Source: Movements, March 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a bustling caf\u00e9 in Bangkok, Peter and John sat down to discuss their remarkable journey in Laos\u2014a Southeast Asian nation where the gospel is advancing against incredible odds. Together, they have spent 50 years fostering movements that multiply disciples and churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter\u2019s journey began in the 1990s. He trained and discipled local believers, leveraging people of peace to spread the gospel through their networks. By the early 2000s, local believers had baptized thousands of new disciples in multiple streams and provinces and saw many dozens of simple churches formed. All of this in a nation still under Communist rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2009, John started into the work of forming an apostolic band, and with Peter\u2019s guidance, he embarked on the challenge of making disciples among a remote and unreached people group in one of Southeast Asia\u2019s most closed countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When [national church leaders] introduced traditional seminary programs, Peter and John met with the denominational leaders to share what God was doing and explain why preserving a simple, biblical approach to disciple and church multiplication was critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To their surprise, the national church leaders not only embraced the vision but invited them to train all their leaders in movement principles and practices. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully, and those passionate about multiplying disciples were empowered to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the center of this transformation was a 70-year-old patriarch of the church. God stirred his heart, and he dedicated his remaining years to seeing multiplying churches planted among every people and place in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2017, over 50,000 new disciples have been baptized, and 1,200 churches have been planted across Laos. In 1990 the Christian population was 0.2% then grew to about 2% by 2007, today it is over 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over 100 people groups\u2014mostly animists\u2014have been engaged by near-culture or same-culture disciples. Movements are thriving among minority groups, but reaching the Buddhist-majority Lao people remains one of the greatest challenges. Second and third-generation churches among Buddhists are still rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the full story<\/a> and listen to an interview with Peter and John<\/a> (Movements podcast). Last year, we also reviewed a great book about reaching the unreached in Laos. Check out The Faith Road<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We love stories about Christians and churches overcoming differences to collaborate. You might also be interested in a story about churches in Scotland \u201ctwinning\u201d with churches in Malawi in a partnership blessing both parties<\/a> (Christian Post).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: Movements, March 14, 2025 In a bustling caf\u00e9 in Bangkok, Peter and John sat down to discuss their remarkable journey in Laos\u2014a Southeast Asian nation where the gospel is advancing against incredible odds. Together, they have spent 50 years fostering movements that multiply disciples and churches. Peter\u2019s journey began in the 1990s. He trained … Continue reading Laos: A Remarkable Journey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-briefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13698,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697\/revisions\/13698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}