By Rod Matthews

In a vast geographic area of the world, where Christians constitute a small minority in the most populous countries, the Spirit of God is leading in different, often unpredictable and (for us) pioneering ways. We do not have enough space to describe all the activities from all the countries in the region in which the church is active, but here are some highlights from 2006.

Fiji: Ratu Epeli Kanaimawi has pastored our congregations in Fiji for over 25 years. As a former highly respected civil servant, he has often been asked to take on service roles for semi-government organizations, and for many years he served as the Chairman of the Grants Commission of the University of the South Pacific, which is based in Fiji and which has extension campuses in many of the smaller nations of the Pacific. Last year the then Fijian government asked him to accept the honored responsibility of Fijian High Commissioner to Malaysia (equivalent of Ambassador among the British Commonwealth nations), which includes being diplomatic representative to Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Epeli and his wife, Sofi, took up residence in Kuala Lumpur on November 1. At present he is hoping for confirmation of his appointment due to a subsequent coup in Fiji. The church in Fiji is now ably served by a pastoral team led by local elder, Isei Colati.

Vanuatu: The Rory congregation on the island of Malekula built a new meeting hall during 2006 using building blocks they made themselves. A small team from New Zealand led by professional builder, Les Evans, who is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the church in New Zealand and who is intimately involved with the work of Habitat for Humanity, helped with manpower and technical support during a mid year visit.

The village has water supply problems, so the next project is to work on a collection and distribution system that eliminates the need to carry water in drums and buckets from a source many hundreds of meters away. The Rory congregation hosts many of the villagers in services during their annual festival and its community service focus is much appreciated in that area of Malekula.

Australia: National Director John McLean reported that “Australia was delighted to host Pastor General Joseph Tkach at our national pastors’ conference last July. His warmth, wisdom, approachability and humility were much appreciated by all.

“Some of our congregations participated in this year’s national trans-denominational survey of Australian churches. This National Church Life Survey (NCLS) is a massive project, covering 15 years of research. NCLS invited us to help with the creation of resources for church leaders in this country.

“Many of our congregations are finding ways to connect with and serve their local communities, often in ways they never imagined possible a short time ago. As we continue to focus on spiritual formation, developing and sharing spiritual community, we are grateful for the many blessings our gracious God provides.”

Malaysia: The magazine sponsored by the churches in Malaysia has gained the honor of being the highest-circulation Christian magazine in Malaysia. It has a circulation of over 8,000 consisting of mail subscribers and free distribution. Volunteers form the editorial committee, evaluate and choose articles from a range of sources and contribute articles themselves. Each issue, a member work party prepares copies for mailing. Local elder Low Mong Chai coordinates the publishing and his son, Richard, is responsible for the layout and design.

Malaysian law does not permit Christians to proselytize amongst the Muslim majority so the magazine is circulated primarily among the Chinese and Indian population of the country. Subscriptions are free for those living in Malaysia and Singapore. Further information is available at http://www.wcg-klang.net/Publications.php. 

Nepal: ACCM's "Foundations of Faith" course has been translated into Nepali to become the first literature the church has produced in that language (right). However, in spite of inquiries in a number of countries, we cannot locate a Nepali copy of the text for the course, John Stott’s Basic Christianity—even though we know it has been translated into Nepali.

In order to meet the needs of rural pastors in Nepal who have little biblical educational material in their own language, the church is having the 10-lesson course called Discipleship 101 (found on our website www.wcg.org/lit/disc/) translated. Distribution will be handled by Deben Sam, Himalayan Ministries director, with whom the church is developing a working relationship (left). Deben Sam supervises a number of rural congregations in addition to several in Kathmandu and is very keen to use more of our literature in the development of the pastors and members who are served by this ministry.

Sri Lanka: The peace and order situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated again and thousands of people, especially in the north and east of the country, continue to be disadvantaged and/or displaced. Many have never recovered from the effects of the December 2004 tsunami. Our congregation in Batticaloa (right) is sustained by the efforts of local leaders. Contact with the pastor is limited because of travel restrictions in that area due to the insurgency.

The WCG-established Worldwide Educational Institute in Colombo has had another successful year offering skills in English and business studies to high school graduates who are preparing for employment or university entrance. Ambassador graduate Robert Reeves is the principal and has maintained an outstanding record of academic achievement in three and six-month courses and more extensive one-year diploma studies. The courses embody the traditional Ambassador values education and highlight presentation skills that have enabled many graduates to take up prime employment offers.

India: The church in India has approximately 100 members scattered over a wide geographic area. The Secunderabad congregation pastored by Danny Zachariah supports a community counseling center in its small meeting hall and utilizes the professional skills of members and their connections. Joe D’Costa, pastor of the Bangalore congregation, produces a nationally-circulated magazine of Christian education for local distribution called Living Light.

In recent months, we have received many messages from ministries in India requesting a closer working relationship and hoping for financial support. Although we are unable to meet their financial needs, several have shown interest in working together so that our deep resources of articles and biblical educational material might be used in a much wider way in a country where discipling is desperately needed among Christians, who make up less than 3 percent of the population. Several of these possibilities will be explored in the year ahead.

Pakistan: The church has continued to develop a closer relationship with the Gospel Alliance of Pakistan (GAP) led by Dr. Muqaddam Zia (right), after Mohan Jayasekera and I traveled to Pakistan early in 2006. Articles from a variety of our authors and some drawn from the HQ web site have been translated into Urdu and are used in a locally produced magazine for the edification of ministers and church members in the Faisalabad area.

Monies raised by the Australian churches have been directed through GAP to earthquake relief efforts in northern Pakistan, and are currently being collected to help cover the cost of distributing Urdu Bibles to new converts in remote areas of the country.

Dr. Zia is planning to open a Bible training school in Faisalabad to prepare new pastors and congregational leaders for the work of the gospel, and we have offered him assistance in developing curriculum and building educational resources for this project.

Click here for the Latin American report