LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025
Happy New Year, friends! I'm excited about 2025. I hope you are.
It's just an exciting opportunity to see what God is going to do this next year with us. And I'm encouraged. I think He's going to do some neat things.
Need for Deeper Discipleship
You know, one of the things that has been noted by the World Evangelical Alliance and the Lausanne Movement—it's the number one gap in the world—is a discipleship gap. We really need to go deeper with our leaders.
Therefore, one of the focal points of A3 this next year is investing deeply in the lives of our leaders. This isn't a new focus, as A3 has always implemented a process that emphasizes character development. Yet, we are trying to further innovate toward inner growth, deepening our impact in each leader, because it's crucial.
I would ask you to pray for our leaders in this because this is the critical moment for the Church to go deeper in our walk with Christ so that we don't see the kind of celebrity syndrome that is impacting leaders or see so many leaders who are unfortunately falling out and falling by the wayside.
In addition to that, this next year, we are expanding our scope in surprising fashion.
Coming Alongside a Country No Longer Dormant
First, we had a country come to us just recently saying they were in operation, though we thought it was still dormant. Not only are they in operation, but they have 90 different leaders in six different cohorts, and they're saying, "Please come alongside of us again!" And so we're excited to reinvest in that country, one of the largest in the world.
Growing Vision & Hope for Japan
Next, our work in Japan is very encouraging to me because they want to double the Christian population and we're seeing more missionaries sent to Japan, and it's just a thrilling synergy to see the timing of all this come together.
More Footprints into New Continents
As we grow, you may have heard that we've put our footprints into some new continents the last few years. We started working in North Africa and a little bit in Europe this past year. And just recently we started working in the Americas.
Well, friends, not long ago, my colleagues returned from a trip where A3 is exploring about 10 new countries in Africa. We won't open all of them in 2025, but the potential is enormous.
And so all these continents, I anticipate at least a country, perhaps two or three that will be opening in the next year. And so 2025 is going to be an exciting year.
Investing in the Next Generation
And then finally, as we talk about discipleship being a key gap, it's critical that we invest in the next generation. And A3 as a movement is really investing in younger leaders.
One signpost of our commitment is that one of our senior leaders has decided to transition into retirement in early 2025. Though he will be retiring, he will fortunately stay alongside younger A3 leaders as a volunteer.
With that, we brought in a new vice president who will be the head of global ministries. And as A3 has gone global, having a Vice President for Global Ministry is super exciting. Jeyakaran Emanuel hails from the country of India. So it is very exciting to see someone from the country of India who will be a key leader in the life of A3 going forward.
Thank You for Praying for A3
So friends, would you pray for us? This is a crucial year that we go deeper in discipleship and invest in the next generation as A3 continues to grow across the nations.
We are grateful for you and just want to thank God for the partnership we have in the Kingdom. God bless you, and thank you again.
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2024 Ministry Highlights
If you missed my post on some Ministry Highlights from A3 in 2024, please click the link below.
- Find out about Japan, the rest of Asia, Africa, Europe, and even the Americas!
- Read updates about A3.business, Women in Ministry, Next-Generation Leaders, A3's influence on Lausanne, and two new training modules we've developed.
If you haven't seen this report yet, be sure to check read it here or you could watch my video summary...
Expectant for God's Hand of Blessing in 2025,
Rev. Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D.
President
@jwhandley
@jwhandley
@JosephWHandleyJr
@jwhandley
More Information
- Stories about Jeyakaran Emmanuel, our new VP for Global Ministry
- As we expand, A3 needs to enlist more support team members who will help build our capacity:
- A3 Sustainers - Partner monthly with A3 to increase momentum where we work. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
- A3 Advocates: Increase A3's influence by sharing with people in your circle.
- Cover image by Matt Noble on Unsplash
