ASIA PACIFIC REGION is preparing for the SUMMIT

Russ Turney, AGWM regional director for Asia Pacific.

PURPOSE: 34 nations, 1 billion people and thousands of people groups that have not yet received an adequate gospel witness! It's about THEM! It is about unreached groups in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar, East Timor, and Pacific Island countries to name a few. Come and help us reach them.

We have a GOAL in Asia Pacific. It is to reach every nation, every town and village, every hidden and remote group, every person who has not yet been reached with the gospel. Has God called you to a deeper commitment to reach the unreached? Then you need to prayerfully consider the Asia Pacific region.

We have an INTENTIONAL FOCUS. The Assemblies of God in Asia Pacific

has experienced explosive growth during the past 15 years. Strong national churches with thousands of believers are spread across this vast area.

Missionaries and missionary associates work with national leaders and local pastors in evangelism outreaches, church planting, compassion ministries and training. More than 4 million people attend one of 22,000 churches in the region, yet many people groups remain largely untouched by the gospel.

To address this problem, the Asia Pacific region initiated a focus to identify unevangelized language groups. This resulted in the development of the Strategic Church Planting Initiative. Through this effort, unreached people groups in the region receive intentional focus for outreach. Missionary personnel gather cultural information for training purposes, to be better equipped to live among these people, and to effectively present the gospel. Several groups are in sensitive areas where Western missionaries cannot live. Some groups have hundreds of thousands of people, others fewer. All are important and need a clear presentation of the gospel.

Buddhism, Hinduism, animism and other religions influence every aspect of life for many unreached people groups in Asia Pacific. Reports are received of some who have responded to Christian radio broadcasts, but in many cases, no Christian workers minister among them. Often no Scriptures are available in their local dialect.

One large group traces its roots to the Kingdom of Champa that flourished in southern Vietnam in the late 1400s. Today a remnant, numbering nearly 300,000, lives in Vietnam and Cambodia. One of the few remaining ancient cultures, the Cham people group has maintained its language, culture and religious beliefs. A matriarchal society, its written language is a variation of ancient Sanskrit. Some Cham have integrated into society, but only a few have accepted Christ as their Savior.

The Myanmar Assemblies of God is the third-largest national church in Asia Pacific. The Fellowship has more than 1,400 churches and preaching points with 234,000 constituents. All AGWM personnel were required to leave in the 1960s, but a couple established residence in the nation in 2004. Efforts are under way to reach the Bama, a people group of 25 million that comprises 60 percent of the population. The Bama have been resistant to the gospel and are largely unevangelized. They are Theravada Buddhists who claim to draw their spiritual inspiration from the earliest surviving record of Buddha's teachings.

About 125 years ago, indentured laborers from India came to Fiji to work in the sugar cane industry. Today's 366,000 Fijian Indians are mostly Hindu and account for about 44 percent of the population. Although the Fiji Assemblies of God is strong, many Fijian Indians have not had the opportunity to hear the gospel.

The Mongolia Assemblies of God began in 1993 as an evangelism outreach in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. The Fellowship has grown to 18 churches, but no work exists among the Buryat people of northern Mongolia. A segment of this people group lives across the border in Siberian Russia and has heard the gospel through Siberian believers.

The Strategic Church Planting Initiative is a cooperative effort between national fellowships and AGWM to focus on the least-reached people groups of our region. National churches will release cross-cultural workers with business and professional skills to live among these groups and share their faith.

Some areas are experiencing explosive growth, and workers are needed to help conserve the harvest, train workers, and strengthen the hands of missionaries and national leaders. We need teams of youth who will commit from 2 to 11 months for concentrated efforts in reaching youth on university campuses, children in remote villages, street kids, hidden and remote people groups, and those living in the megacities of Asia.

Come and link arms with us, and together let's bring in the final and greatest harvest for the Kingdom. This SUMMIT will be a watershed event and an opportunity to discover open doors to serve God in Asia Pacific.