (Karis Rivette)
– Security Advisor (Warren Mays)
– Culture & Language Acquisition Coaches (Glen and Bethany Moore)
– Bible Translation Consultant (Glen Moore).
These brothers and sisters have already begun transforming our operations in important ways as we seek to maintain healthy growth that does not distract from our mission.
“As 2025 draws to a close, I want to thank you for your partnership in the gospel. We are praying for the Lord to draw many around the world to himself through the efforts of faithful churches that are being planted and strengthened by RTIM global workers. Please join us in praying toward that end!”
- Ryan Robertson
With these new positions—specifically the CLA Coaches, the BT Consultant, and the Security Advisor—we are asking for the Lord’s wisdom in constructing structures that will sustain us in crucial areas as we continue to grow. Please join us in these prayers and also in praising the Lord that we have the privilege of laboring so that his glory might be magnified among the nations.
Rachel Ware Director of Mobilization
As we approach the end of this year, I can’t help but reflect on how kind the Lord has been to Reaching & Teaching. The pipeline has progressed steadily with wonderful, elder and deaconqualified men and women who are committed to the glory of Christ above all else. Our relationships with pastors and partner churches are becoming more meaningful as the years roll by. God continues to provide opportunities to speak into the broader missiology conversation and advocate for a churchcentered approach. What a privilege it is to labor for the good of God’s church around the world!
I sometimes tell people that mobilization has the best seat on the bus. We get a front-row perspective of how God is leading individuals to submit to their local church and sacrifice everything they have to bring the gospel to those who need it. Then we get to watch them connect with new, like-minded friends who share the same convictions. Finally, we see them link arms together to build healthy churches around the world. This is our happy assignment at Reaching & Teaching, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store in 2026. Pray that we would remain faithful to him.
– The year started with around seven units who were interested in longterm work in Japan. Now there are over 40. Praise God!
– We had over 300 people attend Preview Days in 2025! If you haven’t yet attended one, we would love to have you join us at one of our 2026 locations.
– In Summer 2025, we launched our biggest Practicum class yet with 46 students in 11 different locations.
Scott Mescher
Director of Global Training
It’s been an exciting year for the Global Training Department. Our team has facilitated 47 church partners on 51 trips to 14 different countries. We’ve completed nine Site Surveys, which will lead to new training sites in 2026. We also saw the graduation for three Pastoral Training sites and the completion of two Women’s Institutes.
Numbers are exciting, but they only provide a glimpse of what the Lord is doing. We are thankful for the many avenues of ministry God has opened and hope to be faithful to the opportunities He sets before us.
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE:
Cisterna di Latina, Italy – Both the women in the church and the pastor of the church were influenced by the presence of RTIM’s teaching team.
In particular, the pastor’s interest in expository preaching and ecclesiology grew over the three-year commitment.
PASTORAL TRAINING:
Red Bank, Belize – The challenges that we faced while opening this training site paid off in the end. After one week of teaching, Pastor Miguel responded, “So many gringos have come here with money and stuff, but then they leave and we pastors have a mess. . . . Finally, you gringos came to teach us pastors the Bible and finish the task.”
This year, the Mayan pastors celebrated graduation and encouraged one another with expository preaching and exercises in responding biblically to issues in the church.
CHURCH STRENGTHENING SEMINARS:
Mantova, Italy – The members of “Grace and Truth” church have expressed much gratitude for the teaching. It has strengthened the identity of this evangelical church in the heart of Roman Catholic society.
In 2026, we look forward to the work ahead. Our department has added new staff that will allow us to broaden our training both regionally and relationally. Please pray for our wisdom. In particular, pray for clarity to discern options through cross-cultural communication and good stewardship of everyone’s time and resources.
Tim Hamer
Sending Church Coordinator & Member Care Associate
Our Member Care Team’s core objective is to know and encourage the hearts of our missionaries. The goal is not just crisis response but proactive soul care. To accomplish this work, RTIM has a ten-member team whom we deploy all around the globe. They spend time in the living rooms of our workers, many hours on Zoom calls, and much time in prayer.
Reflecting on 2025, we have come alongside our units through many challenges. This year brought sick kids, forced departures from countries, cancer diagnoses, motorcycle accidents, and the daily trials of life on the mission field. Our workers are not immune from hardship. In fact, they knowingly stepped into it.
At the same time, 2025 was also filled with great joy. God provided impossible visas, saved many hard-to-reach people, established new churches, and gave new life—both physical and spiritual. He has been abundantly kind to our people! He is at work, He is moving, and He is worthy.
Looking ahead to 2026, please pray for:
– Physical safety for families serving in jungle contexts among tribal people
– Those who have been displaced and are looking for a new country of service
– Several families facing serious illness and cancer treatment
– Perseverance for those discouraged in language learning, and for missionary kids adapting to new cultures
– Families back home who deeply miss their loved ones overseas.
Partner with Reaching & Teaching through the Global Fund
We invite you to prayerfully consider a year-end gift to a Reaching & Teaching Global Worker, Staff Member, or the Global Fund. For gifts of $100 or more to the Global Fund this year-end, receive a copy of the new book Prioritizing the Church in Missions.
You can find out more by visiting rtim.org/give
Dylan Eagle Director of Development & Communications
As we look back on 2025, the Development Team is filled with deep gratitude for everything the Lord has accomplished through Reaching & Teaching, answering prayers through you! This year, nearly 10,000 partners in the gospel—churches, individuals, foundations, and organizations—came alongside our mission with remarkable generosity, and thousands more have joined us through prayer and encouragement for our global team. Your partnership has fueled gospel work from global cities to unreached language groups, strengthening local churches and supporting Global Workers who labor to make mature disciples and train local leaders. We do not take lightly the trust placed in us, represented in every gift, prayer, and word of encouragement. The growth we’ve experienced this year is ultimately the Lord’s kindness expressed through you.
Looking ahead, we invite you to join us in prayer as we prepare for 2026.
– Pray that RTIM would be fully equipped to appoint and send an additional thirty missionary units in the coming year—sending them well with clarity, care, and churchcentered support.
– Pray that every Global Worker would be fully funded and supplied with the resources needed to serve faithfully and thrive on the field.
– Pray that the Lord would raise up even more partners who will link arms with us to send laborers to the nations.
Thank you for standing with us for the glory of Christ among the nations! Together, we look forward to what God will do in 2026 and the years ahead.
GROW: THE PRACTICUM & GLOBAL INTERNSHIP
Alex German Practicum & Global Internship Coordinator
How do we faithfully come alongside those who are discerning their role in missions?
I think opportunities like the Practicum and the Global Internship are so strategic to this question. Spending weeks or months in a local church overseas allows individuals to learn practical aspects of cross-cultural ministry and discern their own aspirations.
One of the best ways to learn about the joys and hardships of international ministry is to experience it! Reading missionary biographies can be beneficial, yet there’s a sweetness to asking questions and hearing mature, faithful workers talk about the present realities of overseas work.
It’s invaluable to experience various aspects of cross-cultural ministry in the context of a local church: language learning, campus ministry, VBS, neighborhood evangelism, pastoral training, and the list goes on.
No one is perfectly prepared to spend years laboring to see churches planted and strengthened, yet taking an opportunity to grow in experience and understanding of the work can be so beneficial.
This practical experience and growth will hopefully lead to greater clarity. I’m not saying that short-term missions are a crystal ball. The combination of highs and lows may leave some people as uncertain as when they left. But for others, it can lead to a greater understanding of caring and sending well or increase their desire to go.
Our hope is that participants would come back with expanded love for the local church and deeper understanding Coupled
of the church as God’s means for proclaiming the glories of the gospel.
Coupled with being known by a local church, these opportunities help fit more pieces in the puzzle as faithful, ordinary Christians discern their role in missions. If they decide to stay home and send well, praise God! If they decide to go to the field, praise God!
Learn more about the Practicum and Global Internship at rtim.org.
In 1793, William Carey sailed to India, serving as a missionary until his death 41 years later. Carey’s sacrificial life has since challenged countless Christians to spend their lives proclaiming the gospel to those who have never heard the good news.
The William Carey Project aims to equip local churches to send qualified missionaries to unreached language groups.
We’re sharing 10 unreached language groups, along with ways you can pray for them and for work amongst unreached language groups around the world.
SO, PRAY WITH US.
Pray that God would raise up laborers for these language groups. Pray that your church would be discerning in how they can partner with others in the spread of the gospel. Pray that you would be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, whether here or abroad.
1. Pray for God to be glorified by the praise of people in every language spoken today around the world, including the Aimaq.
2. Pray for Pillar Network churches to partner together to send teams to plant churches amongst ULGs
3. Pray for perseverance for the global workers striving to plant among unreached language groups.
AMPANGANG
4. Pray for GSI as they partner with churches to plant churches among unreached language groups.
5. Pray that God will cause the Ampangang people to see the truth and beauty of thegospel when missionaries begin work among them.
6. Pray that the glory of God will be proclaimed among the nations, and his marvelous works among all people (1 Chron. 16:24).
MATBAT
7. Pray that the Matbat would taste and see that the Lord is good.
8. Pray for the past and current students at Radius acquiring the necessary skills tochurch plant amongst unreached languages.
9. Pray for local churches to train up and send workers to language groups around the world to share the gospel, plant local churches, and raise up elders.
ALAS
10. Pray for workers among unreached language groups who are learning their first language in country.
11. Pray that global workers around the world would be strengthened by the truth that nothing is too hard for God to accomplish.
12. Pray that God would open blind eyes among the Alas to see his glory.
ALLU
13. Pray that many Allu people would hear God’s Word and be converted.
14. Pray for Ethnos360 as they seek to plant thriving churches among unreached language groups.
15. Praise God that he reigns over the all the earth.
DUNGAN
16. Pray for RTIM missionaries currently striving to plant churches in unreached language groups.
17. Pray for God to raise up local churches who will send to the Dungan people - there is currently no gospel presence among them.
18. Pray that missionaries around the world will rest in God’s sovereignty.
ALU
19. Pray for missionaries in unreached language groups who are currently learning their second language.
20. Pray that the Alu will fear the name of the Lord.
21. Pray for Bible translators to be encouraged in their work today.
IR
22. Pray for ACME churches to partner together to send teams to plant churches amongst unreached language groups.
23. Pray that many Ir people will proclaim that the Lord is good and his steadfast love endures forever.
24. Pray for indigenous churches around the world to be sustained by God’s Word.
CHUT
25. Pray for the IMB as they send workers around the globe.
26. Pray that the Chut people will declare God’s glory in their native tongue.
27. Pray for Vietnamese Christians to be burdened for the Chut to know God’s Word.
NUNG
28. Pray for the health and security of those working among unreached language groups.
29. Pray that by the power of the gospel, many Nung will receive God’s mercy and become a part of his people.
30. Pray that many languages around the globe will proclaim that “salvation belongs to the one who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).
REGIONAL UPDATES - EUROPE
Peter Brock
Regional Leader - Europe & MENA
I’m often asked about the struggles and difficulties of missions work in Europe. My answer usually contains elements of the pervasiveness of secularism, dead state churches, empty forms of godliness, God and Christ are irrelevant, everything is questioned, nothing is certain, etc. The list is long and daunting. What was once fertile soil for the gospel has become hard, dry, and mostly unproductive spiritually. In this harsh spiritual climate, where do we see the green sprigs of growth and health? Imagine a hard and dry field with green dots of new, and in some cases, flourishing spiritual growth.
Each green dot represents a church focused on the gospel and devoted to the centrality of the local church in carrying out the work of Christ. RTIM workers are serving in churches across 13 countries throughout Western and Central Europe. But what do these green sprigs of gospel growth look like? Some examples:
In Novi Sad, Serbia a RTIM worker family is in the early stages of planting an English-speaking church in this needy city. A few hindrances to church growth are a dead state Orthodox church, the Socialist history of the country, and the branding of outside “religion” as a sect or cult. Pray for this young church plant to grow roots deep in the gospel and flourish through the preaching and teaching of the Word.
Pray for the continued growth of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Exeter, England. Emmanuel was planted in
“We rejoice in how God is nurturing these “green sprigs” of gospel life through the ordinary means of grace and fidelity to the Word of God.”
2024 and has seen consistent steady growth, for which we are thankful. The need for growing healthy churches in England, and particularly in Exeter is expressed this way on the church’s website, “A number of Christian leaders in the UK have indicated an enormous need for more churches in the southwest that: treasure the Gospel, are committed to preaching His Word, and model a healthy Biblical ecclesiology.” Pray for the RTIM worker who is serving as an elder in the church. Ask that he will shepherd with humility and wisdom.
Carrigtwohill Baptist Church is a new church plant in the south of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland has one of the lowest percentages of evangelical Christians in the English-speaking world. As a result, the need is great for healthy, clear gospel preaching and teaching churches. Pray for the RTIM family that is serving the new church. Ask they will serve with humility and grace. Pray also for the growth and health of this young “green dot” in the beautiful, but spiritually dry and barren land of Ireland.
Gereformeerde Baptistengemeente (GBG) Rotterdam-Zuid is an example
of a young and growing church plant in the Netherlands. The need for clear, well-articulated biblical truth is great, and the growth of this congregation has been encouraging. Through faithful expository preaching, a steadfast commitment to gospel fidelity, and intentional engagement with the surrounding community, the church is experiencing steady growth.
Please pray for the RTIM worker leading this plant. Ask God to strengthen him to remain faithful in shepherding the flock for the glory of Christ.
Though Europe is often marked by spiritual dryness and secularism, we rejoice in how God is nurturing these ‘green sprigs’ of gospel life through the ordinary means of grace and fidelity to the Word of God.
Learn more about Long-term opportunities by connecting with a Mobilizer at rtim.org.
“
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
Psalm 22:27
