By November 2024 EFM had made a commitment to launch seven of the nine fields that were under exploration. Those seven fields are now moving on to the prayer and pre-launch planning phases. See more information here. Meanwhile, we are currently still sending Luke 10 Exploration Teams to consider other potential fields, one of them being unreached people groups in Southeast Asia. You can learn more here.

In October 2024, the first Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Southeast Asia took place. The following is a report written by a member of the team, Eddy Vera.

The team of  four consisted of Scott and Andrea Sward (EFM Missionaries in Cambodia), Freddy Rivas (FSW Leader), and Eddy Vera (FSW Regional Coordinator). They travelled into Northeast Cambodia for this trip.

Unreached people group 1: We had the wonderful opportunity to visit a church in an unreached people group tribe. We joined them for worship and fellowship and were subsequently invited to the home of the first believer from the tribe. We had the blessing of hearing her testimony and learning of how God has been at work in this unreached people group, as well as the kingdom work that is ahead of them. God is powerfully at work, and he is moving in the hearts and lives of this church, leading them to hopeful discussions of bringing the Gospel message to neighboring tribes.

Unreached people group 2: We participated in a weekly prayer group that began approximately six months ago. This group consisted of Scott Sward, a missionary from CMA, and several locals. They initially gathered in order to pray for God to provide opportunities to reach unreached people group 2, as they are a far more remote people group typically located deep in the forest along the river. After months of dedicated prayer, they noticed an influx of groups, from said people group to a nearby village. This came as a result of a drastic decline in fish which was costly as a people dependent on the river. Following the prayer time, we joined the missionaries for an appointment with the chief to discuss the possibility of medical outreach towards unreached people group 2. After receiving approval, there was additional favor shown from God as we met with a provincial leader who provided access to an empty building within the village to carry out said medical outreach. The power of prayer was very evident over these interactions. The next steps for Scott and the missionary from CMA are to supply the medical outreach needs.

We discovered that there is an immense opportunity to carry out kingdom work in northeast Cambodia. God has opened various doors and shown favor at various points (both during our trip and prior). We set out to discern if there was opportunity among one unreached people group and found that there were, in fact, opportunities toward three.

• Please continue praying for the Swards as our current missionaries there.
• Pray for the new/young believers in these unreached people groups.
• Please pray for ongoing unity among the inter-organizational partnerships that John 17:23 may continue.

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

The post Report from the First Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Southeast Asia first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

This first trip to Southeast Asia will be focused in Cambodia and is taking place between October 24-30! The team members include Eddy Vera (FSW), Freddy Rivas (FSW), Scott and Andrea Sward (EFM Missionaries), and local leaders within the Cambodia mission.

Team leader Eddy Vera shared this about the trip: our purpose is to explore whether our current mission is ready to start a new mission to an unreached people group who are in Cambodia and other nearby security-sensitive countries or to discern what steps are needed to be prepared in the future to meet EFM’s CAN GO Criteria.

The following are ways that you can pray for this team while they are in Cambodia.

• Pray for traveling mercies for the team.
• Pray for healthy conversations to take place.
• Pray for discernment.
• Pray for the work that is currently being done in Cambodia.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

To learn more about how you can join these trips or if you are interested in exploring missionary service, visit here. 

The post Pray for the First Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Southeast Asia first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.