During this year’s World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly, Gospel workers from around 125 nations set a daring goal to mark a historic milestone.

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Joe Handley of A3 says the assembly centered on a bold aim: “The Gospel for everyone by 2033.” That year marks two millennia since Christ’s resurrection and ascension — a milestone Handley calls “a chance to rally and mobilize the Church and really celebrate the victory of the resurrection.”

Importantly, the 2033 target isn’t that everyone will accept Christ by that date, but that everyone will have a chance to hear.

“To make sure that everyone at least hears of the Gospel. So whether that’s through satellite technology, radio, digital communications, face to face through churches — at least, make sure that everyone has had a chance to hear the good news of Jesus Christ,” explains Handley.

Reaching the world also requires discipleship. Handley adds: “If we’re going to reach everyone with the Gospel, we need an ecosystem of disciple-making to do that.”

This kind of integral discipleship helps bring the Gospel into every sector of life — not only within the church through prayer, study, and fellowship, but far beyond. Integral discipleship transforms fcommunities through Christ’s example.

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“It involves the local church, the family, the businesses — every sector of society — working together in unity,” says Handley.

Bringing the Gospel into every part of life means believers must live out their faith in every sphere, from spiritual fellowship to business and community engagement.

“To get the Gospel to everyone, you have to have healthy, vibrant churches and families,” Handley adds.

True discipleship looks like Jesus — in vision, faith, action, and love for the world. Learn more at A3!

Pray for churches to strengthen in the Gospel, to build vibrant disciple-making communities, and to carry the Good News to every corner of the earth.

Header photo: Man Walking Next to the Graffiti, John 3:16 (photo courtesy of Paco Alonso via Pexels).

However, Christians and church leaders also face increasing challenges.

Nepal’s “government [is] going to make things legal here – abortion and then same-sex marriage. Christians [are] struggling [with] what to do in this situation,” Chitry says.

“We are working, Christians all together, [to decide] whether we should put a legal case in the Supreme Court.”

(Photo courtesy of A3)

Formerly known as Asian Access, A3 networks with church leaders throughout Nepal and helps organize collaboration groups to address issues like these. More about that here. A3 programs focus on developing leaders and, by extension, churches that multiply.

Biblical discipleship is at the forefront. “Believers from the Hindu background need to have a discerning spirit and more biblical knowledge to become strong in the Lord,” Chitry says.

Societal issues aren’t the only challenges believers face. “Persecution is severely taking place in Nepal. We are local Christian[s] helping those [who] are beaten by Hindu fanatics,” Chitry says.

“[One] mother was beaten and broke three teeth, and her hand was broken.”

Ask the Lord to strengthen believers who face persecution and give church leaders wisdom as they proclaim the Gospel amid opposition.

“Pray for evangelists who travel from one mountain to another mountain, from one district to another district. They need God’s help and guidance,” Chitry says.

*Pseudonym

Header image depicts a mountain village in Nepal. Photo courtesy of James Wheeler/Pexels.

“We didn’t feel strong shake; however, we receive warnings through our smartphones, and then almost [immediately] the community loudspeaker announces the recorded tsunami warning to move to a higher place,” A3’s Takeshi Takazawa says.

“After the warning, the tsunami started to hit some of the smaller islands closer to Taiwan.”

Thankfully, no deaths were recorded in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture as communities heeded the evacuation orders.

A “tsunami warning is not like crying wolf. It’s a serious business,” Takazawa says.

“The big earthquake in 1995 in the Kobe area shook up Japanese people. Then, in 2011, we experienced a triple disaster with tsunami, and many people lost their lives.”

Wednesday’s earthquake affected communities in several regions in Taiwan. Pray that Christian leaders can deliver help and hope in the name of Jesus.

“Jesus is in control of everything, even this quake or tsunami. In the midst of that, God’s care, love, and protection are there,” Takazawa says.

“God is way more powerful than this.”

As believers meet needs, pray they will have opportunities to tell people about the Lord’s soon coming.

“Jesus left words for us about ‘the beginning of the end,’” Takazawa says. “These things (natural disasters) will happen more and more, but that’s not the end.

“Something way bigger, way more drastic will happen in the future, and we must be prepared. Our hearts, spirit, life, and community need to be prepared for more.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Matt Paul Catalano/Unsplash.

In the context of Japan, “missionary” brings up images of the post-WWII generation of missionaries. They were seminary-trained, bilingual, church planters who eventually discipled local leadership to take responsibility of the new congregations. As Japanese Christians began to lead A3 Japan, the global workers felt they needed a new name.

“So we started searching for a term that we could use to describe ourselves that still we were cross cultural workers committed to reaching the lost working with the Japanese church,” says Adair.

“We are 100% committed to coming alongside the church in Japan and working with them.”

As the team carefully reviewed their values and commitments, one descriptor rose above the rest.

“The term we’ve landed on is A3 missional partners,” says Adair.

This new term has helped to refocus and communicate the vision of the missional partners in Japan.

“I think for our staff, they feel good that it describes who we are. And that’s been encouraging for them,” says Adair. “And it’s a good way for us to identify ourselves within the broader A3 movement.”

While A3’s ministry has expanded far beyond Asia, the missional partners continue to serve the Japanese Church. A new collaboration with SIM International has also allowed the team to welcome new missional partners from around the world.

“It’s our role to partner with what God’s doing in Japan, to partner with what the church is doing in Japan, for missional purposes,” says Adair.

What can you do?

The Japanese are one of the largest remaining unreached people groups worldwide. How can you find your place in the story and pray for Japan?

Adair says, “Japan’s a place that has not been responsive to the Gospel. But just praying that the work, the effort, of our team and others here in Japan, that we’d see fruit, that God would open hearts, and that we would see Japanese people respond to the Gospel.”

Pray that A3’s missional partners will work well with the Church in Japan and support their Japanese brothers and sisters in growing the Kingdom of God.

Are you interested in becoming a short-term or long-term missional partner? For further information, visit Go2Japan.org.

Header photo courtesy of A3.

Takeshi Takazawa with A3 says, “They’re healthy, to a degree, but they know that they cannot continue the same way of doing business for the next 10 years. Then what do you do?

“They are stuck in having trouble developing the succession plan or finding the successors.”

This problem of succession affects Japanese churches as well. Takazawa says, “We have existing about 1000 Bible-believing churches in Japan, and they face exactly same thing in the business.”

A3 guides both businesses and churches through the transition of leadership and provides mentorship for the next generation of leaders.

“We help each congregation, each older pastor. We help through seminars, cohort, helping them to identify the vision and the mission that God has given to a particular congregation beyond the existing senior pastor,” Takazawa says.

Once a transition plan is decided, A3 continues to facilitate communication, offer resources, and invite the Holy Spirit into every step. They see times of transition as invitations for people to draw nearer to God and seek His help. This process requires prayer.

Takazawa says, “I encourage you to pray for Japan, the people in the churches, pastors, leaders, Christians, going through this major change. Intercede for us so that we would go deeper with God through this transition.”

If you are a business leader, consider partnering with A3 to encourage and mentor others in business around the world. Learn more here.

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For example, steam engines propelled the first industrial revolution in the 1700s. Today, “smart” devices power Industry 4.0. A3’s Joe Handley says, “We’re moving into a period of automation; there’s all that talk about A.I. impacting multiple fields.”

Adaptation varies widely. In Vietnam, “Some churches were not up to speed with the digital revolution. Especially once you got outside the big cities, the capacity to engage online was really limited,” Handley says.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced churches to adjust. More about that here.

“Vietnam shut down; they went on a pretty strong lockdown that impacted them economically [and] their ability to meet as churches,” Handley says.

Today, congregations that previously kept to themselves now put the love of Christ on full display. “They’re reaching out to their neighbors with food, shelter, and community,” Handley says.

“They’re able to reach out digitally via different platforms.”

(Photo courtesy Sarah N/Pixabay)

Vietnamese believers can expand their reach moving forward using skills they gained during the pandemic. Sharing the Gospel or meeting online allows Christians in rural communities to overcome traditional barriers like space and time.

Praise God for providing the technology that allows believers to connect with each other and with people in need. Pray that new believers stand firm in their faith while facing family rejection, evictions, and beatings.

“Modern challenges that the church face[s] include pressure from the government, and there are other dynamics at play that impact them as well,” Handley says.

“The church has been growing about two percent per year, which is not too bad considering the dynamics they’ve been facing.”

The work that the Body of Christ has been doing in the community helped pave the way for good relationships between the government and churches, which enabled BGEA Festivals to take place in March.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Dương Nhân/Pexels.

“Historically, Vietnam has gone through waves of church growth and waning times,” A3’s Joe Handley says.

Typically, most Vietnamese believers keep to themselves for fear of persecution. More about that here.

However, fear turned to compassion during the pandemic. “The Church started reaching out, meeting people’s needs physically, and that gave [them an] opportunity to share the love and truth of Christ,” Handley says.

Believers received unexpected favor as a result. “The government started noticing how the Church was reaching out to the communities, and that created a positive vibe,” Handley says.

“Instead of seeing churches in an antagonistic light, they saw them as cooperative amid the COVID reality.”

Then, favor turned to Gospel opportunity. “The Vietnamese government endorsed and gave permission for the Billy Graham Association to hold a couple of festivals in the country,” Handley says.

“The most recent one had phenomenal success; they had 4,500 people accept Christ in a crowd of around 25,000 people.”

Pray for endurance as Vietnamese Christians disciple new believers. “Right now, they’re doing the follow-up with those 4,500 people across the country,” Handley says.

“It is an amazing season in Vietnam right now; the spiritual hunger is very high post-pandemic.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Katherine McCormack/Unsplash.

“The Protestant Christian Church in this region is very young; in some countries, maybe 20 to 30 years total,” says Noel Bechetti of A3, formerly Asian Access.

Independence also brought new challenges. “Many of these countries were part of the former Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wanted to eliminate all cultural and language [distinctions]” to create a single national identity, Becchetti says.

When Stalin began his reign of terror, “he made groups move to different parts of the region and then brought down people from Russia to become the overseers. He made Russian the mandatory language in all of these countries. That went on until the Soviet Union finally fell,” he continues.

“These countries are now independent, but that (Soviet) legacy continues. Indigenous groups are still oppressed, excluded from many opportunities, [and] their languages are not elevated.”

These challenges extend to the Body of Christ. Typically, A3 works to unify believers across denominational lines to focus on Great Commission goals. More about that here.

“A3 believes in breaking down barriers [to build] the unity of the church,” Becchetti says.

“In our other countries, people come from different theologies, churches, backgrounds; sometimes different heart language groups.”

Pray for wisdom as A3 begins new work in four Central Asian countries this year.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Steve Harvey/Unsplash.

First, “these (Central Asian) countries hate this war,” Noel Becchetti with A3, formerly known as Asian Access, says.

“They’re all taking in thousands of Russian men who have fled the country to avoid the Russian draft as refugees.”

At the same time, few in Central Asia can afford to take sides. “They’re all very poor. Migrant laborers go to Russia and Ukraine because those are the two richest countries in the region, and that’s where the labor is,” Becchetti says.

No matter how they feel about the war, most people in the region – including believers – cannot escape the effects.

“When sanctions are put upon those countries, or the war devastates cities in Ukraine, their relatives [lose] their jobs. And now there’s not much money coming home to feed their families,” Becchetti says.

The war is also hindering Gospel work. A3 plans to start new projects in four Central Asian nations this year, but “I was in a key meeting of leaders last year, and they said, ‘We cannot have any conversations about the current situation,’” Becchetti says.

“‘With the war, it’s just so complicated. We’re not going to get anywhere.’”

Pray for an immediate end to the war. Pray A3 can begin work in Central Asia. “People there feel like they’re forgotten in the world,” Becchetti says.

“We hear about Russia and Ukraine, which we should, [but] you don’t hear about the impact on all these other countries. Pray that God would help these people know that people like us are praying for him and we care about them.”

Header image is a representative image of Central Asia. (Wikimedia Commons)

Phil contacted Joe Handley of A3 in hope of finding a fresh perspective. “He said, ‘Joe, we’ve reached the last mile when it comes to the Middle East and North Africa,’” Handley reports. According to him, Butler said “’We’ve saturated this region with the Gospel through satellite technology and Internet technology, but we have little tangible evidence of flourishing fellowships or flourishing churches.’”

Admittedly, it’s hard to measure the success of churches that are often underground. Still, Butler thought that A3’s special brand of disciple-making leadership development could help bring about flourishing churches in the Middle East and North Africa. And with that, A3 began expanding its vision.

As a test run, A3 ran a pilot project in a North African country. The leadership training program only ran for three or four days and gave A3 team members a chance to review and revise their program as needed for a North African context. The program was a success and taught the team much, but maybe the most important thing A3 learned was how immense the needs of believers in North Africa really are.

“Our need for capacity building leadership development and pastoral training is huge,” one leader told Handley.

That’s why A3 needs your prayer. “This is a new region of the world for us, both Europe and North Africa as well as Central Asia,” Handley says. “You’ve got the Ukraine and Russia crisis. In North Africa, you’ve got the strength of Islam. In Europe, you’ve got a secularism.” All of these obstacles are serious considerations the A3 team needs to make, so keep them in your prayers.

What’s more, they need personnel. Maybe that’s where you can step in. “Please pray to the Lord of the harvests to send forth laborers to help us engage this region. And should the Lord give you capacity, come alongside and help us as we equip leaders to see the gospel advance in these regions.”

Learn more about A3 and how you can help right here.

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