Tentmaking Mission Activities in Asia
 

    Two-thirds of the global population (60%) on the globe live in Asia. Fortunately, the Tentmaking Mission Movement and mission activities in Asia are now very active. In countries such as India, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China, Tentmaking Mission is well-known among mission agencies and various denominations, including many local churches. They are now well-prepared to send their tentmaking missionaries to global villages.
 
    Over the past three decades, numerous Tentmaking conferences, consultations, and mission activities have taken place in Asia, including the 1st, 4th, and 5th TI International Congress in Thailand (1993), Korea (2002), Malaysia (2007), and the 2010 TI Asia Congress in India.
 
    Many Asian countries now send a significant number of tentmakers worldwide.
 
1. Korea
    Since the first Tentmaking Awareness Conference was held in 1993, the Tentmaking Movement has experienced rapid growth over the last three decades. Today, most denominations, mission agencies, and local churches send their tentmaking missionaries abroad. We can easily meet Korean Tentmakers in many countries today.
 
    I believe the key to successful TM movement in Korea is National Tentmaking Mission Network. Shortly after the first Tentmaking Awareness conference in 1993, some mission leaders established a TM network called KAT (Korea Association of Tentmakers).

    And KAT in the first 10 years held a lot of TM conferences in many cities. As the result, mission and church leaders and missionaries began to sense the changing mission environment on the globe. Now most mission agencies and denominations send their tentmaking missionaries to the global workplace.
 
Contents for the points of Contact and Pre-Evangelism
    How are we going to develop the point of contact and share the gospel at workplace where people, especially non-Christians, are not willing to listen to us? We all know it is not easy for us to build the point of contact for Gospel at our workplace. We all realize that we need something (contents) for effective evangelism at our workplace.

    People tend to listen to those they love, like, or respect. If a tentmaker at their workplace is not the person whom they like or respect, it would be difficult for the tentmaker to talk about his Savior. That is the reality we Tentmaking Missionaries face today. Therefore, we’ve got to develop some tools that tentmaking missionaries easily can use.
 
    TI Korea now holds the annual leaders’ conference for effective Tentmaking ministry at global job places.

    Mission leaders and professionals as well as church leaders were invited to discuss and build strategies for this future Global Tentmaking Missions. Recently, TI Korea has shifted focus towards ministry at universities and workplaces. Over the past two years, TI Korea has been training professors, medical doctors, business people, and pastors interested in sharing the gospel at their workplaces through a program called “Pre-Evangelism” for professionals. Sixty professors from different cities in Korea participated in this program and studied more than six months. According to a recent report, during the last Spring semester, nine professors in eight universities initiated this pre-evangelism program (10-12 weeks) for college students at their schools, resulting in 44 students accepting Christ as their Savior. This year, TI Korea plans to extend this program to local churches and tentmaking missionaries serving in workplaces abroad.

    Persecution of Christians is on the rise around the world. This makes it more difficult to fulfill the great commission. The number of unreached people groups is still declining.
 

The number of unreached people groups in the world is finally falling. There is still much work to be done before the great commission has been fulfilled.

    It has been frustrating to follow the statistics published by the Joshua Project, one of the main mission reference centers, for those wanting to finish the task of bringing the gospel to all people groups. Over the years, the number of unreached groups has increased instead of declining. Partly, this is due to the people group definition Joshua Project uses. Still, their overview has given a feeling of the worldwide church being further and further away from finishing the task Jesus gave. 

    Now, it finally looks like the numbers are on a steady decline. One year ago, the total number of unreached groups was 7,425. Today, the comparable number is 7,276. India remains the center of gravity when it comes to unreached. In January last year, India had 2,135 groups of people defined as unreached. Now, 13 months later, the number is 2,048. 

Key groups

    According to the Joshua Project, a people group is unreached if it has less than five percent Christian adherents and less than two percent evangelical Christians. Nearly all such groups reside in nations that are closed for traditional missions. The same nations welcome tentmakers. This is why many believe businesspeople, professionals, and students will play a key role in fulfilling the great commission. 

Declining freedom

    India is by far the nation with the highest number of unreached groups. Under the current Modi government, religious freedom has declined. This makes bringing the gospel to the unreached in India more challenging. 

    Modi’s government is not the only one creating obstacles for Christian mission. In January, Open Door released its World Watch List, giving an overview of the persecution of Christians around the world. North Korea remains at the top of the “Hall of Shame”-list, followed by Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, and Yemen.

    “More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of persecution for their faith. (..) Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023, as more Christians than ever recorded faced violent attacks,” writes Open Doors in its report.

    Global Intent and Tent International experience that even nations that persecute followers of Jesus have a positive desire to hire Christian workers. Thus, there is a great need for Christian professionals and businesspeople ready to move to such nations.