God is rewarding the efforts of an Every Nation church in a Southeast Asian nation with open doors to several universities in the country’s education district. This country and its government are notoriously hostile to the gospel, and religious persecution is rampant, especially in rural areas. This has not stopped our Every Nation cross-cultural missionaries on the field, who are combining tried-and-tested strategies with relevant new activities to engage the youth of this nation.

Last September, assisted by a Ten Days team from our Victory churches in Cavite, our missionaries welcomed several dozen university students with a KPop-themed event for their Freshman Night. These young men and women were treated to a night of fun and purpose, as games and other activities helped them build relationship with each other. A few of these universities have stellar academic requirements, and pressure and familial expectations are common, so building relationships that help ease the strain of meeting these requirements can be very important to their overall success.

Our missionaries realize that, and are using our outreach life groups to help them let off steam and build relationships, while still contributing to their academic performance. Since that event, more than 50 students, most of them freshmen, are now plugged in to outreach life groups that meet in milk tea shops and cafes. These groups serve a double purpose: they help students practice speaking and listening skills in English, and, while using topics on leadership, integrity, faith, and excellence (LIFE), teach them about LIFE.

One particular story stands out, that of a strapping young student named *Eric. Two years ago, he was invited to join one of our church’s English club activities. He enjoyed the atmosphere and the opportunity to practice his English so much that he returned to the club regularly. However, he refused to join a life group or attend a worship service, even after being invited by Ten Days teams from the Philippines and Hawaii, USA.

Still, our campus leaders and missionaries continued to build a relationship with him; until a year later, when another Ten Days missioner, also from Hawaii, shared the gospel with him. Since then, he has become one of our most passionate local leaders; recently, he took the pulpit and shared the Word for the first time!

As we continue to do our work in this creative access nation in Southeast Asia, we invite you to stand in faith with us for the following:

• Deeper relationships. Ask God to open the hearts of the university students in our life groups to the gospel, and for creativity and wisdom as we build relationships with this nation’s future leaders.
• Local leaders. Believe God for more local leaders, especially men, to rise up and take greater responsibility of leading the harvest here.
• Open doors. Ask God for more opportunities to reach out to students, young professionals, and families in the city. Ask for provision, protection, and discernment for our missionaries as they engage more people here.

We thank you for your continued support of our Every Nation missionaries! If you would like to partner with us to bring the gospel to every nation, click here.

* Names have been changed to protect from religious persecution the people mentioned in this article. The image featured in this article does not represent our church in the creative access nation featured; it is a royalty-free image from Unsplash.com.