Praise God for answered prayer! In recent months, our team rolled out a tool that uses the Gospel of Luke to direct seekers and new believers to hear from God directly. It walks people through Luke, gleaning things from Scripture new believers need to internalize as first steps of knowledge, faith, and obedience. Though in print, audio recordings are currently being edited so people can follow, using their phones to listen in small group Bible studies.
Please join us in prayer:
Thank you for your generosity and prayers. Your gifts and intercession are truly transforming lives as we partner together to solve the world’s greatest problem, lostness. As our team grows and our partnership with South Asian churches expands, the need for your prayers and financial support continues to be essential to our daily ministry. Thank you for giving to the Lord through our team’s project! Thank you for praying. Praise Him!
Jesus continues to do the work of His church, expanding His kingdom, calling people out of darkness into his marvelous light!
Food Distribution
During 2020-2021, blessed by your gifts, our team partnered with several church networks to assist with food distributions in five towns. Not only did this meet physical needs, as people were without work for many months throughout the pandemic, but it showed people the tangible love of Jesus Christ and opened doors for the gospel itself to reach into many homes in those towns. During one food distribution event, a Muslim woman who received a food bag came running back with her neighbor, saying, “It’s Christians who truly love us! Come! Let’s hear what they have to say!” Many heard the gospel during those months. Pray that the Word of God would take root in their lives, causing them to repent and trust in Jesus for salvation.
Discipleship Retreat
In October 2022, we conducted a training for eight families from a church we worked with over the last three years. Wow! Most of them had never had an opportunity to get away for a retreat, learning together from the Word and enjoying activities. Typically, we only gather for Bible study and strategy-related interactions. During this time, we focused more on discipleship and their maturity in Christ.
God orchestrated this conference as only He can. The leaders of the church are so grateful for your generosity as God molded them during this time, resolving previously unaddressed tensions. God is restoring relationships and families on their team!
2021 by the Numbers
As we recount God’s faithfulness over 2021, it is exciting to report how He displayed his glory among the millions we focus on reaching here in South Asia:
Testimony of God’s Faithfulness
Late in 2021, in an area where some have left Hindu and Muslim backgrounds to become believers, a Muslim woman came to faith. Soon her family forced her out of their home. This is a common experience for those who shift their faith and loyalty to Jesus Christ.
A family who had left Hinduism invited her to live with them. This is evidence of God’s work in their hearts because this is so countercultural. In South Asia, people typically remain walled off from one another with ethnic and religious pride keeping each other separate. Yet when people are born again, Jesus breaks barriers, making us one in Christ (Eph. 2:13-14), just as Jesus prayed for in John 17:20-21!
Rejoicing in 2022
Through your gifts to this project, local churches continue to engage Muslims in their communities.
This photo was taken in February 2022—a happy young couple hearing the gospel and receiving their first copy of the Bible in their own language, the first they had ever seen. This is what we have been praying for—God to work through the bold and faithful witness of our brothers and sisters in Christ here in South Asia! Praise God for His work among His children and among His church in this place!
God is using your prayers and your generosity to advance the gospel among the unreached and unengaged peoples across the globe! We recognize this young couple is only beginning their journey. Getting them in Bible study, teaching them to abide in Christ and his Word and to love God and others in the context of a healthy local church is where they need to be.
Prayer Requests
Would you pray for recent believers in the South Asian church?
May the gospel bear fruit and multiply, transforming the lives of those who have heard! Pray that God would draw them to himself by his love and mercy—to the very foot of the cross in repentance and faith.
Thank you for praying for our trainings and outreaches. Once again God demonstrated His glory!
We asked you to pray for a bold witness and the believers we were with were very bold. We often ask local believers if they have Muslim friends and neighbors and if they’ve gone the distance with them, having Jesus conversations with them in their normal course of relationships. These folks not only have Muslim friends, but over half of them had shared their faith with them before the training. These are the very kinds of people we’ve been praying to meet and walk alongside in order to see the gospel multiply in the Muslim communities. Keep praying!
We asked you to pray for open Muslim hearts and we found some! Two men from different major Muslim people groups were engaged with gospel conversations and about two-thirds of those showed interest to discuss it more! As we headed partway home for another training and outreach, our vehicle had issues, so we were delayed going further for half a day. We asked you to pray for safety and we got it! The car had its issues while we were out, yet we were only ten minutes away from a dealership, so we got it repaired. The guys who were fixing the car were intrigued by us and eagerly listened to our message!
We asked you to pray for life-on-life modeling, and we experienced depth and breadth of interaction with the men who joined us for this trip, digging into Scripture and our lives together. We shared lots of South Asian red-neck jokes and spicy foods while also going the distance in our conversation in things that matter.
Do continue to pray for us as a family along with our friend from WY who has joined us in the work for a while – pray that we’d abide well – that we’d model in our family and in our work that strength, vision, power and all we are spring solely from Jesus and worshipful obedience to Him and His Word.
For his glory among the Muslim peoples of South Asia,
Crawford for the Family
Psalm 57:9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
Psalm 57:9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
We are happy to report that four new church networks in a new area have received our training and begin to take ownership of engaging Muslims in their own area. Five men heard the gospel last week along with about 20 Muslim women!
Please continue to pray for us, especially when we face discouragement due to “false starts” where things appear to be taking off in the right direction and then fail and dissipate due to the lack of follow-through on the part of folks we’ve trained. This situation happens even though we walk with the trainees hand-in-hand for a time.
A quote I keep going back to: “If you want to engage people with the gospel, you have to sit in the smoking section.”
Like you, we face challenges from our own sinfulness and pride. Like you, we face the daily uphill climb to accomplish what’s on our plate of responsibility, whether it be getting the laundry done in time, preparing Bible lessons to teach or being a faithful, loving witness of Jesus as we are in community or when we drive long distances to accomplish what God has called us to.
The awesome answer to all these challenges that keeps us motivated and going is Jesus. In his mercy and grace, he has redeemed us and forgiven us. We live – even now – in the reality of his unfathomable love and we want that awesome news to be spread far and wide, even to those who are outwardly hostile towards anything remotely related to his name.
Our team is forging ahead, developing a program of directed Bible study through the Gospel of Luke and Book of Acts for Muslims who are beginning to believe in Jesus. God has given us grace during the long hours and days of poring through his Word. Please pray for God’s continued discernment and wisdom for this project, that the power of God’s Word would be clearly understood by those going through the studies.
Our men’s Bible study group is going well! It’s exciting to come together with other men, to fill two hours with group discussion of the words of Scripture, applying it to our lives, and praying for one another. Please pray that as we all submit ourselves to God’s Word, it would bring transforming power to each other, our families and to our South Asian church for the furtherance of the Gospel in this place.
Prayer Requests:
For the upcoming trainings and outreaches, please pray for:
Thank you for your partnership in spreading the gospel through our ministry and throughout South Asia!
For his glory among the peoples of South Asia,
Crawford for the family
South Asian peoples live within a kaleidoscope of colors, a cacophony of sounds, and a buffet of flavors that ignite the senses and warm the soul. This enigmatic region is the birthplace of four world religions but is also home to the world's highest concentration of lostness.
The 1.6 billion people of South Asia are concentrated in an area less than half the size of the USA. Muslims and Hindus comprise the overwhelming religious majority. Every week 225,000 South Asians die, most without Christ. Yet there are glimmers of gospel hope. Through the work of local Christians and foreign workers God is bringing South Asians to faith in Jesus, the church is growing, and stories of Christ’s redeeming power are emerging from the field.
More than a billion South Asian eyes are searching for hope. Pray for long-term workers and their local partners who share the love of Christ daily. Ask God to use their efforts to create a movement of his Spirit across the city and throughout countries and islands of South Asia!