Thailand has a long history with Buddhism. It is thought to have entered the culture long before there was even such a place as Thailand - during the third century BC, when a famous Indian emperor named Asoka was sending Buddhist missionaries into many parts of Asia. It became the official state religion in the thirteen hundreds during the kingdom of Sukkothai. 

“Things are always changing here. Some of the concerns that we had when we first arrived actually weren’t necessarily concerns anymore,” Tim* says. “That’s actually been a stress – just trying to keep up with what’s changing.” It’s March, the hottest time of year in Myanmar. The relentless tropical sunlight bears down in Yangon, where Tim and Sandra sit in their home, thankfully with the air conditioning on.

“I never thought I’d be able to give an injection!” Khushboo laughs, writing down the information of a child she’s just given a vaccination to. Khushboo’s stubborn gaze and steady hands seem like they should belong to someone much older. Unlike most of the young women in her village, Khushboo meets people’s eyes and speaks confidently to patients and village leaders alike.

"Naomi" is the project manager at Redlight Greenlight. She shares about some of the deep hurt she and the other carers try to support the girls to live with and grow from.

Helping the good news about Jesus Christ flourish on the continent of Asia is a task fraught with unique challenges and opportunities. It's not always easy for people in other parts of the world to understand how the mission of bringing the gospel - in the most holistic sense of that word - to Asia works. We've grabbed 10 photos from the SIM Stories archives that might help clear things up a bit...

Our everyday language so readily offers up boundary lines between worlds known and unknown, moral and immoral. Yet it falls terribly short of expressing the shades and shadows of human experience. Last week we visited several homes that really felt like shades and shadows. I followed Malti di through the crowds of a wholesale bazaar, jostled with cows and carts, to the vicinity where dark narrow alleyways and stairwells led to the separate homes of six transgenders under her care.

Sports Friends has ministries in many of the far-flung corners of the world; from Peru, to Nigeria to Thailand. The mental scenes that correspond to those places might be something like a dusty plain with children playing football under a tree with wide, spreading branches. Or a field lined with palm trees, young girls avoiding monsoon-season puddles as they practice volleyball. And sure, these picturesque rural settings really are some of the places where Sports Friends works, but what about sports ministry in an urban context, where fields and courts are not in open spaces, but tucked amidst buildings and side streets?

Traditionally, Prabhouti should have married years ago. Girls in her village are married early – sometimes as young as twelve years old – just like their mothers were before them.

The Ezra Project began in 2015 as the need for stronger church leadership and pastoral skills grew in many rural churches in an Asian country. The aim of the project is to provide church leaders with solid training in biblical teaching and strengthen their spiritual lives so that they can lead their flock with more precision according to the Word of God. Three years after its first modules launched, Ezra was able to celebrate its first batch of graduates!

When Pastor Sunil of two small local churches was rejected for an additional donation from an urban church, he was greatly disappointed. Feeling discouraged and lost, he began to think over what the administrator of the church, Jagdish, had said. “The primary goal was to relate with you. We wanted to partner with you instead of simply giving out donations. But I don’t even know you. This is not what partnership is,” Jagdish had told Sunil.

How do you bake cake without an oven? This is the question I was asking myself for the third time while standing in front of an audience of fourteen women and waiting for a miracle.

God is doing amazing things in a township in Cape Town, where a SIM project is having a profound impact.

What if a movement of the gospel happened among the Fulani, a group of nomadic travellers moving across the Sahel from West Africa to as far east as Ethiopia?

The Anchor for Generations ministry began six years ago as an extension of SIM Ethiopia’s Hope for Life network. Now the ministry has grown to be self-sufficient and led by the local association of churches!

After five years of silence, Waves of Hope radio is now back on 94.1 FM radio in Ecuador’s Loja province!

Watch this great video which gives you a flavour of what homeschool looks like for mission kids in Thailand. Could you be their next teacher?

There is shame and stigma surrounding disability across much of Kenya. This teaser video highlights some of the lies that communities speak into families affected by disability.

Life is tough for families coping with disabilities in Kenya. Working with the local church, Sports Friends Kenya believes it can make a long-term transformation in their lives.

The Grieve Memorial Clinic in Doro, South Sudan, holistically serves the needs of more than 100,000 South Sudanese refugees and Mabaan people.

Ayutthaya was once a mighty capital. Now it is a forgotten provincial town - and one with scarcely any Christian witness. But a few SIM cross-cultural workers and their local partners see something new happening in Ayutthaya. Watch this video to hear more about their vision.

Accountant Veronica is amazed at how God is using her gifts and skills

The South Sudan Water Project has been installing, maintaining and repairing boreholes that provide clean water for more than 20,000 people in Doro. Easier access, cleaner water.

Shame culture in northern Ethiopia means many children with physical disability are hidden at home. Since 2014, the SIM team at Hidden Abilities has been showing families another way, welcoming them and giving them the expert care their children need.

In 2021, the Mek'ele Youth Centre celebrates twenty years. We look back at how thousands of children, many of whom have come to know ‘MYC' as a second home, have been impacted

The 5F's agriculture project is located in the Awi region of Northern Ethiopia. Central to the Awi people is the Awi language, agriculture works, and the Orthodox religion.

Sometimes, just sometimes, God can bring us through severe hardship and into a great position to impact the lives of others. This first of two parts shares the story of how many families afflicted by poverty in Kibera, Kenya, are finding life-changing support from one of their own. Their own 'Joseph'.

Long term support of a vulnerable child needs to consider the whole family. In the second of two parts, we take a look at how the Drug Fighters and SIM Kenya Children at Risk teams are partnering to help both children and parents.

Sports Friends works throughout the year equipping churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ among thousands of young people, their families and their communities. Camp is the icing on the cake for this ministry and you can be a part of it.

For Geoffrey, serving in cross-cultural mission is not limited to geography. He feels the burden to preach the good news, which is why he'll be leaving Kenya to minister in the UK.

The Kafa Bible was dedicated in Bonga, Ethiopia, earlier this year! Read about this labour of love spanning more than 40 years and including a throng of persevering translators.

SIM missionary Nikali first thought “What will happen to the ministry?” when the pandemic hit the Philippines. But God enabled it to move forward in ways that exceeded understanding.

When SIM workers Peter and Claire-Lise Judkins first arrived in Castres, in the south west of France, they quickly set to work to help a small church plant be more effective at disciple-making.

Are stay-at-home missionary moms really “missionaries”? Does their sometimes exhausting work on behalf of their families negate their role in building the Kingdom of God?

SIM will hold a worldwide day of prayer on Wednesday, March 11, in response to the coronavirus and COVID-19 – and we'd love for you to join us.

In the midst of a harsh childhood, Regie Wang encountered God's love – now she inspires the Church to do missions.

Nearly every Latino candidate I meet wants to work in the unreached places of the world and do some of the hardest work. God is raising up a new wave of missionaries in South America, and we are joyfully equipping them for service and sending them to these unreached areas.

Kibir. It’s the Amharic word for glory. An SIM ministry by the same name is aiming to see the Ethiopian marketplace redeemed. They want to see businesses reflecting God’s kibir.

Theological Education by Extension equips pastors with training on the road and in remote areas throughout South Sudan. Read how it's helped non-traditional students like Timothy overcome odds to learn how to handle scripture.

When Tohru was checking prayer letters for his team, a personal prayer stood out. It was emailed to supporters and family but addressed to God.

Mobilisation is not just about sending missionaries, but also about encouraging all the people of God to participate in the mission of God.

Oussie* was ill and suffering from malnutrition when she began coming to Alafia clinic at age three. Now, at thirteen, she is a different person with a sense of belonging and care.

Jean believes radio and mass media are phenomenal means to reach those who would otherwise not hear the gospel or meet a Christian.

After a total of 11 years’ mission work in Papua New Guinea, Jill and Phil have seen God do "abundantly more than [they] expected.”

New Zealand nurse Erica Aarsen is trusting God through the COVID-19 pandemic as she waits to start a long-term placement at Doro Clinic in South Sudan.

New Zealand's Good Neighbour rescues food as they point to the Saviour.

Jason and Mary Brink offer refreshing words and supplies to worn-out workers who are enduring lengthy shifts. Read about their ministry with security personnel, a women's shelter and university students.

During a pandemic, God has changed CFO Jackson Chan’s view of money. He no longer sees it as representing transactions but representing God’s love.

This ministry is the first of its kind within SIM: It engages the hip-hop community in Toronto for Christ. Watch and read about City Lights.