Jesus directs His followers to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) This command may sound extreme; it requires us to reorganize our goals. Yet if we truly reflect on Christ, recognizing that He is worthy of the world’s worship, our trust, and all our treasures, we should want to reorient our lives.

Regardless of your circumstances, it is good to ask, “How can I fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples?” Many missionaries who are pursuing the advance of the Gospel depend on partners who regularly provide for them financially. Are there parts of your monthly budget that you could designate for overseas work? Church planters also agree that prayer support is integral to their ministry. Purchase Operation World or use The Joshua Project to begin praying for one country, unreached people group, or missionary each day.

Most people set New Year’s resolutions which require them to sacrifice time, money, energy, and maybe even a favorite dessert. But as you consider the remaining months of 2010, you could reflect on these words of Christ:

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Are you one of these workers? Be the answer to your prayer.

Perhaps you’re not sure about how to proceed. A good way to start is by thinking about the relationships you have already formed with non-Christians such as your coworkers, neighbors, and unsaved relatives. Are there ways you can introduce the Gospel into your conversations with them?

You could also look for opportunities to build deeper relationships with acquaintances you see on a regular basis. Do you have a favorite server at the restaurant where you eat each week? Do you talk with other parents on your children’s sports teams? Do you have a hobby that allows you to meet others in your community? If so, you should consider investing in or initiating these types of relationships for the sake of the Gospel.

You might want to seek first-hand knowledge of local and overseas missions work too. For example, your church may participate in ministries for college students, unwed mothers, the homeless, or prisoners in your area. Your church might also organize short-term missions trips. These trips allow you not only to assist overseas workers directly, but also to gain a first-hand glimpse into everyday life of missionaries. In addition, they equip you to better pray for church planters and the unreached people they serve.

Brett*, a church planter in Central Asia, was willing to risk everything to share the Good News—even his family. Over a decade ago, he moved his wife and four young children to a country where they faced difficulties unimaginable in the west. What would motivate Brett to make such a radical decision? The answer is found in the same Person who is the role model for all Christians. As Paul writes,

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Amazingly, Brett doesn’t emphasize the cost of his obedience—such as leaving family, retirement funds, and healthcare behind. Instead, he focuses on the joy of knowing God’s promises: “Like Abraham, [we] can trust God’s protection and faithfulness with the unknowns.”

Those who do not know God cannot comprehend such a peace. They eat and drink without a care for tomorrow (1 Corinthians 15:32.) But we, who know our eternal end, should live in such a way that we look like Christ—scarred, beaten, broken—and yet confident and hopeful in our future. An example like that not only brings God glory, but also it can be used by God to bring others into His Kingdom.

As you begin 2010, take some time to reflect on how you will follow Christ’s sacrificial example and obey His command to make disciples. In the words of martyred missionary Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Please pray:

• ask God to show you what radical ways you can obey his command to go and make disciples, whether that’s in your current community or in another country.
• for opportunities to promote the spread of the Gospel by going on a short-term missions trip, giving financially, developing relationships with neighbors, or praying regularly for AP
• that the work of overseas church planters will be strengthened in the upcoming year.

* For security, his name has been changed.

Editor’s note: One of our New Year’s resolutions is to make sure not to be late in sending out our monthly newsletters.

So wrote Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma (modern day Myanmar). God gave him such a vision for Gospel work that neither difficulty nor death could deter him: “I am immortal till my work is accomplished,” he wrote.

The work was not accomplished quickly. Judson labored for seven years before he saw one person believe in Christ. Nevertheless, he was convinced of the unstoppable advance of God’s Kingdom and looked to the promised reward, even if it meant not just years of waiting, but generations:

“And although I see few results, future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few rays to cheer, except such as flow from faith in the precious promises of God’s Word.”

It is in these very same precious promises from God that we also find our hope. There are many challenges as we labor alongside our brothers and sisters who are pioneer church planters in the 10/40 window–-from delayed paperwork to the death of a peer. However, we have this great assurance: that even if we do not know His timing, the Lord Himself ensures the victory of bringing the Gospel to those who have not heard and saving all those whom He calls to Himself.

A few rays to cheer

Though work in the 10/40 window has its challenges, it is increasingly fruitful. The Joshua Project notes that “dollar for dollar and hour for hour, the harvest coming from the 10/40 Window nations outstrips that from the rest of the world 100 to 1. ”*

Even in the last few weeks of this year, we’ve received encouraging reports from the teams we support. Just recently, the main employee in one of our teams’ businesses declared that he wanted to follow Christ. He is the head of his household and thus exercises special influence in his community. He was also baptized, which is a significant step for believers in his country, given persecution that they face for following Christ. This team is one that we started helping shortly after we were founded a number of years ago; it’s been encouraging to see their increased fruitfulness as time passes.

Work to accomplish

Reports like these remind us of two things: that this pioneering Gospel work is still relatively new, and that it will take time.

1)   The work is relatively new. Though there have certainly been missionaries bringing the gospel to unreached places in the past, the concerted effort to reach the heart of the Muslim world with the Gospel is a newer work, taken on with increased urgency only in the past 30 years.

2)    The work will take time. God can draw a completely unreached people group to Himself immediately. However, what seems to happen more often is that God uses the faithful work of His children over a long period of time to bring the good news to new places. Church planters take time to learn the language of their people, understand the culture, and know how to communicate the gospel in a clear way. They need to address misconceptions about the Gospel and about Jesus.  So the church planters we support don’t just think in terms of a few years; instead they keep a long-term perspective, aiming to plant churches that will endure until Christ returns.

BAM enables long-term Gospel sharing

Given these realities, business-as-mission (BAM) has a vital role. Legitimate businesses allow church planters to enter and stay longer in new areas, giving them greater opportunity to share the gospel and hopefully see churches develop.

Looking ahead to 2010, we’re excited about a few developments that we hope will continue to sustain existing Business-as-Mission projects and allow more teams to share the gospel for a longer time in their contexts.

First, we’ve identified a few replicable business models that we plan to start up in 2010. Through these businesses, we plan to support up to 40 church planters next year.

Second, we’re planning to expand geographically to covering not only the central part of the 10/40 window, but now also areas to its West and East (from North Africa through to Southeast Asia). We have much to learn but are thankful for the opportunity to serve more church planters in their work of the gospel.

Please pray for us as we plan and work towards these goals. Even now, we want to thank you for your persevering prayers and support for the work of church planting in the 10/40 window. We are grateful for you who share our long term vision.

—

* http://www.joshuaproject.net/assets/GlobalMissionTrendsMap.pdf

Then Samuel took a stone…and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12

We have many reminders of how the Lord has helped us in our work this past year.
God placed resources on our path when we needed them most.  He was with us at every turn as we sought to be faithful to the Great Commission, and along the way we have many “ebenezers” to point to. Here are a few.

A Replicable Business

Two years, 12 volunteers, 1 business director, and five partner churches. God used this combination of resources so that we could launch one more business in the 10/40 window this year. Lord willing, it will support six, maybe seven church planters in the next few years. We are also grateful because the business model lends itself to potential replication in other areas of Central Asia.

Church Partnerships

We are not able to do our work without our partnerships with local churches.  This year, our partner churches have sent their members to AP trips abroad, funded a startup business, and have offered needed advice on a number of our projects. Their willingness to help us as we support the people in the field is overwhelming and humbling.

Faithful Co-Laborers

Our friends in the 10/40 window are our heroes. We can say “it is not easy to serve as a church planter in these countries,” but they can show you why that statement is true. They face disappointment, medical problems, the loss of loved ones, persecution, and death, yet their joy in the Lord remains. We have learned so much through their example.

100 Church Planters

Our team set a goal of supporting 100 church planters by the end of 2010. In God’s sovereign kindness, we were able to achieve that goal ahead of schedule in 2009.

Safety

We’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Central Asian countries to work with BAM (Business-as-Mission) companies and church planters.  Not all travel destinations are safe, but by God’s grace, we have been able to conduct our business without direct threats or harm to the people working on a particular project.  We are grateful that we have been able to complete the objectives of our trips in a safe and productive manner.

10/40 Pioneers

We launched a monthly donation program called the “10/40 Pioneers” this year and we are grateful for all the donations that came in – large and small.  It is these very donations that provide us with the opportunity to help bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Pro-bono Staff

Since January, we have counted approximately 2,400 donated hours from friends who worked on different AP projects. Several pro bono administrators, industry experts, and business consultants have passed through our doors this year. We recognize we could not have paid for the high caliber of support we received from volunteers each month.

A Growing Network

More people are growing in their interest in Business as Missions (BAM) strategies. This year, we talked to business owners, expatriates in the 10/40 window, and other industry experts who are open to help us. Lord willing, these connections will help us find more ways for church planters to live in least reached countries.

Business Directors

Without business directors on the field, raising up a successful company is a bigger challenge.  It is difficult for church planters to launch and run a successful company while also planting a church. Business directors are people we recruit and send to the field to help with various BAM initiatives.  We are especially thankful that we have been able to place business directors on the field and that we have more candidates who are considering placement.

New Believers

In Turkey, there are 3,062 Christians in a country of 72 million people. In Turkmenistan, there are about 2,000 believers out of a population of 4 million. That’s the size of some churches here in DC. These numbers can be discouraging if you didn’t know that in the early 1990s, there were only 540 known believers in Turkey and only 5 known Turkmen Christians.

By God’s grace, there are more people who came to know Christ as their Savior this year compared to the years before.  God willing, we will continue to play a small role in helping church planters bring the good news of the gospel to the lost people of Central Asia.

We are grateful that we have the opportunity to see God work in Central Asia—in a remote city, in a church in the suburbs, in a small local government office—He has been faithful and amazing.  We count ourselves blessed that we can join Him in the small role we play in sharing the gospel with the lost people of Central Asia.

We have been placed in challenging environments but God has removed the barriers to our progress.  While we never take God’s grace for granted, we are also not surprised when He meets us.  He is continually providing the funds we need, directing us to the right people to help us, guiding our plans (and changing them!), and sustaining our desire and determination to serve our brothers and sisters in the 10/40 window. As we look back on the year, we also say, “Till now, the Lord has helped us.”

At Access Partners, we see Paul’s task as a great example for pioneering churches in regions hostile to Christianity and to unreached people groups. We use business in the same way that Paul did – as a means to enter, and remain, and make way for evangelization and church growth.

In the array of Business-As-Missions techniques now on offer, we at Access Partners seek to follow the apostle Paul’s simple priorities of the apostle Paul, which we call “Pioneering BAM.”

In Ephesus, where Paul’s means to support himself and credibility in the community were in doubt, where both the society and the government had shown themselves hostile to his mission, Paul used his entrepreneurship to clear these obstacles to his ministry. By working hard and supplying his own needs, he was able to remain above reproach and independent of local needs. Thus, he could concentrate on the work of teaching publicly, and from house to house, the “repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts. 20:21).

Many advocates of BAM seek to use their business operations for social and community development as well, thus requiring a doubling of efforts for the business organization. We call this type of business “Transformational BAM” since the business side of the mission includes the broader goals of transforming the community in which it is located. For instance, transformational businesses may require a defined environmental plan, seek to employ the marginalized, and plan a transfer of ownership within a fixed window of time. These are all laudable goals, but they add significantly to the work of the missionaries.

As we seek to plant churches in the 10/40 Window, we believe that the Pioneering BAM method is most effective. The region, less than 2% Christian, is marked by hostile governments, uncertain and time-consuming visa processes, and locals that are often suspicious of foreigners. It is similar in these ways to the world in which Paul preached.

A business-mission is the needed tool to overcome these formidable obstacles. Once the obstacles are overcome, any mission’s remaining resources are best used, as Paul used them, solely for the ministry of the Word and for the planting and building of churches.

To that end, Access Partners seeks to establish legitimate businesses that enable church planting. These goals are a sufficient challenge for church planters in and of themselves.

Pioneering BAM streamlines the businesses tasks so as to strengthen the church’s ministry. Access Partners’ businesses will of course positively benefit the community in which they operate. However,those benefits would be more incidental than in a Transformative BAM model. This allows the mission team to focus on the primary reason of their ministry: the spread of the gospel.

Legitimate businesses used for Pioneering BAM in the 10/40 Window require the essential elements of all businesses: a good idea, sufficient capital, and talented personnel to run the business. Access Partners seeks to connect existing resources, such as experienced businessmen and proven business models, with experienced ministers of the word in particular communities. In this way both the business platform and the church-planting ministry receive adequate attention and are respectively managed well.

Access Partners has already worked to help twenty such teams in the 10/40 Window. For the glory of God, we desire to establish even more. We ask that you consider the talents the Lord has lent you – business skills, the means to give, and the calling of the ministry of the Word. How may the Lord want you to contribute to the building of his Kingdom?

Please pray

… that God would draw experienced and motivated businessmen and women to give the gifts they have received for the benefit of the work of building the church.

… that Access Partners would continue to develop strong legitimate businesses to aid missionaries in the planting of churches.

… that God would continue to give strength and wisdom to missionaries who are using BAM as a tool in church planting.

“Today the Silk Road is almost entirely Muslim. In fact, in many ways that is the heart of the Islamic world,” said George Moore*, who has devoted his whole career to church planting in this barren land. Through his and many others’ efforts, the gospel is again beginning to break through amidst the hundreds of millions in this difficult place. The means is through business, moving along the once gospel-bearing ancient Silk Road.

The gospel once thrived along the Silk Road. For centuries, before Islam’s rise in the Middle Ages, God’s truth spread throughout the interior of the continent carried along this trade route between the Far East and the Mediterranean. The Silk Road, which was really an extensive network of trading roads and highways, snaked through all of the modern nations now centered in the 10/40 window. The Road’s main highways moved west from China through Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.

In ancient times, the Christians who first brought the gospel to the Silk Road region were themselves the very same merchants and traders who took to the Silk Road for its commercial opportunity. Their exchanges of goods in the marketplace gave way to a priceless exchange of ideas. The Christians traded as a means to build relationships with the lost. In turn, these relationships were the means to proclaim the gospel to the many who did not yet know. From this preaching, churches were born. This very same pattern of evangelism is now in revival.

“We’re talking about business now as a means of carrying the gospel because that is in fact the best way for us to get into many of these areas,” said Moore. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Silk Road region has resumed the ancient network of trade and business activity of a millennium ago. The governments of the region, freely encourage entrepreneurship within their borders.

The Silk Road is again opened, and Christians are entering and finding access to long-unreached peoples. Business and entrepreneurship again provide the universal entry point.

Access Partners helps church planters enter, live, and form relationships for the gospel along the Silk Road by aiding and establishing businesses. Access Partners develops business models that are useful across the Silk Road region. And the need continues to grow as opportunities for overt missionary activity decrease while there are increasing opportunities for business that enable church planting.

The missionaries who need the businesses are each skilled church planters, experts in language and culture, blessed by God in their fields, and eager with a passion for the gospel. They and their teams concentrate on communities where less than 2% of the population are Christians. Access Partners wants to help them use business to sustain their presence along the Silk Road for years to come.

As a result of this joint labor, the gospel of truth again rings out in a once dark land. Men, women and children are coming to a knowledge of the truth. And God’s glory is being made known.

Please pray:
… ask God how he may use the talents he has given you, in business and entrepreneurship, technology and support, to help in the new proclamation of the gospel along the ancient Silk Road.
…for Access Partners and church planters to have the wisdom to identify viable business models.
…for the Lord to sustain the strength and endurance of the church planters along the Silk Road.

*Note: For their safety, the names of the church planters have been changed.

Editors note: Some of the common questions we receive relate to the kinds of ministry work that are enabled by the church planters we support. In light of this, we thought it would be good to give you a peek into the world of house churches. We interviewed a few missionaries to tell us more about how house churches function in areas where Christianity is not widely accepted or where Christians are persecuted.

As governments and religious leaders in Central Asia become increasingly hostile toward Christianity, many missionaries have discovered that house churches are often the safest and most convenient places for Christians in the region to assemble.

A house church, as the name implies, is simply a small group of believers who meet together in a nearby home. They are typically led by one or several men, who may or may not have formal Biblical training. The mission workers we interviewed each have their own stories and experiences but generally have found that in regions where the Christian church is persecuted, house churches offer believers refuge, spiritual growth, and close relationships.

For years, missionary Brian Keller and his family have concentrated their efforts on helping form Central Asian believers into healthy house churches. Brian has developed a training regimen to help house-church ministers and elders develop a biblical understanding of preaching, discipleship, and evangelism. Access Partners is currently helping Brian think through a business strategy that will help get him into a new community to once again plant such house churches.

Carrie Campbell, a missionary in Southern Asia, says that house churches are rife for biblical training because they are largely unmonitored by governments in the region. As a result, house-church congregations, as opposed to some Christian churches that meet in a public place, can worship more freely and in a fashion that remains true to Scripture.

Charles Campbell, Carrie’s husband, says the ability to assemble in secret is very important. He says that because Christians in southern Asia are violently oppressed, it’s important that believers “simply stay alive long enough to learn what following Christ means.”

The Campbell family has been especially encouraged by the close-knit fellowship they have experienced in house churches. The smallness of congregations allows for deep personal relationships and provides built-in accountability.

House churches are relatively cheap to operate. “I don’t really think the importance of having near-zero costs can be repeated enough,” Charles says. Because Christians living in Asia often cannot afford the buildings, materials, and staff Christians in the U.S. are used to, planting churches in homes where shelter and food are readily available is of tremendous benefit to congregations.

And yet there are challenges with house churches. Pastors without formal training can sometimes misinterpret Scripture. “These churches are often dependent on lay leaders with heavy daily responsibilities,” Carrie says. “Their time is often divided, and their knowledge can be limited, and yet they have the task of leading a group of mostly new believers as a church.” In some places in the region, churches are mostly made up of men because laws prohibit evangelism and men are afraid of the consequences of sharing the gospel with their wives and family.

Although Brian Keller continues to help house churches in the region face up to these challenges, he is slow to trumpet the success of the house-church model. “Whether you’re planting a church in a house or a factory,” he says, “the important thing is not to exalt the form over the function. The purpose of the church is to preach the gospel and to make disciples, wherever the church meets.”

Please pray:

• For God to strengthen the house churches in Central Asia by raising up leaders who have sound doctrine
• For the safety of those who meet in house churches and for the church planters who support them

* Note: For their safety, the names of the church planters have been changed.

In 1731, Ludwig von Zinsendorf, a German count who had turned his estate in Saxony into a refuge for persecuted Moravian Christians, traveled to Holland for the coronation of a new king. At the palace, Zinsendorf struck up conversation with a slave named Anthony from Saint Thomas, a Dutch colony in the West Indies.

“Tell me, how did you come to hear of Christ?” the count asked.

“I first heard when I was on the ship coming to Europe,” the slave replied.

The count was baffled by the slave’s admission. He had assumed the colonies to be saturated with gospel ministry since they had been settled by Christian nations. But Anthony told a story about a slave he knew whose master had cut off his ears on the church steps when he caught him learning against the door straining to hear the sermon.

“The white people on Saint Thomas do not want their slaves to hear about Jesus Christ,” Anthony explained. “They fear the message will fill their heads with new ideas and cause them to rebel.”

Zinsendorf asked Anthony to travel with him to Saxony and share his testimony with the exiles on his estate. The Moravians were moved by the account and began to pray with Zinsendorf for missions’ opportunities in the colonies. The following August, two missionaries offered themselves to be sold as slaves to secure a spot on a ship bound for the West Indies, giving up their freedom in hopes of sharing the gospel with the slaves on board.

As this harrowing story illustrates, world missions hinges on access. Church leaders have long realized the need to couple their passion for cross-cultural evangelism and church planting with creative strategies to secure a relevant and lasting presence in unreached places.
In the 18th century, colonialism, for all its shortcomings, provided a natural bridge to the mission field and a cloak of legitimacy for European Christians seeking to spread the gospel abroad. When William Carey journeyed to India half a century after the Moravian’s venture in the West Indies, he and the thousands who followed him relegated much of their ministry to territories controlled by the British East India Company and other Western countries with Protestant sympathies however superficial they were in practice.

It wasn’t until Hudson Taylor set out for China that missions began to shake off its colonial presumptions. Taylor’s goal was straightforward: “To evangelize the whole of China.” In order to accomplish it, Taylor would have to veer from the eastern coast inland—to a vast region untouched by Western civilization and without its safety net and social strictures. He donned traditional Chinese garb and cut his hair in a pigtail, the style of the commoners. By 1905, the year Taylor died, the China Inland Mission had brought 800 missionaries to the country, founded 125 schools, and set up 300 missions across 18 provinces.

But Taylor’s model of setting up mission stations within countries has encountered obstacles in recent decades. The vast majority of unreached people groups, as presented at the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland, live in countries where access is minimal and Christian ministry is often illegal, socially unsavory, and strategically illogical.

From the apostle Paul’s first missionary journeys to the faith-filled experiments of Count Zinsendorf and Hudson Taylor, God has been making good on his promise in Acts 1:9 to spread his gospel to the ends of the earth. In each era, the message is the same, but the methods of spreading it must morph with the changing global realities.

As students and humanitarian aid works, missionaries have had some success penetrating restricted countries in recent decades. But as governments begin catching on to these tactics and cracking down on religious freedom on college campuses and village streets, creative new methods are needed to spread the Christian message. From a historical perspective, now is a particularly opportune time to pursue business-as-missions.

To learn more about how Access Partners approaches Business-as-Missions, read the following white papers:

Hand in Hand: Implementing Business as Mission to facilitate church planting
Catalyst and Collaborator: The Strategic Role of a Business Director in Frontier Cross-cultural Missions

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I love the mixing of cultures.  As I write, I am in an Eastern European country overhearing a Beyonce song on the radio and eating a delicious local fried pumpkin dish.  On another street, there are stylish cafes serving $0.80 espressos amid traditional buildings—effects of the recent economic boom in the city.

I’m here with our newest Business Director, Bill Watson, learning from an excellent Business as Missions (BAM) company which is almost completely run by locals. We are visiting with them in order to learn from a business whose model is very similar to the one we plan to launch in a neighboring country later this year. Bill will be leading this new business; its purpose is to enable church planting work in that country. He will be deployed this summer, and there is much to strategize about between now and then.

I’m grateful for many things on this trip.

I thank God for partners in the gospel. Our hosts have been remarkably hospitable. They run a very successful BAM organization, valued by locals and the government. Their services are in high demand and their office is always buzzing with activity. Yet they’ve patiently spent time with us, opening up their operations and letting us understand their business from the inside out. As Bill will be launching our new business in a matter of months, this experience has been enlightening for him, allowing him to have a tangible idea of how his operations could look in a few years.  A trip like this goes a long way toward helping our Business Directors take ownership of the projects they’re assigned to.

I thank God for many evidences of grace in Bill’s life. Though I’ve spent a lot of time already getting to know Bill, it’s great to see him in a more intense context. I see that Bill is a natural leader and has an evident care for others. He has much cross-cultural experience, so he’s able to establish rapport easily with locals and put them at ease. He will face challenges in his new location but has the patience and confidence to persevere. Working with mature businessmen like Bill is a privilege for me. I have so much to learn from them and I am thrilled that our teams in the field will get to work alongside them.

Finally, I thank God for the privilege of seeing His hand in calling Bill and his wife Lois to the field. In Bill and Lois’ story, we have already seen answered prayer upon answered prayer as God has guided them toward this calling. As one amazing example, recently an ophthalmologist found deterioration in Bill’s right eye that would potentially require brain surgery. This was discouraging news, as it would have been a dangerous operation and would have delayed or even perhaps halted his deployment to the field. After a few days of prayer, Bill received more in-depth tests, only to be told that the doctor no longer found any evidence of the deterioration whatsoever. When the doctor called to tell Lois the news, he could only repeat, “this doesn’t make any sense… I know what I saw and now it’s fine.”

Our God is a great God.

Please continue to pray with us as we work with Tim to start a business later this year:

• Please pray that Bill and Lois would arrive in-country without any problems
• Please pray Bill would have wisdom as he leads the business
• Please pray the business would be successful, to the glory of God and so that many will hear the gospel

Let us thank God together for the many ways he has already blessed us and for the promise of more grace in the future, for His glory alone!

Eight years ago, Dan and Alyson Merk moved with their three young children to a small, rugged province in Central Asia. They chose this country because of its strategic, cost-effective location near a Muslim people group they are reaching out to with the gospel. A former military man, Dan admits that God has used his thirst for adventure to motivate him to risk kingdom work in some of the world’s most dangerous areas.

As Dan and Alyson considered moving to Central Asia, friends and family suggested part-time or short-term work—without moving the kids. But, Dan comments, “we measured [the decision] against wise council.” After several years of wrestling, the move became “an obedience issue,” and they chose to obey. Occasionally, Dan and Alyson ache to think about what their kids (ranging from infancy to 15 years old) are missing in the States: scouts, football, youth group. Yet they are glad for their children to have “a huge international vision.”

Dan and Alyson have led some of the most effective translation work for the Muslim people group that they seek to reach. They have distributed over a million pieces of literature to this people group—even across dangerous borders into the most restrictive locations. The literature they translate and distribute includes New Testaments, full Bibles, and various discipleship materials.

But Dan and Alyson desire to work and live closer to their people group, within those most highly restrictive communities where they ship their materials. They long to evangelize, disciple, teach, and translate from within the communities. Without a credible means of entry, however, doors remain closed. They must remain in the less restrictive bordering nation where they live currently until they can obtain a credible reason for access into the more closed country where they hope to move.

This is where Access Partners enters the picture. We began working with the Merks about a year ago to create a way for them to move into the especially closed nation where they hope to live. We aim to facilitate their church planting by structuring an infrastructure business in that region. Our research shows that the need for such infrastructure is high, the viability to carry it out is promising, and the result would be unparalleled access for church planters like the Merks.

Dan and Alyson are grateful for the possibility to one day live among the very ones they are laboring to create materials for. In the meantime they are striving to live faithfully as a family among the Muslims of their current neighborhood. It is their dream to see many turn to Christ and join them in their heavenly family, the family of the people of God.

Special prayer requests:

1. Please pray that Dan and Alyson would have wisdom to guide and love their children well amidst their ministry responsibilities.
2. Please pray that this new business venture would successfully facilitate church planting efforts among the lost.
3. Please pray that new converts in their region would know boldness, joy and Christian fellowship in the face of intense persecution.

* Dan and Alyson Merk are not the real names of these church planters. Names have been changed and locations have been left general to preserve the security of their work.

But the tension between yesterday and tomorrow is not merely seen in the architecture. It is also visible in the city’s people and culture. This central Asian town is an educational hub for the rest of the country. With the increased affluence due to recent economic development, there is a growing interest especially from young adults and children to learn English, thus enhancing economic opportunities and integration with the international community.

Ryan’s entrepreneurial energy has focused primarily on sharing the gospel with a minority people group within the city. Ryan and his family have served in this location for the past three years. Christians have worked with the people group since the fall of the Soviet Union, but only in the last five years was the first church planted.

Ryan and his team face several barriers in their outreach. Bible translation is a work in progress and will hopefully be completed soon. Other key challenges are the people’s adamant commitment to their Muslim identity.

Despite the challenges Ryan says, “there is still reason for hope.”

He continues,

The Word is being spread widely through a correspondence course and personal visits by the leaders of the church there. There are believers, but many of them are isolated in smaller cities or villages throughout our republic. Furthermore, we are seeing young believers who are excited about impacting their culture. We believe that our targeted people group can be influential in getting the Word to many other Central Asian people groups, and we look forward with anticipation to what God is going to do among this people.

Perhaps the most inspiring story Ryan has seen is conversion of a Muslim leader in the region. A young mullah at a mosque found an advertisement in his mailbox, inviting him to start a New Testament correspondence course. He requested the course and by studying it came to know Christ. When the new convert began to teach his newfound faith at the mosque he was kicked out of job, village, home and family. He came to Ryan’s city for a church planting conference and realized that obedience to Christ should lead him to baptism. The baptism took place during the conference—a chilly November morning, just one month before the river would freeze over.

Ryan noted that this was the first known baptism of a convert by another in his own people group. He describes this new profession of faith as “very exciting and the beginnings of some great things. This has been repeated several times since then.”

With passion and opportunities like these, Ryan is committed to staying in the region. But as we highlighted in our September newsletter, access is a daunting hurdle.

Like other workers in closed countries, Ryan says, “The visa regime and scrutiny has become more difficult and challenging in the last few years.” To that end, he has looked to Access Partners to help start a legitimate business that should give more control of the visa process and a long-term platform of access.

Since September, Access Partners has worked with Ryan to develop a contextualized, viable business plan. We have crafted a business proposal for a language school that will offer high-quality education to the locals with whom Ryan and his team are building relationships.

Access Partners has relied on Ryan and his team to flesh out our understanding of the cultural and economic context. In turn, we provide a technical framework with which we analyze and optimize the market, the industry, and the financial and human resources necessary to sustain a profitable business within this city.

Ryan explains how this partnership has developed. He says,

We knew that we needed to establish a more secure platform that would provide us long-term access to this area. At the same time, we realized that the prospect of starting a for-profit business, particularly in a cross cultural context, was a daunting challenge for us. We needed some expertise. That is where Access Partners has come in. They have walked us through the process and given us confidence to proceed.

We are happy to strengthen this gospel work by meshing our business competence with Ryan’s ministry competence.

We also look toward the future with hope. We hope for a successful business launch this fall, led by a new business director that we have recruited to live and work with Ryan’s team on the field. We hope for a thriving school that makes economic sense to the community. And we hope with greatest excitement for more young converts willing to be buried in the chilly river waters emerging to live new, holy, Christ-following lives.

And so, in this partnership, we can sing the old hymn and praise God for “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Great is Thy faithfulness.”

* Ryan is not this church planter’s real name. Names have been changed and locations have been left general to preserve the security of the mission work.