Fung-wong (known locally as Uwan) was the second typhoon to strike the nation this month. Last week, Typhoon Kalmaegi killed more than 220 people in the central Philippines. 

Survivors need humanitarian aid —but that’s not the only thing. 

“Believers are praying and in one way or another organizing relief operation[s] to be able to respond,” says Herman Moldez with A3. “But more than that, I think we really need to be more aggressive in advocating creation care.”

Moldez explains that part of Kalmaegi’s destructive force came from deforestation. Rainfall on mountainsides in central Cebu province turned into floodwaters that villagers below weren’t expecting. Compare that to the Sierra Madre Mountains in the northern Philippines, which helped to lessen Fung-wong’s devastation. 

Yet the financial profit from logging, quarrying, and development are strong temptations across the Philippines.

“We just pray that the government will really think about this,” says Moldez. “Because it’s really the problem of the government — why they allow the quarrying and building such places [resorts] on top of the mountain where it will create a lot of problem[s].”

Find your place in the story 

Thousands of people in the Philippines need aid after these storms, but many also need strong voices in the public sphere. Pray that Christians will speak up to spare future lives and honor God. Moldez says to pray that discipleship will lead believers to act as “salt and light” in their society, rather than focusing inwardly on church attendance numbers.

“My prayer is that in this whole talk and on discipleship and following Jesus, that this [creation care] will be part of the agenda: that following Jesus in the context where we live will require response to creation care. Many people are not yet able to think in that way. So we need a more holistic worldview and Christian perspective to guide us in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ,” says Moldez.

Header photo: stock image courtesy of Nothing Ahead via Pexels.

The storm affected about six major areas, including Hue City, Danang City, Quang Tri Province, Khanh Hoa Province, and Gia Lai Province, along with several northern and central regions.

Many residents fled south as at least five people were killed and countless others displaced.

Pastor Loc Lam, A3’s country director in Vietnam, says, “there are many houses have been collapsed. Thousands of livestock are dead, and thousands of hectares of rice fields and crops have been affected, and a flooding happening in many places.”

He adds that people are deeply shaken: “Those who are in those places, they became very miserable, worried, discouraged.”

Vietnamese women (photo courtesy of Kushie In Vietnam via Pexels)

Before the typhoon made landfall, the Vietnamese government sent out warnings and evacuation notices to help people move from dangerous areas threatened by flooding and high winds.

After the storm, the government joined with local organizations, religious groups, and individuals — including churches — to provide relief and support for victims.

Amid the devastation, the Church is responding with compassion. “This is the right time when love is expressed through actual essence,” Pastor Lam says.

Teams from the Vietnam Evangelical Alliance and A3 alumni are working together to bring aid and hope. As people receive help, they also experience the love of Christ.

“We also help them, to encourage them and share the love of God to them, to bring the Gospel to them through our actual action with love,” Lam explains.

Lam says these difficult circumstances give the Church an opportunity to live out its calling. When believers serve faithfully, it becomes easier to reach people with the hope of the Gospel.

Pray that the Gospel comforts those who have lost everything and draws them to seek the treasure that never spoils. Visit A3 to learn how they empower local indigenous leaders to help their communities grow.

“Through these difficult situations, if the Church fulfills its role as followers of Jesus Christ, it becomes easier to reach people and bring them the salvation and the Gospel,” says Lam.

Header photo courtesy of GEORGE DESIPRIS via Pexels.

During this year’s World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly, Gospel workers from around 125 nations set a daring goal to mark a historic milestone.

Photo courtesy of
NONRESIDENT via Unsplash

Joe Handley of A3 says the assembly centered on a bold aim: “The Gospel for everyone by 2033.” That year marks two millennia since Christ’s resurrection and ascension — a milestone Handley calls “a chance to rally and mobilize the Church and really celebrate the victory of the resurrection.”

Importantly, the 2033 target isn’t that everyone will accept Christ by that date, but that everyone will have a chance to hear.

“To make sure that everyone at least hears of the Gospel. So whether that’s through satellite technology, radio, digital communications, face to face through churches — at least, make sure that everyone has had a chance to hear the good news of Jesus Christ,” explains Handley.

Reaching the world also requires discipleship. Handley adds: “If we’re going to reach everyone with the Gospel, we need an ecosystem of disciple-making to do that.”

This kind of integral discipleship helps bring the Gospel into every sector of life — not only within the church through prayer, study, and fellowship, but far beyond. Integral discipleship transforms fcommunities through Christ’s example.

Photo courtesy of wisconsinpictures via Unsplash

“It involves the local church, the family, the businesses — every sector of society — working together in unity,” says Handley.

Bringing the Gospel into every part of life means believers must live out their faith in every sphere, from spiritual fellowship to business and community engagement.

“To get the Gospel to everyone, you have to have healthy, vibrant churches and families,” Handley adds.

True discipleship looks like Jesus — in vision, faith, action, and love for the world. Learn more at A3!

Pray for churches to strengthen in the Gospel, to build vibrant disciple-making communities, and to carry the Good News to every corner of the earth.

Header photo: Man Walking Next to the Graffiti, John 3:16 (photo courtesy of Paco Alonso via Pexels).

As of Thursday, at least 114 people have lost their lives and more than 120 are missing, many from the central province of Cebu. Most deaths were due to flooding.

Herman Moldez with A3 says those numbers will change. “There are still many areas where we don’t have power, and communication is poor because [the] internet is down.”

The storm is just one more layer of disaster for the people of Cebu. A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the tourist hotspot September 30, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands. Typhoon Kalmaegi is the 20th named storm to impact the archipelago nation this year. What’s more, another storm system is on the way, called Fung-Wong.

But even as people suffer disaster upon disaster in a broken world, God is at work for good.

“Normally, in our country, this proves to be awakening,” says Moldez. “In the midst of disaster, people cry to God. They realize that there’s no one who could help but God.” 

(Image courtesy of A3)

People in the Philippines have learned that help doesn’t always come when it should. A corruption scandal broke earlier this year involving perhaps billions of dollars stolen from national projects meant to control floods. Moldez says the presence of corruption can make international aid groups hesitate to send help. But aid is exactly what is needed right now.

A3 is connected with a network of local pastors and churches. Pray that churches will be able to respond to Kalmaegi’s devastation with gospel hope and practical help. Ask God to give endurance to local believers facing so much loss and need. 

“Prayers are very important, because they strengthen the inner resource of people to become resilient, and not to give up — just to persevere in this situation,” says Moldez.

Header photo: Women and children in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Zeyn Afuang via Unsplash.)

More than half a million people were affected by last week’s 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Cebu province. Landslides and sinkholes caused by the quake and subsequent tremors are preventing survivors from getting help today.

“Most of the [aid] responses are underway in San Miguel and Bogo [City], but there are churches up on the mountains in the villages, and they’re not being reached because it’s difficult to go there,” A3’s Herman Moldez says.

However, he adds, “Local pastors are ministering to them; they don’t have the resources, but they’re just being with the people, praying, encouraging, and supporting them.”

Over 23,000 people cannot – or will not – return to their homes. Authorities set up a “tent city” in Bogo City to shelter earthquake-displaced families.

Bogo City Hall damaged by the earthquake, October 2025
(Wikimedia Commons)

“At the moment, [there are] still many aftershocks happening, so most of the people are not returning to their houses,” Moldez says.

“Some have lost their houses, so they’ve been sleeping on the streets.”

Seasonal monsoon rains complicate relief efforts, but the weather could’ve been much worse.

“We are so grateful to the Lord that the typhoon did not pass [through] that area. It’s up north, it’s quite far away, so it did not complicate [relief efforts,]” Moldez says.

Gospel opportunity

A3 equips and empowers Christian leaders throughout Asia and beyond. Learn more about their ministry here. Partnering pastors work alongside the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches to deliver help and hope to those in need.

“Most of the time, this is an opportunity for people to start thinking about [their] relationship with God,” Moldez says.

“The Philippines is a very religious country. It’s predominantly Catholic, so it’s an opportunity to help them understand what the Gospel means.”

Pray for the coordination of aid deliveries so that people in remote locations get the help they need and for the safety of those traveling through rugged terrain.

“Pray for the pastors, that they may know how to minister and guide [people] and the Lord will use this as a means to create spiritual revival in the lives of people,” Moldez adds.

Pray for churches planning trauma-response outreach once relief efforts transition to recovery.

“One of the things that will be needed is a continuing rehabilitation of these people, what we call trauma healing. So many people are still afraid whenever there is an aftershock; they’re just trembling,” Moldez says.

Header image depicts the 53rd Engineer Brigade DRU with the Mandaue City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in the Search, Rescue, and Retrieval Operations in Bogo City, Cebu on October 2, 2025. (Wikimedia Commons)

New regulations published September 15 by the CCP outline how clergy can and cannot use internet platforms to preach and teach. They are no mere suggestions but rather statements of the new normal in a nation with a formidable surveillance infrastructure. 

“They have the capacity to track down and shut down as they please. I have friends that will testify to that,” says Joe Handley with A3. 

Yet at the same time, we shouldn’t think of Christians in China as being in retreat. Years ago, one pastor told Handley, “We grew up in an era where our churches went from underground to overground and back underground. We know how to pivot on the fly.”

“No matter what thing comes their direction, they’re resilient,” says Handley.

Photo courtesy of Timothy Eberly via Unsplash

Don’t take that the wrong way, though. The resilience of Chinese believers comes from God, so there’s every reason to keep praying. The new regulations limit the use of social media, prohibit short-form content and more for clergy. They also require support for socialist values and government oversight, among other CCP goals. 

(Read the full translation of “Regulations on the Online Behavior of Religious Clergy” here.)

“It’s critical that we pray that those of us [who] are involved in the leadership development space are thinking ahead of the curve,” says Handley. 

Pray especially for God’s grace upon future church leaders in China. They have not experienced faith under pressure in the same way that their parents and grandparents have. 

“The next generation is going to be critical, because they’re the generation that will carry the gospel. So pray for the young people of China, that they will be able to weather the storms that come their way,” says Handley. 

“Pray for A3 as we try to equip the church around the world. They’re hungry for the gospel. The church leaders are hungry for leadership [and] equipping. It’s one of the greatest needs of our era.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Rosalind Chang via Unsplash.

The Philippines experiences about 20 typhoons and storms per year. Critical flood-control projects were allocated billions of taxpayer dollars, but the Department of Finance estimates that up to two billion dollars have been lost to corruption since 2023.

Flooded streets in Malabon, Philippines (Photo courtesy of Tear Cordez via Pexels)

Pastor Herman serves with A3 in the Philippines. He says anger has swelled ever since President Marcos Jr. first said in July that there were anomalies in the flood-control projects.  

“Some are what he calls ‘ghost projects,’ meaning the money has been released, but the project has not been done,” Herman explains. 

Sunday’s protests were mostly peaceful, but violence broke out in certain parts of the city. At least 130 police officers were injured, and more than 200 people were arrested after the incidents. 

“The cry of the people is really for accountability and punish[ment for] those who are responsible,” Herman says.  

The Philippines has a track record of “peaceful revolutions,” Herman says. He thinks the protests will continue. “It will depend on how it develops, whether the president is serious in saying that this should be uncovered.”

If protests do continue, the Filipino Church has a significant opportunity. Pastor Herman says that in the Philippines, there is an emphasis on discipleship and sharing the gospel. Yet the Church also needs to actively speak biblical truth into current events.

“We are not really seeing the prophetic voice to speak the truth and denounce those who are involved in this corruption,” he says. “Pray for the Church, that the Church will also not just watch what’s happening, but be a voice for justice, truth, and righteousness.”

Another prayer request is for both peace and for fruit from protests, “so that the government will feel that this is really serious and people are really angry. I think that’s the only way this can have a resolution,” Herman says.

“I always see that what has happened is not just a turn of events, but really God is acting. Continue to support us and rally with us in seeking the Lord’s intervention.”

Header photo: An aerial view of the Baha sa Luneta protest at Rizal Park, Manila, on September 21, 2025 (Photo courtesy of Manila Public Information Office – Manila Public Information Office Facebook page, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.)

An estimated 40,000 Rohingya live in India. They fled Myanmar’s civil war, but face persecution in India too.

Philip is a pastor who used to serve with A3. He says the suffering of the Rohingya in India is “even worse than in Myanmar.”

The trouble for Rohingyas in India started in 2017. That’s when militants with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in Myanmar killed more than 100 Hindus in Arakan State.

“Immediately after the killing, [the] Indian government treated the Rohingya refugees as illegal migrants,” Philip said.  “Since then, the Rohingyas faced certain difficulties, such as [a] lack of legal recognition, poor living conditions, inadequate healthcare, and so on.”

Portrait of a Rohingya woman in Teknaf Camp (Photo courtesy of Mehdi Khoshnejad via Pexels)

Indian landlords and shopkeepers have faced pressure not to rent or sell to Rohingya. Companies are forbidden to hire them. 

“Under the Immigration Act, the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) and police can arrest anyone at any time and send them to jail or detention centers. Even UNHCR cannot do anything to save them,” Pastor Philip said. 

“Since they are not allowed to rent houses or apartments, many Rohingyas sleep at railway stations and roadsides at night, and search [for] their daily food in the daytime.” 

The terrorist attack in India-administered Kashmir this April made things even worse. Pastor Philip says Indian authorities suspected Rohingya Muslims of being involved with Pakistani terrorists. Since then, reports of arbitrary detentions and deportations of Rohingya have surged. 

For example, 40 Rohingya in India were allegedly rounded up in May and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar islands off the coast of Myanmar. They were then forced off an Indian naval ship to swim to the mainland. 

“Out of 40, 15 of them were Christians. This is how they are suffering now,” says Pastor Philip.

International outcry on behalf of the Rohingya has been present for years and is growing. Please ask God not only for justice on their behalf but also for their salvation. Pastor Philip says only around 350-400 Rohingya Christians live in India.

But the fact that there are any Christians among the Rohingya is an answer to prayer. Years ago in Myanmar, A3 (formerly Asian Access) was involved in training leaders among the Rohingya and other peoples.

(Image courtesy of English: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“It would not be wrong if we say the Rohingya Christians of Myanmar were the [result] of Asian Access Myanmar. The Rohingya believers increased rapidly [from] the year 2008 to 2012,” said Pastor Philip.

But then, the civil war dispersed the Rohingya church, and the work in Myanmar ended. Today, Rohingya live all over Southeast Asia.

“Pray for all the Rohingya in India, including Christians who are suffering from severe persecution and expulsion from the government and the neighbouring Hindus. Let’s pray for them that they may get their daily food, shelter and other help needs,” Pastor Philip said.

“Pray for the Rohingya Christians in New Delhi. In number, they are 34 families. They want to move to Bangalore to escape from persecution. Let’s pray that they may get the needed money [to] move to Bangalore to escape all the persecution and  expulsions.”

Header photo: Noor is a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh. (Photo by DFID – UK Department for International Development – via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.)

Demonstrations broke out after the Nepali government blocked several social media platforms. The platforms had allegedly failed to register with the government.

“Gen Z [is] just frustrated with corruption. It started with an anti-corruption movement,” Joe Handley with A3 says. “Their main means of communication with each other and with the world is social media. So they’re protesting against [corruption], but you add to it that their communication channels are shut down. So the tension rises within them.”

Clashes on Monday between protesters and police killed at least 19 people. On Monday night, the government lifted the social media ban, but that did not stop the riots.

Photo in the Ason Bazar, Kathmandu, Nepal (Photo courtesy of Aayush Lama Tamang via Unsplash)

“This is the generation, at least there in Nepal, [that is] looking for a better future. They feel like this government has not provided that for them,” says Handley. 

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday over the unrest, but young demonstrators still set the parliament building and other structures in Kathmandu on fire.

Handley says that after the ban lifted on Monday, reports from their partners began to increase. “If you’re on social media, you’re seeing smoke rising in Kathmandu, all over different parts of the town.” (See a collection of pictures here.) 

The government is calling for restraint and dialogue. A3’s network of alumni is calling for prayer. 

“They’re trying to be agents of peace in the midst of the chaos — and having to be careful too, because there [are] guns being shot and fire billowing in the capital,” Handley says. 

“My colleagues are begging the global Church to pray for peace, to pray that they could be agents of hope and good news, and that the gospel would shine.”

Header photo courtesy of Samrat Khadka via Unsplash.

The fighting broke out on July 24th after nearly two months of rising border tensions. 

“It goes back to the French colonization of that part of the world, when they (France) gave up [its protectorate of Cambodia] and how they redrew the maps of the two countries,” said Joe Handley, president of A3. “Ever since, there’s been tension between these two sides.”

The ceasefire is a vital step toward peace, but its effects will take time to feel. At least 33 people lost their lives in the clashes. More than 130,000 on each side were displaced, according to Thai military and Cambodian defense sources. 

The threat of war also stirred up concern among A3 friends who remember the 1970s “killing fields” of Cambodia. 

“What I’m hopeful about is the church has oftentimes risen [on] occasions like these to be a source of hope in the midst of very difficult situations,” Handley said. 

For example, a former warlord from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge party came to Christ in recent years. 

“His transformation has been miraculous, to the point where he became a lay pastor, and he went through a program that’s downstream from A3 called the School of Discipleship. That gave him training to kind of increase his capacity as a spiritual leader,” said Handley.

(Photo courtesy of Asian Access) School of Discipleship

Handley said this man has started dozens of churches in a region where many Khmer Rouge fled after Pol Pot’s fall. 

“It’s bringing peace to that region,” he said. “That’s the kind of thing that we hope to see happen. People live in fear and dread right now, but when you get people like that [who] are fearless — they have a history, but they come to Christ — it can it can turn around a situation.”

Pray for more people like this former warlord to come to faith in Christ!

National director of A3 Cambodia, Meng Aun Hour, said, “Please pray for protection and [for a] stop [to] the fighting.”

Pray also for provision and gospel witness for the Thai and Cambodian people affected by the conflict. Pray that the ceasefire will be upheld.

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Camille via Unsplash.