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Over sixty percent of the people on our planet live in Asia. China, the most populous nation, is rapidly becoming one of the most influential. Winds of change are blowing everywhere in this vast nation of more than 1.3 billion people. While the government remains in the hands of the Communists, free enterprise and capitalism are beginning to flourish throughout the nation. The government is hostile toward all expressions of religious belief, yet the number of Christ-followers steadily escalates.
 During my recent visit to China, it was my joy to attend several worship services and to teach Biblical servant leadership at several training sites. I heard three themes repeatedly:
1. The Christian community is now experiencing huge growth in the cities. Only a few years ago, nearly all believers were in rural areas. Many were poor and uneducated. Today, young urban professionals with university degrees are coming to the Savior in massive numbers.
2. The Christian leaders are hungry to learn Biblical leadership and to pass it along to the next generation of leaders. One key leader said to me, "The EQUIP leadership curriculum is the key to our urban strategy, and it is working beautifully. We are seeing a wonderful spiritual harvest in the huge urban centers of our nation."
3. The Chinese Church is committed to evangelize all of Asia with the Good News.
On this same trip to the Far East, Tom Atema and I met with Christian leaders who have escaped from North Korea, undoubtedly the most dark, dangerous, deadly place on earth. Starvation is widespread. People of faith are persecuted, and many are executed. Despite all of this, we have a door into this dark nation to spread the gospel and train Christian leaders.
North Korean leaders are willing to take high risks in order to learn Biblical leadership. All the students repeatedly expressed appreciation for the EQUIP training. More notebooks need to be translated and printed. Furthermore, our curriculum can be broadcast via radio. Funding is needed for these projects.
Our partner, EQUIPKorea has a superb team who understand process and who are committed to excellence. They also have growing influence in the churches of South Korea and with South Koreans around the world. South Korea is one of the leading missionary-sending nations. We were told that the South Korean church is desperately in need of servant-leaders who can effectively transition the church to reach the young people of the nation.
 During this trip, EQUIP training was also launched in Japan. Shiomi, our Country Coordinator in Japan, reported an overwhelmingly positive response. She says her team is so very excited about the response to the training and that nearly everyone committed to the Million Leaders Mandate journey. They will spread the word to many other potential trainers in their churches and organizations.
One attendee shared with us, "There is almost no model in the Japanese church of a true servant-leader." In her opinion, the primary reason the Church in Japan is not growing is too many pastors do not understand their responsibility to help equip laity for the work of the Lord. She insists that very few pastors are involved in training other leaders. (The Christians in Japan comprise less than 1% of the population.)
We are expecting that some senior pastors will get involved, but also many university students, marketplace leaders, para-church leaders and homemakers will participate. Shiomi said, "We may have to begin fairly small in Japan, but we are expecting exciting growth of EQUIP training in Japan over the long haul.” One theme was heard from every attendee I met: THE CHURCH IN JAPAN IS DESPERATE FOR BIBLICAL, SERVANT LEADERS. I believe the need is as great as in any nation of our world.
We also had a wonderful day in Taipei, Taiwan as our partners brought together over 400 Christian leaders, church and marketplace, for a day of training in Biblical leadership and stewardship. This was an important time of vision-casting to encourage leaders to be involved in Million Leaders Mandate in Taiwan. Tom Atema, and I taught the lessons. Senior pastors of several of the largest churches attended, along with para-church leaders, business leaders and some emerging young leaders.
EQUIP training continues to expand in Asia… the most populous of continents on our planet. Thank you for your faithful partnership in training leaders to reach more people for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Doug Carter
Senior Vice President of EQUIP
That whole section below my signature should be changed to something like this: For more information on how you can help train leaders in China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Pakistan or other limited access nations, please contact Doug.Carter@iequip.org
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