Nurturing a Love Relationship with God

Edmund Chan's Message #1

"The most important reality we live in is the unseen world. Ultimate reality is the Kingdom of God." – Pastor Edmund Chan

Pastor Edmund Chan encouraged our global leadership community through several profound teachings on discipleship in Malaysia recently. And, he walked with us through meals, discussions, and even an outing to the city. What a beautiful example for us as we seek to live lives more rooted in Christ. His first teaching focused on Entering the Sanctuary from the words of Asaph in Psalm 73...

Ten years ago, Pastor Paul started a church, and for the past three of those ten, he’s been part of Asian Access in a South Asian country. He’s now planted eight churches from that first church plant but he learned something profound the last few years that will impact his ministry for years to come. As Pastor Paul was sharing his strategy paper, he said: “A relationship without God is like a fish out of water.” Paul was referring to serving as...

Asian Access recently reviewed our values as a mission. What a fascinating journey and valuable learning experience it was! We spent hours in dialog throughout the movement at every level: volunteers, staff, alumni, faculty, board and reference council. It was nothing short of amazing to see things come together. As we honed the various nuances and prioritized down to three core characteristics, we came up with three core values. The first is...

A Penetrating Question

Not long ago I had the privilege of taking part in the Leader Development Consultation. Asian Access was one of the co-sponsoring organizations and it was a joy being there with so many global leader development specialists. Many were there from Asian Access teaching and facilitating various workshops and training sessions. One highlight for me was connecting with Asian Access leaders and one encounter caught me by surprise: though it shouldn’t have! I was sitting next to Mike Hoisington, one of our faculty members who asked me this penetrating question, “Joe, are you spending time in the Word?” You gotta love Mike. He puts it right out...

Kavanah is the Jewish term for being intentionally attentive to God's presence in every aspect of living. For example, I always invite God to get on the bicycle with me when I go for a ride. I often sense his presence on the bike. I dialogue with him processing events as I drive in the car-and he often interjects comments or directives. We are not all gifted the same way. However, every believer has the Holy Spirit and can communicate with-and receive whispers from-the God who... 

Continuing to prototype its A2.business ministry to marketplace leaders in Seoul, South Korea. Just recently 9 CEOs and entrepreneurs gathered for the second ever A2.business session. In session two, the nine participants wrestled with the second outcome: becoming a Christ-like leader. In particular, this session...

My favourite place in my house is in our lounge room looking out of a bay window into our garden. One day, I felt a strange prompt; this garden needs a bird bath. So I purchased a bird bath and placed it in the garden. To my surprise, it wasn’t long before the local birds discovered this newly installed bird bath. News travelled fast. Around dawn and at dusk, a number of birds would appear at our bird bath to splash and enjoy a cool drink...

Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. — Psalm 37:4

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. — Matthew 6:33

Masako and I are praying for you today! More than anything else God wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is the way God designed us to live. Living in love relationship with Him connects us with the Source of grace, mercy, blessing and life...

What do we want to see as the result of our work in the life and ministry of each participant?

Asian Access seeks the following outcomes of our work in the life and ministry of every participant.  We feel we're successful if the pastor is...

1. Living in a love relationship with God.

Effective ministry flows from our relationship with God—from the inside out. After 10-15 years in ministry, leaders can begin to lose their connection to the Lord—relying more on their strengths and experience. This brings trouble and weakens the impact of their ministry.  In contrast, leaders who continue to deepen their love of God are transformed and can bring powerful change to their sphere of influence.

2. Growing as a Christ-like leader.

Effective leaders who abide with Jesus, lead more and more like Jesus. Flowing out of transformed hearts, they exhibit fruits of the Spirit and grow in Christlikeness. If leaders are not growing in Christlikeness, ministry can get off track and they are more susceptible to spiritual plateau and abuse of power.

3. Reproducing disciple-making leaders.

Fruitful leaders say, “Follow me as I follow Jesus”. They live out that truth by reproducing themselves in others and equipping those new disciples to follow their example to make more disciples. This is the heart of the Great Commission to make disciples who not only follow Jesus but also make more disciples.

4. Planting multiplying churches.

Fruitful leaders build kingdom movements to expand the reach of their ministries. Starting new witnessing communities for spiritual growth, outreach, and multiplication gives more people access to Christ’s life-changing power. Catalyzing movements advance the kingdom and bring momentum that transform people, families, cities, and countries.

The fifth unspoken outcome of launching a church multiplication movement is entirely up to God. Yet, with His blessing, the first four outcomes can actually result from specific steps Asian Access takes. In other words, there are practical things we can do in structuring our program in order to help achieve these outcomes.

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OUR ESSENCE | Outcomes | Leader Development Model | Sustainability

• Our Distinctives
• Who are the Asian Access participants?
• Asian Access Faculty
• Curriculum topics
• More about our ministry focus...

Download the A2 Essence PDF...

“We were busy, but with no priorities. Doing lots of ‘ministry’, but it was superficial. Nine years wasted. It was ‘Preach here! Evangelize there! Plant that church!’ We were all running around on our own. We were not reproducing ourselves. It was all we that we knew. Then we got involved with Asian Access. We learned how to...

At Asian Access, we have been affirmed for our ability to identify leaders who are right for our program. We’ve had numerous requests to share what we believe we have learned. So with humility, let me offer a few thoughts on our approach. The Asian Access approach is rooted in a core value: a commitment to developing a deep love relationship with...

These last few days I’ve had the privilege of sitting with fellow pastors in Asia preparing for an important gathering coming up in March for our ministry. It was an invigorating experience because we spent a good deal of time on our knees praying for God’s direction and waiting on Him to guide us in the coming years. Our key focus was and is to strengthen our mission by reinforcing “The Essence of Asian Access”. Core to this essence is our “Love Relationship with God” and we prayed...

A2 emphasizes cultivating a love relationship with Christ

We invited Asian Access board member Kärin Primuth to attend our A2 national directors' gathering to share devotions for the week. Afterward, we sat down with Kärin to get some impressions of her time with leaders from 16 A2 countries. Here is another impression that Kärin shared... {addthis off}

A2 Goes on a Digital Spiritual Retreat

A few weeks ago, Asian Access held our annual fall national directors gathering virtually due to travel restrictions from COVID-19. While not ideal for us, it was such a rich time of fellowship given the limitations of in-depth relational connections via digital formats. Nevertheless, most were delighted to see one another, commune together, and grow in Christ. We spent a great deal of time resting in the public reading of scripture, especially meditating on Psalm 84:5-7. 

Dear A2 Community: I am a graduate of Class IV in my country. This is just to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciations for your ministry in Asian Access. I have found out myself these years that I keep preaching again and again on the topics you have taught me, "Love Relationship with Jesus". The more I've preached about this, the more I found the importance of the subject. Now I am also translating...

Asian Access/Japan was blessed by Robert and Jayna Gallagherfrom Wheaton for our May Spring Retreat. They walked us through the rhythms of rest in Christ which was perfect for us activist mission types. One of our deepest values at Asian Access is “Living in a Love Relationship with God” and Robert and Jayna helped us grow together in this area.I found our time deeply refreshing and in some ways convicting...

Living in Japan brings all sorts of new life experiences for me. Stateside I focus mostly on ministry and family but here in Tokyo, Silk and I share house duties more because she is teaching and we live in a world that requires us to do more teamwork when it comes to daily living. Areas where I try to help out are weekly shopping, cleaning the dishes and once in a while laundry. No one trusts me with cooking so this is the best I can offer and all of these things I rarely participate in stateside. It certainly helps me grow as a Christ-like leader. It helps me develop character, one of the biggest challenges in Christian leadership today...

Pastor Rajiv recently shared with me his compelling story. It was powerful to hear what God was teaching him. Prior to joining Asian Access, Pastor Rajiv was “on a journey of big.” He enjoyed a very prominent position at a large church. However, as he reflected on success, he wondered if his ministry measured up. He began questioning the real impact of his kingdom work—despite his popularity and notoriety. As Pastor Rajiv grew through the Asian Access learning community, he began seeking the Lord in fasting and prayer...

Asian Access utilizes an interwoven curriculum that focuses on fourteen strategic areas of leadership and church health. These strategic areas are covered in a variety of ways depending on the needs and situation of the participants and on the availability of faculty.

There are four categories covered:

1. Developing the Leader
2. Reproducing Other Leaders
3. Multiplying Churches
4. Expanding the Kingdom...

Recently, I was able to interview Terry Looper about his new book SacredPace being released today on February 26. It’s a book laying out several great principles that align with our core focus at Asian Access. I know you’ll enjoy the book. You can learn more about it here: Sacred Pace. Here are a couple clips from our interview that I want to share with you. Terry talks about his relationship with God highlighting some of the themes from the book. It’s a terrific reflection on Asian Access first outcome, Living in a Love Relationship with God. Enjoy! I hope it inspires your walk with Jesus... {addthis off}