In countries where persecution is a daily challenge and sharing the gospel is restricted, it is essential to equip local believers to reach people with the good news of Christ.
In South East Asian countries that are closed to the gospel, it is essential for local believers to share their faith with their fellow countrymen. Aspects that can be obstacles for Jesus followers from other countries — like learning the language and getting to know the culture — are non-existent and there is more familiarity and trust from the get-go. “I don’t look strange to [people from my country],” shares Amarilla* with a laugh. She joined OM's Ship Ministry a few years ago to gain overseas experience. People often feel safer in their own countries, Amarilla explains, and going to live in a new place can help develop a new mindset and challenge them. “Before I went [to the ship], I was a believer, but I never really felt like I had to depend on God,” Amarilla says, “but that’s the most important experience.”
Tamar* spent five months in a nearby South Asian country and shares an experience similar to Amarilla’s. When Tamar first encountered culture shock, “I thought: ‘Oh God, why am I here?’ I just wanted to go home…Everything was new to me.” Being drawn out of her comfort zone, Tamar had to overcome shyness and a fear of making mistakes when speaking English in an international team. “When I was at home, I read the Bible, I prayed daily, but I didn’t really ask God for help, because when I had a problem, I tried to fix it by myself first,” Tamar says, but that changed as she learnt how to lean on God first in every situation.
Growing through experience
The experiences and lessons Tamar learnt and brought back home after her time abroad moved her deeply. She and Amarilla are from a country where Christians experience persecution, especially in rural areas. Tamar observed how Jesus followers in another country experienced hostility based on their faith and how they lived and dealt with it. What she saw made her reflect on how to share the gospel more effectively; “to do God’s work is not easy. But being involved in sharing the gospel made me want to do it even more.” Despite knowing she could face persecution, Tamar desires to share the good news with more people.
“Our country is closed to the gospel, and foreigners are not allowed to share their faith by law,” explains Amarilla, which is why it is important to equip local believers.
Many people in Tamar and Amarilla’s country experience poverty, and raising support for intercultural training is often impossible for locals. Although there are some local trainings available, like OM’s church-planting trainings for pastors from villages, they often face restrictions and cannot provide the same opportunities to learn as international trainings can. Those believers who do get the chance to attend trainings abroad return from their international experience feeling “more confident and brave to try new things or just get out there and share,” Tamar shares. “The money that [supporters] send is not lost money; it bears fruit. Me and others who went, we all have our missions and plans that we want to do for God. We understand more because we’ve seen the world.”
Please pray for more financial support for believers who desire to go into missions but struggle to find financial supporters. Pray for those who will go abroad, that they have a heart to really serve and experience God. Pray that more pastors and churches in South East Asia have a heart for furthering God’s Kingdom.
*name changed