by Jotham Johann Jhang

Today there are almost 3 billion people in the world who are either Chinese or Asian Indian. This is nearly half of the world's entire population! However, over 97% among the Chinese and Asian Indian communities world-wide are unchurched, including here in North America! Most of these people are of Buddhist or Hindu backgrounds.

Many Chinese and Asian Indians live now in Europe, Africa, Australia (Oceania) and South America as well, making them extremely strategic targets. If you and I are able to reach even one Chinese or Asian Indian person with the Gospel and disciple her to reach her family, friends and connections overseas, we can participate in an unprecedented expansion in mission and outreach activity world-wide.

Thus, more than ever, CAME and her partners are committed to Chinese and Asian Indian Missions. We are opening up missions in previously uncultivated mission fields among these people. One such new mission field is the Malayalam-speaking Asian Indian community. Pictured to the right is Rev. Abu Thampan who has been recruited to become the first Lutheran Malayalam missionary. Rev. Thampan will help us start new Malayalam missions, particularly in Texas.

As Dr. Ken Behnken of the Center for US Missions (Irvine, California) points out, "At creation, the Lord said to Adam, 'Be Fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it'. Ever since creation, God's people have been researching and studying to find the best way to "subdue" the world in which we live." In the Old Testament, the Israelites searched for the best pastures for their flocks (1 Chronicles 4:39). Men were sent into Canaan to explore the land and return with an assessment report. Kings researched genealogical records to find families and capable men (1 Chronicles 26:31). This was all done in efforts to subdue the earth.

Today, in response to Christ's Great Commission, CAME and her partners and friends continue the endeavors to subdue the earth. We continue to work to discover and cultivate the brightest missionaries and church workers, the best methods, and the finest resources to "subdue the earth" with the Gospel.

It is a challenging time to be in the Great Commission business. The economy is down. Controver-sies, such as those exacerbated by the Yankee Stadium event have led Lutherans astray from focusing on the sharing of the Gospel. Talk of war has precluded some of our missionaries from getting to their mission field.

Organizations such as LCMS World Mission has had to recall scores of missionaries, including many from overseas in Asia. Even North America's largest churches, such as Willow Creek Community Church in Chicagoland and McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia has had to lay off many church workers and missionaries.

It is easier to have perspective in hindsight, but even in the midst of world-wide struggles in mission planting and outreach, we see the Lord's plan unfolding before us. Although funding is very important to making things happen in the mission field, it is not critical, and certainly not crucial to success in "subduing the earth" with the Gospel. God uses so many other gifts-the extraordinary ingenuity of the motivated Christian, the empowering and equipping power of the Word of God, the capable hands of Christian craftsmen, et. al.

Some of our partners are struggling with their budgets, and that does have an affect on CAME and Asian Missions' programs, initiatives and plans. But we see the Holy Spirit at work in so many places, so vigorously. CAME and her partners continue to steadily, systematically, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, reach thousands upon thousands of new Asians, bringing them to their knees as they hear and experience the Good News of Jesus Christ for the first time. What a privilege it is for Lutherans like you and me to take part in the life-transforming work of the Gospel!

By investing our time, resources, prayers and efforts into Chinese and Asian Indian missions, CAME and her partners will make an enormous impact upon world-wide mission efforts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you and I will focus our endeavors upon those Chinese and Asian Indians who live and work close to where we live and work. We will see them in the mall. We will line up with them at the post office. We will sit next to them at the restaurant. I encourage you now to engage them. Relate to them. Encourage members of your church to look at ministry among them. You and I, then, as Christ's stewards, will be well on our way to subdue the earth. May God bless you, your family, and your church in all your endeavors for His sake during this Lenten season!


Jotham Johann Jhang
Executive Director
CAME

 

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