Dear Friends,
Please pray with us this week for Dr. “Hannah” in Southeast Asia.
A culturally, economically, and religiously diverse region, Southeast Asia is home to approximately 10% of the global population. Per capita, Singapore is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, while countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos are among the poorest. Roughly 40% of Southeast Asians follow Islam, and the largest Muslim population worldwide lives in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Buddhism is the dominant religion in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Although Christians mostly live as minorities in Southeast Asia, they represent the majority in the Philippines and East Timor. According to Operation World, the Church has expanded most rapidly over the last few decades in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Hannah and her husband are church planters and faculty at a newly formed Christian university in a Buddhist country in Southeast Asia. ScholarLeaders awarded Hannah a Pierson Scholarship during her PhD studies in Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her dissertation focused on the Covenant in Exodus 19-24. By examining how the ancient Israelites responded to imperial power as God’s people, Hannah’s research guides and encourages Christians today who also live as vulnerable minorities. Hannah is among the first in her country to hold a doctorate in Old Testament.
Hannah shares the following message:
I serve a Christian community in a Buddhist Southeast Asian country that has a close relationship with a restricted country. I am now a part-time academic coordinator responsible for organizing a new MA program in Marketplace Transformation. I will also teach some biblical courses at a Bible school as a visiting professor.
Prayer Requests
1. Pray for wisdom to organize the new MA program in Marketplace Transformation. Pray also for financial resources for starting the program.
2. Pray for wisdom to prepare lessons for Master’s-level courses, especially when library resources are limited and students’ English proficiency is low.
3. Pray for my husband’s wisdom, as he has also just started his fulltime work at a Bible school.
4. Pray for our country’s stability, as it will have its national election next year.
Thank you,
“Hannah”