Frequently Asked Questions

Is your question not here? Email us at: go2southasia@pobox.com

How much need is there for involvement in South Asia?

We could share many stories and experiences that show the tremendous need for evangelical Christians to be involved in South Asia, but the facts speak for themselves.

What are your priority jobs?

Our priority jobs are for Strategy Coordinators who will engage new Unreached People Groups.  We also have a new role called "Explore & Engage" for people who are not sure they are ready to be Strategy Coordinators or do not know which Unreached People Group they want to engage.  New missionaries will enter a gateway city, get oriented to South Asia and missions life and begin studying language intensively, building numerous friendships, understanding South Asian culture, sharing their faith and helping South Asians start churches.  By the end of the second year, the missionary will know a lot about the Unreached People Groups in that area who are most needy of the Gospel and will be assigned to help start Church Planting Movements among one of those UPGs. 

We do have specific Strategy Coordinator requests for Unreached People Groups that Personnel Consultants have information about.  These requests are ranked by priority.  Explore and Engage jobs are designated by gateway city and language.  Each request contains several UPGs to explore and engage.

What are your priority UPGs?

South Asia is home to more unreached people groups and more unengaged unreached people groups than all the rest of the world combined. For this reason, our greatest need in South Asia is to engage the remaining 345 unengaged Unreached People Groups of over 100,000 population in our region. Among these are 650 million "Real Hindus" as well as the vast Muslim population.  Few middle and high "caste" Hindus are open to the Gospel, yet they comprise most of our Unreached People Groups.  The members of most churches in South Asia are from low caste or "out caste" people groups who are not considered to be "Real Hindus" by the higher castes and who have had little reason to remain Hindu.  Three of the countries of South Asia are home to approximately 420 million Muslims.  There are specific job requests for both Hindu and Muslim UPGs that will be discussed with anyone exploring a role with the IMB in South Asia.  Churches can learn about adopting UPGs by contacting the South Asia Office in Richmond."

Isn’t South Asia home to thousands of Christians, churches and local missionaries? Why are more needed?

South Asia has more of just about everything, including Christians, than any other region on earth. However, consider the situation in one South Asian country, India: The official census reports less than 3% Christian for this country with a population of more than 1 billion souls. India is one of the most socially stratified countries on earth, defining its peoples with literally thousands of distinct ethnic and language communities called castes. Social taboos prevent intimate contact between most of these castes, and this has had a very significant impact on the country’s evangelization. Most Christians are found in only a relatively small number of India’s more than 3,000 caste communities. Historically, it has required missionary work (whether local or foreign) to take the gospel into new caste communities. As long as South Asia has 51% of the world’s Unreached People Groups (UPGs), nearly 3/4ths of the world’s Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPGs) and one out of every four lost persons on the planet, there will be a need for more missionaries.

Will you support this particular South Asian pastor or ministry that we know?

Our IMB goals are to engage Unreached People Groups and to start new churches.  There are many good churches and denominations in South Asia, but we are not usually able to support these churches, pastors and ministries financially.  If they are interested in receiving training and encouragement to become better evangelists and church planters and to learn how to reach out to Unreached People Groups themselves, we sometimes have personnel who could work with them.  Sadly, many of these churches do not understand or agree with our goals.  They often have existing churches, pastors, orphanages and schools with endless financial needs, and they are looking for financial partners.  These are usually wonderful churches and pastors who have suffered for their faith and who have worthwhile ministries.  However, these ministries are often expensive and to adopt their goals would involve our personnel in becoming fundraisers instead of achieving our goals of starting new churches among Unreached People Groups.  We encourage these churches and ministries to be self-supporting or to find their funds from a source other than the IMB and Southern Baptist Churches (see next question)."

Should our church support a particular South Asian pastor or ministry?

Often South Asian leaders come and speak to churches in the US and find churches or believers who will provide direct support.  If God clearly leads you to be directly involved with one of these pastors or ministries, we would not discourage you.  We do, however, encourage you to consider instead supporting the IMB and missionary projects that will enable us to work towards Church Planting Movements among the least reached and Unreached People Groups.  We ask our personnel to be very careful if they become involved in aiding the transfer of funds from Western sources into South Asian organizations.  Tax laws prohibit us from funneling gifts to other agencies through the IMB.

How many personnel do you have in South Asia?

Not enough!  As an IMB region we have one of the lowest numbers of personnel compared to other regions, yet we have 1/5 of the world’s population to reach and more than half of the world's Unreached People Groups.

I'd like to take a volunteer trip there, where should I go?

You can contact our South Asia Volunteer office (see our Volunteer section). They have a list of volunteer requests submitted by personnel that do not yet have individuals or teams ready to fill them.  If you have a particular country in South Asia in which you are interested, the volunteer office can help you find specific requests that will enable you to join God in his continuing work there.

I'm working with a national partner and his orphanage. How can I connect with IMB workers while I'm there?

Please email us or let our Richmond office know the city/cities to be visited, dates of your trip, name of your national partner and your contact information (preferably email address).  If we have representatives near your destination(s) we will pass on your contact information to them. They will get in touch with you if they are available to meet with you while you are there.  The representatives will often know your national partner.  They will also know whether it is wiser for you to meet with or without your national partner present.  Missionaries will want to avoid situations where a national partner might request funding from them for his ministry.  Our representatives are sometimes reluctant to be introduced as missionaries, so please consult with them about this before making any introductions.  Thanks for being willing to meet and encourage your IMB workers and perhaps hear about their work as they learn about you and your national partner.

I'm traveling to South Asia on business and I'd love to meet with some of your workers.  Can you connect me?

Please email us or let our Richmond office know the city/cities you’ll be in, dates of your trip and your contact information (preferably email address).  If we have representatives near where you are traveling we will pass on your contact information to them.  They will get in touch with you if they are available to fellowship with you while you are in their area.  If you have extra time they may be able to help you be involved in attending a local church or doing some mission activity.

My neighbor/coworker/doctor is a South Asian.  How can I learn more about his beliefs and share the Gospel with him?

There are many sources available on that subject. The North American Mission Board (NAMB) has some wonderful resources. You can go to their website www.4truth.net for more information. They also have some resources for purchase at their Interfaith Evangelism.