
Two Chenchu children
In January, Anne and I (Dave) led a mission team to South Asia as part of our passionate commitment to bring the Gospel to those who’ve never heard. South Asia has many unreached people – and by unreached we essentially mean people who do not have the Gospel available to them by any means of their own. There isn’t a local church, nor a Bible in their language, and there aren’t people within their own community or culture who already follow Jesus. Did you know that there are more than 50 distinct groups of more than one million people each who don’t have a Bible in their language – and that’s just in south Asia. So it has been a very strategic choice for us to work to bring the Gospel there.
We gave our team a wide range of opportunities as we worked alongside our indiginous ministry partners: medical outreach, food outreach, blessing and praying for orphans and the elderly, as well as those afflicted with leprosy and their families. We held equipping events for pastors and their wives to encourage them amidst oppression from the government and spiritual darkness ever present in Hinduism.
Two days stood out with some amazing highlights and deeply meaningful connection.
On the final day of school before a holiday break, we sponsored a conference for all the students at a women’s college. After we met with all the teachers, the students had their turn to dance and perform on stage for us, much like you would see in a Bollywood movie. Then our team had the platform to share the powerful message of how Jesus sees and values each heart and soul individually. An invitation to receive Christ’s love was provided and we sensed how God was moving that day with so much joy. Many of the young women at the school asked for prayer afterwards and Anne was able to spend time with several of them and left with a special connection from that time.
Every student may be on a different spiritual journey, but they were so receptive to hearing the Gospel from our team. We know how powerfully they were called toward salvation, and we continue to pray for those who made decisions and those yet to take that step of faith.
The other momentous day occurred when we visited an extremely remote village located within a tiger reserve. The tribal people there are called the Chenchu, and they hunt with bow and arrow, and gather and forage for their survival. Their poverty was astonishing, and I share that having experienced some very rural and rustic settings. Fifty children from their village died in 2024 from malnourishment. Although they are bilingual, speaking the local Indian dialect and their own tribal tongue, most of the nearly 50,000 within the tribe are illiterate.
We were deeply moved by God’s compassion to help the Chenchu. This is an unreached people group who cannot read the Bible, do not have any churches nearby, and no one seems to be sharing the Gospel with them. In 2025 we will be working with our ministry partners to share Christ and assist with some of the humanitarian needs of the tribe. Please join us in prayer as we pursue this opportunity to bring the Gospel to those who have never heard.