Church Planting Movements

A Story of Faith, Courage, and Unseen Impact

Jan 14, 2026 | South East Asia, Stories

*Scott and *Saeng report that this year has been the most fruitful in their 30 years of ministry in Southeast Asia.

For years, they have prayed for Lao believers to join the harvest in Thailand. Last month, their prayers were answered when two Lao women in their 50s visited *Tai (a ministry partner) and his wife. Every day, these women went out with local team members, sharing their faith in nearby villages. The Isaan people responded positively, with many expressing interest in Jesus daily.

As the month went on, Scott encouraged Tai to invite local women to a spontaneous training led by these two Lao women. The event drew about 20 participants. Each morning, they studied Scripture together; each afternoon, they shared the gospel and each evening, they debriefed over dinner.

One Isaan woman, *Hom, was particularly moved during the training. Since becoming a disciple of Jesus in 2019, she had been vocal about her faith in her village. However, her husband, who did not believe, eventually stopped the Bible study meetings in their home, causing Hom to cease sharing her faith.

During the weekend training, Hom was inspired by the testimonies of the two Lao women. Both had faced opposition from their husbands, yet one husband had since become a disciple of Jesus. The other husband, though not a disciple, had accepted his wife’s faith and no longer opposed her sharing her faith. Encouraged by their stories, Hom has begun sharing her faith again in her village.

Please pray for Hom’s husband, that he will soon become a disciple of Jesus, and for follow-up with the many Isaan people who heard about Jesus this past month through the testimony of these Lao workers.

*pseudonym

Vani’s Unseen Love

Jan 7, 2026 | South Asia, Stories

*Vani grew up deeply immersed in Bengali traditions, practicing idol worship and even witchcraft. After marrying, her husband became addicted to alcohol, and their home was consumed with constant fighting, bickering, and strife.

Overwhelmed with disappointment and grief, Vani left her husband and returned to her family. Yet even there, she found no relief—her days were marked by tears and despair over her broken marriage. In desperation, she cried out, “God, if You are real, please change my life.”

One day, while weeping, she suddenly heard a clear, audible voice: “I am Yeshu (Hindi for Jesus). Come close to Me.” She heard the voice again and again.

As time passed, Vani’s desire for idol worship and witchcraft completely faded—she grew to despise those practices. But she remained confused: Who is Yeshu? she wondered. When she asked others, someone finally explained, “Yeshu is the Christian God, Jesus.”

Determined to know Him, Vani began attending a traditional church service where she learned of His love. Six months ago, she placed her trust in Jesus. Since then, she has returned to Delhi to live with her husband. By God’s grace, his drinking has decreased, the fighting is less frequent, and he has found steady work.

Because the Christian community in Delhi is so small, *Jerusha, —our Indian teammate—was introduced to Vani through house church connections. Jerusha has begun discipling her, and Vani often shares that before, she knew nothing of Jesus, yet He called her with His own voice. She now calls Him her “Unseen Love”—the love she had longed for but never known, the love that has filled her life with peace and blessing.

Her faith is unwavering. She boldly declares, “Whatever happens, I will never leave Jesus.” Though she first encountered Him through a traditional church, Jerusha is excited to walk with her in learning the simple disciple-making model used in the Listening Movement—so that she, too, can share Jesus with her family.

Please pray:

For Jerusha’s boldness and wisdom as she disciples Vani.
For Vani’s faith to grow strong and remain steadfast through trials and persecution.
That Vani will boldly testify to how God called her, and that her transformed life will shine brightly as a witness to the power of the Holy Spirit.

*pseudonym

Building Bridges of Hope with Technology

Dec 10, 2025 | Austronesia, Stories

A simple app developed by our Southeast Asia team to distribute Discovery Bible Study (DBS) story sets is transforming lives in a region ripe for harvest. According to our local team, this tool has become an extraordinary lifeline for those seeking truth.

One such seeker is *Ari, a new disciple of Isa Al-Masih (Jesus). Though raised in Islamic traditions and trained in a religious boarding school, Ari’s heart grew restless. The teachings he once embraced no longer filled the spiritual void he felt. His search led him to follow Isa—a bold and costly decision that brought both peace and persecution.

After choosing to follow Isa, Ari faced intense pressure. Family members rejected him. The community mocked him. Yet, he stood firm. “I never imagined that following Isa would lead me down a road marked by both suffering and love,” Ari shared. “But I now walk in truth.”

During this difficult season for Ari, a DBS story set titled Struggle on God’s Path, facilitated by missions catalyst, *Bret through the app, brought comfort and courage. The app became more than just a resource. It became a refuge. Ari and his house church group leaned into the Scriptures daily, drawing strength and guidance from each story.

Now, Ari is not only growing in faith. He’s boldly living it out. With humility and love, he shares truth with those who once ridiculed him. He doesn’t repay mockery with anger, but with compassion and prayer, just as Isa taught. He longs deeply for his family to know Isa and continues to pray that they too will experience the love and truth he has found.

Ari’s story reminds us that every effort counts. The app is more than a technological solution. It’s a bridge to hope for many who are quietly hungering for truth.

Please pray for Ari and others like him—that they would experience peace, joy, and continued strength as they grow in faith. Pray especially that God would answer Ari’s heartfelt prayer: that his entire household would come to know Isa Al-Masih.

*pseudonym

THREE MAJOR HINDRANCES
Hanli* helped her husband track data describing their region’s largest family of church planting movements. After reading all the descriptions of transformed read more …

JOURNEY TO DISCIPLESHIP
Susi was interested in each of the Old Testament stories and asked, “Are these stories talking about the blood of Jesus?” read more …

GIVE UP YOUR WAY
Together the couple had sought the Lord on where they might live to be most effective in making multiplying disciples. And the Lord had answered. read more …

“I Don’t Have An Oikos!”

Nov 25, 2025 | Austronesia, Stories

*Frida seemed hungry for Jesus, yet insistent that no one else around her would want to join in discovering God’s heart through the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) process.

What should a Disciple Making Catalyst team do when someone says, “No one in my circle is interested”?

The team chose to seek the Lord together through Listening Prayer. They asked, “Jesus, what must be done?”

As they listened, the next steps became clear: take Frida out with them to find other potential Persons of Peace. She didn’t need to wait for people to come to her. Instead, they would go together, prayer walking and watching for those the Holy Spirit was already stirring with a longing to know God.

At that point, Frida wasn’t yet a follower of Jesus. But she was eager to obey what little she understood. And in the midst of joining the team in the search, she encountered Christ and chose to follow Him.

Still, the question lingered—Where was her group of close connections? Her natural household and social network seemed closed or uninterested. But one of the core principles the team instills in every Kingdom Movement catalyst is this: don’t take “no” as the final answer.

So the team kept walking alongside her, discipling her in her new faith. They invited her to help facilitate a new Discovery Group—this time among a group of highly educated individuals, among whom she initially felt out of place.

But as local teammates continued equipping her to find her identity and significance in Christ—not in her background, education, or perceived limitations—she began to grow. Her confidence in God’s Word increased. So did her dependence on the Holy Spirit.

That initial group has now already begun to multiply into a second generation, starting another Discovery Group.

Could it be that every seemingly “stuck” situation is actually a sacred invitation—an opportunity to pause, listen, and lean deeper into the Holy Spirit’s leading?

Let us be diligent, intentional, and courageous. The Kingdom has room for us to practice and wrestle until God helps us figure it out.

With Him, nothing is impossible!

*pseudonyms

READ RELATED STORIES

LACK OF HARVESTERS ….
“Many times the fruit goes rotten for lack of harvesters among unreached people groups (UPGs). In Western cultures, read more …

JESUS HEALS AS IS WRITTEN
“This was the same lady, Ibu Muli, in whose home we now sat. She told us that immediately after read more …

FINDING JESUS IN THE ORDINARY
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God Chose the Lowly

Nov 6, 2025 | Longer Reads, South Asia, Stories

by R.Rekedal Smith

God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are. 1 Corinthians 1:27-28

In the early days of our ministry, we went to the town of D and did three or four days of training in the DMM (disciple-making movement) model of ministry. The roughly 20 attendees included people from a wide variety of backgrounds, ranging from well-educated and well-dressed to much less educated and humbly clothed.

A few weeks later, we returned to do a follow-up training with these believers. During the first two days of the second training, we noted a pattern of self-selection in the trainees’ seating. The educated and traditionally-trained pastors sat in the front, nicely-dressed and interactive, raising their hands in response to our questions. Another distinct group, less well-dressed, always sat quietly in the back and never raised their hands to respond to questions. We recognized them as low caste people and later learned that these trainees picked through trash for their livelihood.

We didn’t sense any animosity or negative feelings between the groups. Their self-selection and behavior matched the norms in this caste-oriented society. Those in each group knew their assumed place and played their expected role.

However, as we began asking trainees to tell us what God was doing in their ministry, we noticed a pattern in the stories. Both in one-on-one conversations and when we asked from the front for any ministry testimony from previous weeks, we saw a stark contrast. We recognized
that the poorly dressed trainees in back were the only ones reporting ministry fruit that reflected application of the DMM principles we had taught.

The nicely-dressed ones in the front, who had been very interactive and answered our questions, didn’t have any stories to share that actually showed they had applied the DMM pattern for making disciples. Meanwhile, the group of trash pickers had some exciting stories to share.

On the third day, my husband said, “We need to honor them; we need to bring them out of the back row to the front.” We brought them up to the front and he and I, along with many of the Indians in the room, washed their feet. It was a very precious moment.

So, the cultural norms were suddenly turned on their heads, based on the Kingdom value of fruitful obedience. The illiterate trash-pickers felt honored—both as fellow-members of God’s family and as God’s servants faithfully bearing witness to the gospel and seeing God work
through them. The Indians who had been seated in the front row also honored them, acknowledging that these brothers had the most notable fruit in ministry. That event had a huge impact on all of us—touching social, cultural, political, and religious values with a stunning
Kingdom perspective.

A 12-minute documentary, “Ordinary People,” describes the early growth of this movement and features some of these “ordinary” people. These low-caste, illiterate trash pickers became more fruitful than any of the most educated people in the room. These folks obeyed and experienced multiplying fruit—lots of fruit. God loves to use anyone who obeys, even those we might consider the least. Over time, they also learned how to read. The Lord taught them how to read, and improved their lives physically, even as they have continued to grow in Christ and serve him fruitfully.

R. Rekedal Smith and her family serve with BEYOND (beyond.org). Their application of DMM strategies in India has resulted in over 1 million house churches birthed from Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh background peoples.