Philemon’s family is hosting 200
earthquake survivors in their church compound.
(Photo, caption courtesy ANM)

Nepal (MNN) — There are some “miracle” stories emerging from the Nepal earthquake.

A teenager was rescued after spending five days trapped under debris with no access to food or water.

On Wednesday, first responders pulled a four-month-old baby from the rubble after someone heard his faint cries.

But, what if it were Day Six and you still hadn’t heard ANYTHING from your loved ones in Nepal? That’s the case for Philemon Chhetri, a Nepali pastor and ministry leader supported by Advancing Native Missions (ANM).

“I have not been able to contact any of the pastors. I tried, but communication is too weak and I could not reach them,” he shares.

Chhetri was able to reach his wife and son, who are both safe and were able to share firsthand updates with him.

“Our church youth are helping those people [survivors],” Chhetri shares. “Whenever people are in trouble, we try to help them.

“There is no shelter for the people, no food, and dead bodies are lying here and there. It has been a very hard time for the Nepali people.”

Helping Nepal

A church rented this building, and worship was in session when the earthquake hit, killing 50 Christians.
(Photo, caption courtesy ANM)

Through his ministry, “New Life Mission,” Chhetri oversees more than 150 churches throughout Nepal, along with several Christian schools, sewing centers. and media ministries.

Through his national television and radio ministries, “I’ll try to make people understand how badly we need God and His help,” Chhetri says.

The long disaster recovery process begins Monday, when Chhetri returns to Nepal and starts mobilizing church members to help survivors in Christ’s name. He will also meet with fellow pastors and ministry leaders to assess damage levels and map out a strategy.

Right now, ANM is collecting financial support for their indigenous missionary partners in Nepal. Visit ANM’s Web site to learn more and join their efforts financially.

Most importantly, keep praying for the people of Nepal.

• Pray that survivors who haven’t been found yet will be discovered by first responders.
• Pray that Chhetri will be able to make contact with fellow pastors and ministry leaders.
• Ask the Lord to protect His followers as they reach out to earthquake survivors and care for them in His name.
• Pray for donations to undergird the relief efforts being led by indigenous missionaries.

Click here to see who else is helping meet physical and spiritual needs in the wake of the Nepal earthquake.

(Photo courtesy Flickr/CC/Quapan)

Iraq (MNN) — Iraqi Christians are taking up arms to fight the Islamic State.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the militia’s goal is to re-take Christian villages from ISIS control and protect them from future invasions. Around 500 recruits will be trained this month, and over 2,000 men have signed up.

In the meantime, Advancing Native Missions is filling another humanitarian aid container with winter supplies for Iraqi refugees.

“Everybody there has lost everything, literally everything. Many of them have seen family members–including children–killed in front of their eyes by ISIS,” says ANM’s John Parker.

Helping refugees in Iraq

ANM stands alongside the work of native missionaries in more than 80 countries. When the Islamic State began its campaign of terror last summer in northern Iraq, Christians began opening their homes to people fleeing the violence.

(Photo credit ANM)

ANM’s partners are equipping these believers and churches to welcome and care for the displaced. As their partners relay urgent needs from the field, ANM mobilizes resources.

Last fall, ANM packed a container full of winter supplies and shipped it to their partners to distribute in nearby refugee camps.

“A lot of it was winter coats and blankets, shoes, sweatshirts, heavy socks–those kinds of things,” explains Parker.

Check out pictures of the distribution on ANM’s Web site.

As ANM’s partners give supplies to refugees, they tell them about Jesus and His love. People from Muslim backgrounds are becoming more open to Christianity, and during the latest distribution, two Muslim families accepted Christ.

“It makes them really see that Christianity is for real, and you know, that’s how Jesus did it, too: He met needs,” Parker observes.

Take action

The purpose of this story is two-fold: first, it’s intended to inform you about what’s happening in Iraq. Secondly, this story is intended to be a launchpad.

“At Advancing Native Missions, we feel very strongly about engaging the average person in the pew to get involved, because every little bit helps,” says Parker. “If everybody out there sent $10–just $10, we could really do a lot.”

Through partnership, he explains, ANM is able to stretch a dollar.

“When you send us funds, we can greatly leverage them. We can turn a dollar sometimes all the way up to $40 or $50-worth of product.”

So, want to help ANM fill their next container? Click here.

“As long as these avenues are open to these people, we’re going to ship containers,” Parker states.

“That’s what we do as Christians. When we all work together, God can do great things.”

(Photo Courtesy Advancing Native Missions)

Philippines (MNN/ANM) — One year ago this week, the Philippines were struck with disaster and heartbreak.

Typhoon Haiyan hit, killing about 8,000 people and destroying the livelihood of millions.

Though devastation and grief overtook the country, hundreds of volunteers arrived and brought hope with them.

Advancing Native Missions reports that with generous donations of funds, food, and medicine, they were able to immediately organize 12 relief mission teams and a distribution center.

The teams, led by native missionary leaders, served in the two hardest-hit islands of Leyte and Samar and also served eight other islands.

In as little as two months, the teams helped 10,447 families by providing relief packages. Around 6,500 patients were treated to medical care. 53 homes and churches were repaired. And, hundreds of Bibles were distributed; over 1,500 people became Christians.

ANM staff editor Marlou Barredo is a native of the Philippines. Because she lost family members and watched areas of her homeland being destroyed, she felt compelled to speak up and do something.

Last year, on the ANM Web site, Barredo asked for help for her people. Calmly she said, “I am appealing to the people of the United States of America to please help my people. They are suffering. They are hungry. They are desperate. And they are crying out for help.”

In response, hundreds gave to the ANM relief program.

After Barredo’s video aired and hundreds gave, her husband felt he needed to go to the Philippines, encouraging ministry partners and family members.

A few months later, she joined him and helped in ministering, giving money, food, love, and encouragement to her people.

Now, a year later, ANM previewed another video of Barredo, thanking people for their generous giving. Excitement and joy filled her voice as she said, “I want to express my sincerest and deepest thanks to each and everyone of you for responding to my plea and my cries for help, on behalf of my suffering people and my own loved ones.”

Much recovery has taken place over the last year, yet more progress is needed. Fishing boats destroyed in the typhoon need to be replaced so that families can once again have a means of income. If you can donate, click here.

Pray for people in the Philippines as they continue to deal with loss. Pray that adversity will cause many to hunger for the hope found in God alone.

Syrian refugee numbers are on the rise in Jordan, and thousands are working to help them.

Advancing Native Missions sent out a container a couple of weeks ago to minister to the needs of as many refugees as possible.

We spoke with John Parker of ANM to see what kind of impact this will make.

“The containers that we send from our warehouse are all in response to a wish list or a needs list. That’s what they request.”

(Photo by ANM)

The container, which should arrive in Jordan mid- to late September, holds clothes, food, soap, toothbrushes, and hygiene kits.

From there, humanitarian aid contacts on the ground will pick up the shipment.

“They do it themselves or people working with them. They actually offload it into vehicles and go to different places and actually hand it out,” Parker says.

It seems that everyone is asking for help for refugees in the Middle East. Before getting annoyed, think about why that is.

Parker says, “The need is huge. There are about a million refugees there in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and they’re saying it’s going to get much worse. There are even estimates of another million.”

In money-making cultures, it can be hard to sacrifice what we have worked for–especially when we won’t see the direct results of that sacrifice.

Parker explains that in this case, it’s hard to know the numbers of people impacted spiritually by gifts from people across the world. But it doesn’t mean people aren’t touched by the love being shown through these gifts. There are times where these acts of love draw people to dedicate their lives to Christ.

“So it’s a great need, but we can never underestimate what happens when something like a bar of soap is given out in Jesus’ name. I’m not sure how free it is there for evangelization, but they know it’s coming from Christians in America, so it makes a big impact.”

And in reality, it’s up to God to know the numbers of those turning to Him. He doesn’t call us to study the results of our work, but to keep on working.

One of the biggest components of this work that everyone can participate in is prayer.

“We should all be praying for the situation in the Middle East. It’s a disaster. And again, they’re saying [it will] get worse. And there [will] probably be some Iraqis coming, too, because of ISIS. So we need to be praying, again, that people like ISIS would come to know the Lord. Prayer can change that,” Parker says.

If you feel called to donate items or funds to the container ministry with ANM, click here.

Parker says that as long as the area allows them to ship containers, they will.

(Photo credit ANM)

USA (MNN) — Ever wonder how God uses women in the global mission field? Advancing Native Missions’ (ANM) Thrive conference answers that question and more.

“Women have this great ability to reach out where sometimes others cannot,” notes ANM’s Autumn Nims. “God is using women more and more in the Church today to reach out.”

ANM created the Thrive conferences to connect women in the U.S. to international women missionaries.

“The International Women’s Ministry team at Advancing Native Missions brainstormed and came up with this event because women missionaries overseas need someone to advocate for them,” shares Nims.

“If women get involved in this and come to a conference and hear what we’re doing, it will be life-changing. We’re having one on the East coast and one on the West coast in September.”

Get more details and sign up for a Thrive conference here.

Nims says the women missionaries speaking at these events are coming from Egypt, Slovenia, Philippines, and Algeria.

“Folks are literally going to get a taste of what’s happening in God’s Kingdom around the world,” she notes.

ANM’s Thrive conferences give women missionaries a platform.
(Logo cred: ANM)

“Our goal for these events is to gain friends for missionary women who are working in difficult mission fields. Not only does this bless the missionary women…but all of the women that attend are encouraged by the testimonies.”

If you can’t make it to a Thrive conference this year, would you pray for women missionaries around the world?

“Pray that God’s message gets out to women, and pray that God would use these mighty vessels,” Nims requests.

“Pray for strength, pray for resources for them, pray for their safety. Many of the women that we work with work in secret [or] work in underground churches; some of them have been imprisoned for their faith.”

More stories from ANM here.

Color-enhanced electron micrograph of Ebola virus particles.

Liberia (MNN) — The Ebola outbreak is claiming the lives of pastors, leaving many churches without a leader. Tony Weedor with Advancing Native Missions, originally from Liberia, says missionary pastors are often called to lay hands on sick villagers and pray for them.

“They’ll go there and do it without knowing this person is carrying the virus, and by the time they realize it, it’s too late,” Weedor explains.

90% of people who are infected with Ebola are killed by the virus; however, early detection has reportedly brought that rate down to 60% in this outbreak. Symptoms include headache, fever, and fatigue, but they don’t appear immediately.

Once symptoms do appear, victims usually have about 10 days before massive internal bleeding occurs.

“By the time it’s realized, it’s too late; maybe two, three, or five people are already infected,” says Weedor.

The risk of infection doesn’t stop there. Contact with the body of an infected person can spread the disease, and that’s where another problem arises.

“Burial is very, very important in Africa,” Weedor explains. “They have to bathe the body, wash the body before they bury it; all that includes touching.”

Health workers taking a dead body from the ELWA hospital.
(Image, caption courtesy ANM)

The Ebola outbreak has killed over 600 people in West Africa so far. According to the latest WHO update, Liberia accounts for 224 of those deaths.

Weedor says the true amount could be much higher.

“Those are the ones that have come to hospital, but what about those in the villages who have just died without [visiting a] hospital?” he questions. “[We have] very few hospitals in Liberia.”

In fact, health workers are abandoning their posts at one of the country’s largest hospitals, Weedor reports. “They’re abandoning their duties and leaving the hospital, literally running away from the hospital.”

ANM missionaries are trying to teach villagers how to stop the disease from spreading, but they need transportation. Can you help? Click here to contact ANM, and ask how you can contribute to the Ebola outbreak response.

“Any little help…in terms of funding and what-have-you, we would really appreciate,” says Weedor.

Here’s how you can intercede for the people of Liberia:

• Ask the Lord to protect pastors and native missionaries from infection.
• Pray for health workers who are responding to the crisis will not be infected.
• Pray that the food crisis caused by the Ebola outbreak will not worsen.

“Drivers are afraid to drive or move around,” explains Weedor. This means rural villages aren’t getting the food or supplies they need.

More ANM stories can be found here.

(Image courtesy VOM Canada)

International (MNN) — No matter how long you’ve been a Christian, there are likely times when you’ve wondered: how important is prayer? God knows our every thought; He knows them even before we do. So, why is prayer important?

Well, for starters, prayer is mentioned more than 250 times in Scripture. Prayer is important to the Lord for a multitude of reasons and should therefore be a priority for us as His followers. It would make sense, then, that prayer is also the best way to help missionaries. However, money is often the first thing that comes to mind.

“When people think about missions, a lot of times they think about the resources, the finances, the personnel. But the request we get the most is for prayer,” says Advancing Native Missions (ANM) CEO Oliver Asher.

That’s why ANM has created a daily Prayer Guide with 31 different ways you can pray for native missionaries. Native missionaries, or indigenous missionaries, are believers who stay in their own country to tell people about Christ instead of going overseas to share the Gospel.

“Prayer is a way of life around here, so it only made sense that we should emphasize prayer and make sure that people don’t forget the importance of prayer,” adds Asher.

“Any great awakening, any great spiritual movement, any opening to the Gospel always begins with prayer.”

(Image courtesy Vision Beyond Borders)

ANM is highlighting the 31 Ways to Pray for Native Missionaries Prayer Guide on their Web site during the month of July. But, Asher says this resource can be used year-round to intercede for native missionaries.

Download a free copy of the prayer guide here.

Would you take time to pray for a native missionary today? Pray that God would bless native missionaries and their families with every resource they may need.

Listen to the conversation with Oliver Asher about the importance of prayer.

ANM’s Alex Mitala and Michael Chanley
of INCM speak with MNN.
(Image courtesy ANM)

East Africa (MNN) — Ministries are coming together to train children’s ministry workers in East Africa. Advancing Native Missions (ANM) is partnering with International Network of Children’s Ministry (INCM) to host an inaugural children’s ministry training conference in Uganda this spring.

ANM works alongside Alex Mitala, a children’s ministry leader in Uganda. He says the upcoming conference will help leaders share the Gospel more effectively with Africa’s next generation. Over 500 leaders are expected to come.

“It’s very important to us; it’s going to be the first thing in the country of East Africa,” says Mitala. “We are going to invite people from Kenya, which is our neighbor, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern Congo, [and] South Sudan.”

Based in the U.S., ANM acts as a bridge between indigenous missionaries and the Church in the West. They currently work with over 200 native missionary organizations in 75 countries, representing more than 5,000 indigenous missionaries.

Mindy Spurrier, ANM’s Next Generation Director, says the partnership with INCM for this conference was an answer to prayer.

“It clicked I guess is the best way to say it. They met a need that our missionaries–not just in Africa but around the world–showed,” Spurrier explains.

For the past few years, ANM has been seeking a group that could help them fill a void in many of their partners’ child ministry programs.

“They wanted to have resources and trainings, and I didn’t have any of that,” says Spurrier. “I was a former teacher, but I couldn’t do what they needed. For the next few years, I just prayed and asked God to [fill] that empty hole.”

Learn more about INCM here.

INCM’s Executive Director Michael Chanley says the new partnership with ANM also offsets one of their organization’s weaknesses. INCM has an excellent training curriculum, but doesn’t always have a way to get their material to indigenous churches that need it.

The start of a beautiful friendship

By leveraging their partnership with ANM, INCM can now equip ministries throughout East Africa. It all starts with the children’s ministry training conference in Uganda during the third week of May.

“It’ll be training along the lines of how to work with children who have signs of extreme stress in their lives, and how to minister to them,” explains Chanley.

“Also, how to do lessons for kids and some basic children’s ministry fundamentals that will help them develop some of those ministries as a movement.”

Your help is needed to make this conference happen. Around 500 leaders are expected to attend, but Spurrier says as many as 600 leaders could show up. ANM needs your help to cover the leaders’ food, lodging, and training.

$75 USD sponsors one children’s ministry leader; click here to help.

Mitala is asking for prayer.

“Pray first of all that the whole thing materializes, because we need it,” he says. “Pray for good health. We need to be in good health in order to do such meetings for the Kingdom of God.”

Learn more about the ministries ANM supports in Africa.

(Photo by Advancing Native Missions)

International (MNN) — Donor support is vital for God’s work around the world. But are there cases where there is a better option?

Dick Prins of Advancing Native Missions says, “Over time, ministry organizations have become increasingly dependent on Western donations for their viability and continued ministry.”

Many ministries are seeking to do missions that enable poor communities be self-sufficient in the long run. This allows ministries to grow in size and impact without continued support from the outside.

ANM has been using an approach that’s found success in helping indigenous pastors support themselves and their church. It’s called Business As Missions. ANM has been working in 80 countries, most of them in the developing world. As for the individuals they select for these projects, Prins says, “They’re not formally trained in business, but they have a gift to understand the elements that lead to a successful business. Our goal at ANM is to identify those who have that gifting and to come alongside them and understand what we can do to support them.”

The projects include sewing centers, agriculture, and goat farming. The results are encouraging, and now for the year 2014, ANM is looking to support bigger projects that will make a bigger impact. The projects ultimately go to support the pastors that they are training so that they will be able to continue ministering to the area around them.

One pastor that ANM has been partnering with for 15 years is a great example for how indigenous missions can be successful. In fact, he gave the ministry practical ideas on how to run a business. He runs a hotel, convention center, radio station, and some other businesses. He’s only supporting himself, but also 175 staff members, including 62 pastors. “He understands business, and he has a great vision to support not just his ministry, but other ministries across Africa through business,” Prins says.

So what does it look like for Western Missions to get involved?

ANM partnered with this same pastor in his Shea nut business. They sent him a hut from the United States for a much lower price than it would have been in Africa. This provided him storage for his business. Realistically, missions can provide the proper tools and techniques to help indigenous people jump-start their businesses and be on their way to growing their ministry’s impact.

For the people who are able to run a business, this approach is helpful for ministries to stand on their own two feet. ANM analyzes the situation to ensure that the individuals they partner with will eventually be able to run their business without external support: “Each pastor or ministry leader that we partner with and support has to have a gifting, to start with, in business,” Prins says.

For those who do not live in an area conducive to self-sustenance or who do not have a business mindset, traditional ways of giving are still very much needed.

So what can you do to help? You can start by visiting ANM’s Web site and seeing what projects you can contribute to. Another way is to research organizations that use the Business-As-Missions model and that encourage self-sustaining projects and ministries. Your gift could go to support a community long-term, helping ministries grow their impact from the inside out.

Pray that these self-sustaining projects will grow and expand the reach of the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy Advancing Native Missions)

Philippines (MNN) — Advancing Native Missions has almost 40 native ministry partners in the Philippines, and many of these were affected by Typhoon Haiyan (also called Yolanda).

It was the strongest storm on earth in 2013, and one of the most destructive, with damages estimated at over $5 billion. The country’s economic planning secretary noted that he would not be surprised if the reconstruction cost was closer to $250 billion.

102 days after the storm flattened a dozen islands in the Philippines, the United Nations warns that millions of people still require urgent assistance to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Thousands died, many more thousands were displaced, infrastructure was ruined, and many lost all they owned.

ANM’s Bo Barredo says, “We already have advanced coordinators there, and in most of these places, these coordinators are pastors and their families and their people.” Because of this, they were ready to provide for victims’ immediate and long-term needs. “We organized 12 relief teams to do relief and medical operations in at least 11 of the islands that were in the path of Typhoon Haiyan. The teams have been so effective and so efficient in doing these relief operations–and medical operations among the victims of the typhoon–because of one reason: we were church-based.”

Shell-shocked by the ferocity of the destruction, Barredo describes survivors “like zombies first, walking around, trying to find enough food for the next two or three days.” Their teams provided the following supplies: “100 kilos of rice, canned goods, bottles of water, hammers, nails, steel wires, fruits, dried fish, dried meat, hygiene products, sugar, salt, matches, candles, even straw mats.”

(Photo courtesy Advancing Native Missions)

ANM was one of thousands of groups who mobilized quickly to help. But the other part of their assistance came during a series of pastors’ conferences that were held at the end of 2013. “We had two pastors’ gatherings: One in ground zero, which is Tacloban City, and there were 58 pastors and their wives or more than 100 people. And then the next day on Samar Island. Almost all of whom have lost either homes, or churches, or both.” And Barredo was shocked at what he heard other leaders had preached. “They preached on the wrath of God and the judgment of God on the islands and upon them, insinuating that they had not been good enough Christians, they have not been spiritual, and they have fallen short of the mark. It really discouraged them.”

The danger: discouragement. Since these pastors are the frontline defenders, it was doubly important to encourage them. “When the pastors are struck by the enemy or by calamities like this, the flock will scatter.” ANM brought human dignity along with hope during their conferences. Refreshing these leaders will have other long-term effects.

Teams also share the hope of the Gospel along with the relief supplies. In many cases, people have lost everything. Barredo says he got a glimpse of this when he asked the pastors’ gathering, “’Who are those amongst you here, pastors, who have lost both houses and churches?’ Almost 90% of them raised their hands. It broke my heart.”

(Photo courtesy Advancing Native Missions)

Because they are working in their home islands and towns, they will continue to serve as long as there are needs, which will be many months or years. Barredo explains, “God has allowed us to minister and to give out to at least 10,447 families. One Filipino family has the average size of six or seven persons, so this is like ministering to 60,000 or 70,000 people.”

One of ANM’s core values is relationship, so when their partners experience a tragedy, ANM feels it, too. And yet, a little encouragement goes a long way.  Barredo says despite the sorrow, there is joy…and more importantly, faith. “In those places where the Gospel was preached by the relief team members, 1,553 of those that were in these relief distribution centers, they raised their hand to receive Christ Jesus.”

The three words, pray, give, go are not just a routine and clever logo. They mark the path that leads to genuine and Christ-honoring advocacy. Click here to see how you can get involved.