You may have already noticed but since the beginning of the year it seems like there has been an explosion of reports about persecution and violence related to religious issues in the world. It’s something I predicted would be happening the last few years as I watched the various country elections surge with nationalistic fervor. Not long ago, I was with my colleagues from more than 12 countries many of whom face pressure and outright persecution on a weekly or monthly basis. More than a third to half of my colleagues live under constant pressure! Several of them live under death threats and in situations where violence could erupt at a moments notice. One of my colleagues in meeting with a few of them recounted this story that I thought you might like to review. I hope that this will stir your hearts to pray for the persecuted church worldwide. Four pastors from my classes in _____ were there, one with his wife as...
Indonesia (MNN) — In a surprising turn of events, Jakarta’s former governor, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, was sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy. Ahok was Indonesia’s first Christian governor running for re-election. The blasphemy charges were leveled against him by extremist Muslims during the election. After Ahok lost the election, prosecutors moved to drop the blasphemy charges for a lighter charge that would only put Ahok on two years of probation. However, Jakarta judges ignored the prosecution’s advising, and moved ahead with Ahok’s blasphemy trial and sentence.
A3’s Joe Handley explains, “In terms of the sentence itself, it’s a blasphemy charge because Ahok had quoted the Quran in what was interpreted to be out of context by the more radical side of interpretation of Islam. The moderates said he had no...
Asia (MNN) — There’s a reason why when we share stories of persecution, we ask for the Body of Christ to get involved in the solution. It’s because a key ingredient to perseverance of Christians under attack is encouragement from other Christians. While on the road with A3 last week, Ruth Kramer spoke with a pastor from a closed, creative-access country in Asia. The pastor says Christians do face persecution in his country, but it’s not always easy to pinpoint. He says, “It depends on the location area. Nowadays, for most of the big cities, it seems the government, [has slightly] opened the door for churches to do activities. But for most of the churches in the highlands and remote areas, they are still facing persecution.” For example, he shares the story of a house church in a rural area. The congregation was growing too big to fit into the pastor’s house for Sunday sermons and worship. “The pastor offered his piece of land for the church, and the church donated money, offered money to build the chapel. Right after they finished building the chapel, the local authority came with policeman and they locked...
Recently, I experienced a great deal of joy at A3/Japan National Conference. Story after story was shared that inspired me! One pastor who just graduated from A3/Japan, Tomoaki Goto, shared an incredible vision. He wants his church to be known as the Joyful Church. And Pastor Goto lives out the essence of the word “joy”. Just look at his face pictured here with me. That says it all! Before he shared, several ministry strategists spoke about the needs of the church in Japan...
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” - Matthew 13:31-32 Pastor T from a restricted access and persecuted country recently shared in Japan a concept behind a key principle of A3: Small is Big! He shared that he learned in bible school and seminary (bachelors degree to doctorate) to have a huge megachurch from schools in India, Korea and America. However, his world was turned upside down when he attended A3 leader development...
The church in Mongolia is growing rapidly, mostly due to church planting. When I arrived in 2000, the pastors were a divided and competitive lot. Each was hoping to build a mega-church. My first trip was a tug-of-war for four out of five days. Out of 25 pastors, three were former Soviet Army officers. Two of them loved communism while the other hated it. The real struggle, though, was against level 3 megachurches. Everyone in the room clamored to pastor the largest church in the nation. After four days of arguing, they finally got the message about making disciples and multiplying churches. Every pastor in that group planted multiple churches in the next 12 months...
I was deeply encouraged by Pastor Sato this week as he shared about the Ghost Town of Fukushima. You see, more than five years ago, his city, home and church had to be evacuated because of the meltdown of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant near his home. Exodus ChurchHis church went on a journey famously called the Exodus Church while they traveled all over the country. Today, he was able to return to the area, re-planting the church in a nearby town: a church that the original founder had a vision to see started when the church began 70 years ago. Today, in this Ghost Town, there is...
A3 utilizes an interwoven curriculum that focuses on fourteen strategic areas of leadership and church health. These strategic areas are covered in a variety of ways depending on the needs and situation of the participants and on the availability of faculty.
There are four categories covered:
The tagline for the Global Proclamation Congress for Pastoral Trainers is “Accelerating Church Health Worldwide” and Dr. Ramesh Richard repeats almost every day that pastoral health leads to church health which leads to societal health! Today, during the Spiritual Engagement Track, Dr. Jason Tan from the Great Commission Training Centre in the Philippines added another crucial element to this process: Marital Health! He suggested during our track on Marriage and Family that Marital Health leads to Pastoral Health and you can guess where to take it from there...
Japan (MNN) -- It's not easy reaching the Japanese for Christ. According to A3, Japan has some of the toughest spiritual ground around. But that was before the triple disaster of 2011. Now, hearts have been softened and many are ready to hear the Good News of Jesus. In order to reach them, A3 is investing a half-million dollars...
Silk and I we were in this church that she was really touched by the warmth of the family and friendship—about 100 and 150 people. They asked me to preach that day which was just a wonderful honor and privilege. I had been asked to talk about disciple-making. So I preached this fairly strong message about it, hoping maybe I can inspire this congregation to be disciple makers. Little did I know that they were already very actively doing this. It is really amazing...
Japan (MNN) — If you’re going to dream, dream big. That’s what A3 is doing with their 2020 Vision campaign: a million new believers, a thousand new churches and missionaries in Japan in five years. Impossible? Not in God’s economy. In fact, President Joe Handley says God is moving, and it’s possible they could EXCEED the goal. A partner...
From CEO Joe Handley
Posts from Janelle Stoops, U.S. President of A3
A3 Community blog with posts from a variety of contributors
Stories about Asian Access published by Mission Network News, a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. In doing so we hope to educate and motivate Christians to prayer, participation, and support of missionary work to help further the Great Commission.
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For over half a century, A3 has catalyzed movements in Asia. Now, with doors open in the Middle East, North Africa, and the West, we have boldly stepped in...
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