From the heart of Eric Fung...

Dear Partner in Missions,                                                          

Warmest Christian Greetings!            

 

As I look back at the past year (2013) I am truly amazed at  the faithfulness of God and how God was able to supply all our needs for our 2013 budget. During the first half of 2013 it cost me some grave concern and to a great degree worrying on how we were going to raise the funds needed to help the Foot Soldiers put food on the table for their families and to sustain the various ministries the Lord directed us to start.

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers and thank you for your unwavering support in terms of prayers and financial partnership; we were able to support them for yet another year. This means so much to me as these Foot Soldiers are very special people to me. I may not meet them often but I know how they are doing and what they doing through their respective leaders. I know when they need urgent prayers, I know the challenges and hardships they face in their respective countries and sometimes even the dangers such as persecution and life threatening situation to themselves and their families, all for the sake of the Gospel. 

Who are these great and dedicated men and women of God? I call them great because their passion and love for the Lord which is their driving force. They do not worry about themselves and they do not focus on what they themselves or their families are going through but keep their  focus on the one who has saved them and given them ‘New life’. When I think of them I am constantly reminded of 2 Cor:5 15,  “And He (Jesus) died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”

The Foot Soldiers are from Third World countries like Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam, where Christianity is not welcomed  and preaching the Gospel is often dangerous and difficult which could land you in a lot of trouble. They are mostly simple hand working people from various backgrounds who  themselves were touched and saved by the saving grace of God and their desire is to see the families, villages, towns and nations saved also.

Pastor Moses one of our Foot Soldiers who leads the Violet Apple Star Ministry in Ho Chih Minh has a street ministry, ministering to the poor, street children, beggars, prostitutes, sick and drug addicts. With his team of 40 volunteers and part timers he searches the city looking for those who need help and there are so many. They go into the overcrowded hospitals seeking out the lost, giving them the hope and love of God. Prostitutes and drug addicts see the tangible love of God through the Foot Soldiers and see Hope that their lives can change too by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. The Leper colony welcome the team as many including their own families are afraid to visit them. The stigma of Leprosy is still apparent and the Leper patients are shunned by

their families and the community. Ps Moses and his team reach out to make a difference in their lives by loving them and sharing the Gospel.

In the town of Siliguri in India, Lotha Nzanbembo and his team of Foot Soldiers work in the mission fields of Bhutan and India. Bhutan, a country extremely hostile to Christianity, is a challenging and difficult place to evangelize.  The Foot Soldiers have been attacked and one was even severely beaten up and left to die. Christians not only face pressure from the authorities but also from the community. There are spies everywhere trailing Christians and their activities, waiting to report them and the people fear to violate the laws resulting in reluctance and afraid to talk. Our Foot Soldiers often have had to change the time of fellowship or camouflage water baptism as having a picnic by the river. But these simple men of God never give up; the fire in their hearts for the Lord burns passionately

Lotha himself has a four year old son Jaazaniah who suffers from epilepsy and has fits four to five times a day. Does he sit back and ask why me Lord? Am I not serving you faithfully? His faith is such that he never even thought to question the Lord. His response is…” Our Lord has already healed us in our inner being though we go through physical and emotional struggles; our God is always good to us even though we do not deserve it. Sickness and suffering are part of our lives on earth and we have to accept It.” says Lotha. What immense faith….

Please join us to pray for the Foot Soldiers. Your prayers encourage them and your financial support helps them to do what God desires of them and feed their families as for most of them, being a Foot Soldier is a full time job. Like you and me they have concerns for their children and how to provide for their families. But their trust is always on the Lord and that does not waver, no matter what their circumstances.

Hebrews 6:10

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (NIV)

May the Lord continue to bless you and your family as you continue to sow into His Kingdom

Your partner in missions

 Eric Fung

The Dong unreached peoples group

By AO Hong Kong - Rev James Chak  

A Dong celebration

The Dongs are one of the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities that live around the borderlands between Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan provinces. Most Dongs live in villages surrounded by rough mountainous terrain where there are no major cities or roads. Only narrow, unpaved mountainous paths which are often subject to flooding and landslides. They live in villages of 20-30 households located near streams and the Dong people are agricultural people. The women are adept at spinning and embroidering.

The Dong people are very superstitious and believe that all things have spirits and Gods. Ancestral altars are also found in the main room of their homes. Consequently they live fearful lives, full of terror and superstitions and they are constantly making offerings to appease the spirits of the village. For the Dong, the greater the problem means they have seriously offended a God that needs to be appeased with even more offerings and sacrifices.

One of the lavish features of the Dong village is the drum tower. The tower, a representation of worship to the God of the sky, is a place for the villages to relax, hold their religious ceremonies to appease their Gods, greet guest and also to do some recreation activities. The Drum Tower, built of wood and built without nails, is the largest multi-storey pagoda like building in the village.

Equally spectacular is the folk architecture that goes into the construction of a roof bridge dubbed as the ‘Wind and Rain’ bridge, honouring the God of Wind and Rain. The bridges are beautifully carved with patterns and designs which include mountains, rivers birds, animals and flowers.

Among the Dong there is only a handful of Christians, less than 1% of their 3 million populations.

Dong Tribe, the 10th largest Ethnic Minorities in China and the 37th most Unreached Peoples of the World with 0.01% Christian

Northern Dong dialect: 1,468,000

Mostly live around the border of Guizhou and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,680

Southern Dong dialect: 2,396,000

Spread around the borders of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,600

(Statistics taken from Joshua Project)

 Sometimes in a whole village there may be only one person who is a Christian and most of the time he lives in fear of his neighbours and will not admit he is a Christian. The work among the Dong is slow as there are many challenges, one in particular is with cults also penetrating the area, drawing away some of the believers. There is also a lot of opposition from neighbours and family.

My team visited a Dong village deep in the forest on a remote mountain. There they met Ah-Wo, one of the very few Christians among them. He became a Christian through the Christian witness of two English teachers while he was in junior high. Being the only University graduate in the village, he holds an esteemed status and is highly respected. Later, he majored in English Education in the university and after he graduated, he started a children English training centre in the county. Nevertheless, up till now, his conversion to Christianity is still a secret. He is afraid to let others know about his faith in Jesus Christ. Since the  missionary teachers have now left Ah-Wo has no one to disciple him. He feels very lost and alone.

While walking around the Dong village market, my team members noticed that there were a lot of Fir seedlings. Being curious she asked Brother Ah-Wo “Why are there so many fir seedlings for sale? He proudly told her “They are to be bought home to grow on the mountains.  According to the Dong traditions, whenever a child was born, the family would plant trees, so that when the child is grown and starts his family, he could make lumbers from these trees and build his new home.”

We were amazed at this fir tree heritage of the Dong People. To ensure the material wellbeing of their children, they start preparing lumbers for their future homes.  There is a Chinese saying, ‘it takes ten years for a tree to grow but 100 years to bring up a generation of ability.’ There is much truth to this old Chinese wisdom. Planting trees are comparatively easy, but rearing the next generation is another ball game, especially when it comes to a Christian generation.

A Fir Tree seedlings

Asian Outreach Hong Kong works with Guangxi Dong ministry and funded the first Dong church in China, in Bajiang.  Besides Bajiang AOHK also works with the Dong ministry in Sanjiang, Guizhou-Laiping County and Cheng Yang

It is a challenge working with the Dongs and although the ‘harvest’ can be plentiful the ‘labourers’ are few. Weather conditions, living conditions, language barriers and the rough terrain make ministering to the Dongs a hard task for many. 

God has trusted us with such a tremendous task of making Him known before His return. We are all called to preach the Gospel. Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” That is your call and my call too. The Asian Outreach Hong Kong team has received this mandate from the Lord to empower the Chinese churches to adopt this Least Reached Peoples of Asia. Will you join us and engage with your prayer, giving and going?

A typical Dong house in the mountains.

FROM THE HEART OF ERIC FUNG

Executive Director of Asian Outreach Malaysia.

Prov 31:8-9 “ Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

God’s heart for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the marginalised and the oppressed cannot be denied or ignored. His cry for justice rings out loud and clear throughout the Scriptures. We are confronted daily with the growing human needs of the world. Poverty, injustice, disease, oppression and slavery, religious persecution, and many other issues are headline news on a daily basis. The world is crying out desperately for solutions to these problems. Christians in particular want to make a positive difference in people’s lives and are becoming aware of the clear biblical mandate to care for widows, orphans, foreigners, poor, and the forgotten who live in our midst and around the world.

We are the hands and feet of Christ’s presence in this world. We create partnership with God through Jesus Christ and it is His Spirit that takes the initiative. God’s love has flooded over the world, but He needs people to express His love.He needs YOU…

Deuteronomy 10:17-18 (NIV)

“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing”.

The census defines a slum as "residential areas where dwellings are unfit for human habitation" because they are dilapidated, cramped, poorly ventilated, unclean, or "any combination of these factors which are detrimental to the safety and health”. Lack of proper sanitation often leads to outbreak of diseases and most of the slum dwellers are in poor health. Every country has its slums. As the Lord Himself says:

   

Deu 15:11 “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be  openhanded towards your brothers and towards the poor and needy in your land.”

AO mission partner in Kathmandu informed me about a slum in Kathmandu and the sufferings of these people. After much prayer in November I flew to Kathmandu to visit this slum. As we arrived nearby and as I surveyed the scene before me, I was appalled at what I saw. I saw about two hundred over shacks made up of cardboard and all sorts of discarded materials, huddled together. As we walked nearer’ the stench hit me. I was told by Ram, our co-worker in Kathmandu that the smell came from the river which ran alongside the dwellings and where the city’s human excrement, factory waste, rubbish and dead animals were dumped. In this river the slum dwellers took their bath, washed their clothes and occasionally used this water to cook.  The Lord did a strong stirring in my heart for these unfortunate people and there itself I made a commitment asking God to use me to raise help for them where 75% of them are Dalits, the outcaste in Nepal as in India.

Most affected by this, as in all slums, are the children. Even though schooling was free they could not attend school as their parents could not afford the bus fares or the money to buy books, stationaries and uniforms. These slum children roamed around, playing in the dirt and scavenging for food and other recyclable items to sell. The slum dwellers lived without hope for a better future, just existing from day to day.

We read about the lives of people living in the slums and we shake our heads at the conditions they live in but they are far away and we are not really stirred to do much. We are too comfortable in our own lives to think much about these people and our own everyday trifle concerns take priority. We cannot sit back any longer.  The cries of these people ring in my ears and I cannot keep silent anymore. I challenge you to join me to show the world that God’s love is more than words and make a difference in the lives of these slum dwellers. We cannot reach everyone of them but if I do good to those He leads me to then I know I have fulfilled what God has called me to do. Will you join me to partner with God to make His love tangible?

Gal 6: 9-10 “ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Wishing you and your family a blessed and fruitful New Year.

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Prayer Points

1. We pray that the Lord will use AO Malaysia to touch and change lives in the slums.

2. We pray that we will be able to bring hope and be the ‘light’ for the slum dwellers as we show them the

    tangible love of God through our giving and sowing into their lives.

3. *join us to pray for the right candidate to work with me and to be mentored by me in preparation of my 

      retirement. Any individual who feels he has a calling to serve in missions please do contact us.

Reaching Asia’s Unreached

By Pastor Stanley Gerard

Associate Trainer

Planting in Faith

THE pioneers of Asian Outreach, like any other Christian organization, individual or church, worked hard without seeing the fruits of their labour of love. Yet they planted seeds by faith, and in so doing, they began the work of salvation in the lives of many. It was this conviction that gave them satisfaction --- that they had done their work and did it well as another generation reaps the harvest.

For the past 10 years, I have been involved in church planting in many countries, including several restricted-access nations. I thank God for those brave workers and church planters in my team who are working in the field with me to obey the Great Commission--- to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”(Matthew 28:19).

Blessed are the Persecuted

You cannot imagine the persecution they face in these restricted-access nations. Danger lurks in every corner. You never can tell if your neighbor

who smiles at you when he sees you today is going to turn on you tomorrow. Their wives and children are also not safe, having always to be careful of what they say and who they talk to.

Counting the cost and Following Him

Why do they still want to do it? Why risk everything?

It is because each one of these church planters had a personal encounter with the living God and their lives have never been the same since. (Psalm 103: 4 “…who redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion.”) They have known His love and saving grace, and they trust Him no matter what happens. He is Abba, their Father.

Let me share with you a pioneering work in a fishing community in Bangladesh, a restricted-access nation.

Church Planting in Action

Today, there are 22 believers here. When we visited them in October last year, they were happy to see us and continue to be receptive to God’s Word. Most of them were poor and struggling to make ends meet and like anywhere else in this country, jobs were not easy to come by. They cannot depend on the government to make their lives better and survival is a struggle yet they are eager to hear the Word of God. Truly, blessed are the poor.

Pastor Samuel and Pastor Bullet, two local pastors have a vision for the entire community to be saved. Up to date they have planted 2 churches and 18 cell groups. We pray that once the seed is planted, God would open more hearts to receive Christ as their personal Saviour.

Today, Asian Outreach has trained thousands of workers or foot-soldiers. Many churches have been planted, especially in restricted-access nations. Today, church planters have reached the very borders of Afghanistan and Iran.

Donations needed

However, the work of the church planters have been hindered because of the lack of finance, among other problems. Due to this lack, we have had to slow down the implementation of our church planting plans.

My prayer is that churches and individuals can come together and do what it takes to accomplish the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations.

Allow me to end with this quote “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving”. May this truly reverberate in the Body of Christ, and in the soul of every brother and sister to give out of the love in their hearts to enable the Great Commission of God to spread to the ends of the Earth.

Zec 10:12 “I will strengthen them in the Lord and in His name they will walk.”

TOWARDS THE NEXT LEVEL - IN MISSIONS.         

Rev Lawrence Yap.

Senior Pastor.

Charis Christian Centre.

AOM board member.

Allow me to say this, from the heart of a pastor to the heart of another – that if our church is not involved in any missions at all – then we are missing the heartbeat of God!

I used to think that a church has to come to a certain size, then only will we be financially capable to be involved in “missions”.  This is a myth and all of us can be involved one way or another if we learn to ‘think outside the box.’

Let me just share some insight.

The last 5 to 10 years have been a time of rapid changes and this has brought about many opportunities for the gospel work.

·        Political and economic maps were redrawn thus enabling new opportunities for Kingdom works. Just consider Libya and Myanmar as examples of how windows of opportunities are opening.

·        Technological advances like smart phones; social networks etc., literally connecting people and the world in an instance. This is part of “Globalization” but this also means ‘opportunities’.

·        The ‘center of gravity’ of the gospel has shifted to the southern hemisphere.

-This means that much of the spiritual activities of the church is no longer focused on Europe or North America but instead has come to Asia and the Pacific realm where mega congregations; church planting and community transformation programs are taking place. We in Malaysia are part of this shift!

·        A “diaspora” (dispersion) of nationalities.

-Just in Malaysia alone, we are surrounded by people from Myanmar, Nepal, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Africa and other Middle Eastern nations. In a way, we do not ‘go to the nations.’ The ‘nations have come to us!’

What do these things mean to you? Which of the above factors capture your attention and that you see is a ‘possibility’ in your church setting?

Perhaps you can spend some time - praying and thinking through these factors of what you can do for God in terms of spreading the gospel. It need not be just going out ‘to preach’ per se.

We need to take missions to the next level. We need not be locked in to the old fashion way of sending missionaries abroad – though it should still be done. God can give us wisdom and creative ways, for example, of how a businessman sponsored thousands of gospel radios that were assembled in a factory and brought into the interiors. Another businessman allowed his restaurant to be utilized as a worship place at 12 midnight for his foreign workers. Yet, there are many who have become ‘cyber world evangelists’.

The challenges of the gospel work are as real but God is sovereign. New doors and new frontiers have been opened up for us. We must seize the moment. As our members get involved, they grow spiritually too.

Remember that in missions, not everyone may GO, but we can certainly GIVE and PRAY and to DO what we can for God - right at our doorsteps!

Yours Together for His Kingdom.

Here I am Lord , send me!

By Pastor Lau Tak Siong

AO Associate Trainer

I CRIED out to the Lord for direction. Should I or shouldn’t I go to what appeared to be the ends of the earth to train believers?

Bihar. The poorest state in India. That’s where I was asked to go.

I was wrestling with God because the assignment seemed doom from the start --- I could not find anyone who was willing to accompany me as my co teacher and assistant. Worse yet, I was told that even pastors in India avoided Bihar. Was life that bad in Bihar?

But I, like Isaiah, agreed to go. And to my utter relief, an Indian pastor named Paul was willing to come with me to Bihar.

To get to Bihar, I had to take a seven-hour flight from Melbourne (where I currently live) to Singapore and then another four-hour flight from Singapore to Chennai. Another full day of travelling by plane and train to the north of India got me to my destination at 7am, Bihar time.

After this mammoth, marathon travel, I was bone-tired and was glad for a bed to sleep in --- never mind if there was no attached toilet or WiFi, and that sleep was a mosquito-riddled sleepless night in the best hotel in town.

In Bihar, I saw grinding poverty as I travelled the muddy, rough and dusty roads to the two villagers (Khagaria and Paray).

Was it worth it? Definitely!

At Khagaria, about 40 leaders, both men and women who were hungry for the Word and passionate to serve their Lord, attended the training. They came from different but similarly simple backgrounds, and had gathered together with one common desire --- their love for the Lord and to be trained for His use.

This is a place where less than one per cent of the people are believers.

At Paray, about 35 adults and children gathered to hear the good news. I preached to them about the one and only God that can cleanse them from their sins, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thus was the seed of the kingdom of God sown in the village.

Praise God that we can be used by Him to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the poor. I am so thankful and privileged that the Lord brought here and used me. Despite the discomforts of long travel and poor facilities of putting up in poor villages, I considered it a joy to serve the Master in the poorest area of Bihar.

A big thank you to those who had been faithful in funding our Foot Soldiers and training ministries

Finally, I want to end with a testimony from Pastor Sushil, who was one of my participants.

Sushil was a Hindu and member of an extreme fundamentalist anti-Christian group. Prior to becoming a Christian, he needed more than RM20, 000 for his sister's wedding. The dowry system to have a woman married off is still practiced in India. He heard about Jesus and in desperation turned to this “Jesus” whom people told him was a loving God. So Sushil prayed, “Jesus Christ, if you are the true and living God, listen to my prayer and help me in this financial problem”. Miraculously a few days before his sister’s wedding, Jesus answered his prayer.

A man to whom he tried to sell a piece of land suddenly decided to buy his property, although he previously repeatedly refused to do so. The selling price was slightly more than what he needed. So he had some money left over. This answered prayer led him to turn to Jesus Christ and later give his life to serve Him as a pastor.

1 Cor 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Prayer Points

1. We pray for the Lord of the harvest to raise up more workers for the Bihar mission fields.

2.  We pray for the local pastors, evangelist and leaders to be always obedient to the call of God to serve

     willingly where He sends them.

3. We ask the Lord to pour out his spirit upon Bihar and touch and change the lives of the people there.

    That it will no longer be known as the poorest state but as a place of sign and wonders where Jesus 

    Christ reigns supreme.

Touching the Untouchables of India

By Pastor Paul Silvanus

Dalit Ministry in Chennai

(A partner ministry of AOM)

Who are the Dalits?

IMAGINE not being allowed to go to school or college until you get a decent education. Imagine being sick but not being allowed to get treatment from a hospital or clinic. Imagine not being allowed to live where you want or work in a job you like. Imagine (especially if you are a woman or child) being trafficked into prostitution, bonded labour and begging in the streets. Imagine having no rights so that anyone can abuse you, attack you, humiliate you --- and nobody would care.

And most astonishingly of all, imagine Indian churches shunning you as well, treating you like pariah. Unless, of course, if the church is a Dalit one.

For the Dalits of India, this dehumanization is a reality and not make believe. They are the considered the scum of Indian society, a result of the caste system and being at the bottom of the social ladder, the Dalits (also known as the Untouchables) faces such discrimination and degradation every day. The term “Dalit” means “those who have been broken down by those above them” Dalits are the major victims of trafficking in India. Culturally subjugated and politically marginalized, millions of Dalits are exploited and treated inhumanely.

There are 167 million Dalits in India, constituting over 16 percent of the total population.

Every hour, two Dalits are assaulted. Every day, three Dalit women are raped, and two killed. Dalits are street sweepers, cobblers, agricultural workers, grave diggers and those who dispose of human waste.

Some three-quarters of the Dalit workforce are in the agricultural sector. And are bonded labourers.  These jobs rarely provide enough income and many Dalits are impoverished, uneducated and illiterate.

Ministry to the Dalits

Our ministry was started in 1997 to train Dalits to become pastors and church planters. To date, we have trained 107 pastors who went on to plant 100 churches in 10 States in India.

Day Care Centre’s for Dalit Children

The Lord moved us to minister to the Dalits via day care centers. We felt education is a key tool to help these oppressed people, just as the early missionaries did as well. So we have started two day care centers by faith, one in a village and another in a city slum. There are 75 children at the village day care center and 45 at the center in the city slum.

Children between the ages of 4 and 16 come to the centers after school. Specialized coaching is given by trained teachers (Each center has four trained teachers and a cook).They are encouraged to continue their studies as many are forced to leave school to become child labourers.

We feed the children one meal a day. We hope that with sufficient funds, we will be able to give them two meals daily and two sets of uniforms. Every day a scripture from proverbs is taught, with the children having to memorize the Word of God.

There are monthly parents’ meetings to monitor the children’s progress and to encourage the parents to send the children to the center regularly.

Local church pastors and their wives work as social workers. The pastors visit slums and villages to seek out Dalit children.

Reaching the Dalit Community

Our goal is not to preach Christ directly through the day care centers. We do not invite any Dalits to come to our church via the centers. Christian workers have been accused of converting the Dalits by providing them money and goods. We do not want to give room for such suspicions. We only teach scriptures from proverbs to the children as life lessons. Parents sometimes observe what we do. And praise God that even without invitation, parents have started coming to church and accepting Christ by seeing the character changes in their children’s lives. The local churches are full of testimonies from parents.

Upcoming projects

Our two day care centers have been running successfully .So we are planning to start another one in a place called Theni, which borders Kerala state, where we managed to find some 100 girls who were not attending school.

Since we have established 100 churches in 10 states, it is our desire to see a day care center for each of these churches.

Needs

• RM80 per month to feed one Dalit child.

• Three motorbikes (one each for our three centers) for pastors/social workers to reach the Dalits. (RM3000/bike).

• Three 15-seat Tata vans to shuttle the children from the villages and slums to the centers (RM33,000 per van).

Luke 4: 18-19 (“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind; to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”)

. PRAYER POINTS

1.  We pray for the nation of India to see all men, regardless of race, colour or breed, as

     equal citizens with equal rights and to be treated with dignity and respect.

2..  We pray against the atrocities that have been waged against the Dalits in the form of

     physical abuse , human trafficking and dehumanization.

3.. May the love of God made tangible through Ps Paul and the Dalit Slum Ministry team

    bring about a change in the lives of the Dalits.