Western Europe was once the center of worldwide Christian missions. This region has been saturated with the message of Christianity and the influence of the church longer, and with more intensity, than any other region of the world.
This December we returned to Bacolod, “The City of Smiles”, in the province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. We began a work there 12 months ago and returned to lead our second Catalyst Community alongside the regional team we’ve been training there.
Cambodia is another country in the 10/40 window (a geographic region which contains some of the most unreached nations of the world) where Taking New Ground operates. The official religion in Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism. It is practiced by over 85% of the population. 72% of the people groups in this nation are considered “unreached”. Evangelical Christianity represents a mere 1.77% of the population.
Earlier this summer Taking New Ground gathered together with leaders from all over the globe in the crypt of an old church in London, England. It was a beautiful and poignant setting for such a gathering. A crypt is where people are buried when they die, and we as leaders, we must continually commit to die to self in order to serve the greater mission.
Rolly is one of our key partners and leaders from the Philippines. Rolly and I have become pretty close over the past year. We met in February, when my partner Joe brought a few of our leaders from the Philippines to the US for the Exponential church planting conference. Since then we’ve worked together in Thailand and again in the Philippines. My goal has been to reproduce myself in Rolly.
We just completed Catalyst Community #2 in Kihihi, Uganda. Members of my team did Catalyst Community #1 there a year ago, and since then, we have seen 26 new churches started by the teams we are working with!
We just completed our first Catalyst Community in Delhi, India with leaders from 6 countries in South Asia in attendance: Afghanistan (99.85% Muslim), Bangladesh (0.4% Evangelical Christian, 89% Muslim), Bhutan (1.8% Evangelical Christian, 75% Buddhist), India (2.2% Evangelical Christian, 74% Hindu), Myanmar (5% Evangelical Christian, 80% Buddhist), Nepal (2.9% Evangelical Christian, 75% Hindu), Sri Lanka (1.2% Evangelical Christian, 70% Buddhist).
This is Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Macedonia is 0.2% to 0.5% Evangelical Christian. There are literally more Christians in some mega churches in America than there are in this entire country.
This past week my mentor and team lead Joe Wilson and I met up with most of the New Thing Global Catalyst team in Orlando. We also had several of the leaders we work with from Thailand, the Philippines, and Uganda in attendance. It was a great opportunity for our team and our leaders to network, build relationships, and plan for the future.
