Putting the Majority World in the driver's seat

A US-based ministry learns to empower, not dominate

Leaders of A3 join in prayer at their gathering of national directors in October 2024.

As global Christianity’s center of gravity shifts to the Majority World, how can we best invest Minority World financial resources and expertise while empowering indigenous development of churches and movements suitable for the local context?

A3 (a3leaders.org; formerly Asian Access) offers an answer. For nearly 60 years, A3 has supported intensive development of Asian church leaders through intense, two-year cohorts of 12 to 16 participants each. These learning communities work through a series of topics together while supporting each other’s spiritual formation and skill development.

David Dayalan, now pastor of Gurgaon Christian Fellowship near Delhi, India, connected with A3 in 2002 while working as a church planter. He found that most of the pastors he knew were “running alone” with little emotional support, fellowship, or accountability. A3 was the answer to his search.

“Learning is better in community,” Dayalan said. “Otherwise, it’s just transfer of information without spiritual formation.”

But as he began to experience the program, Dayalan felt more indigenization was needed. Since A3 was providing all the resources, a patron-client relationship tended to develop, with local leaders just organizing the events rather than taking ownership.

“India does not need a program fully sponsored by A3,” Dayalan said. Instead, he argued, participating pastors should pay registration fees and travel expenses. “We wanted the program to be self-sustaining in all aspects, including faculty, finance and leadership, which in turn brings ownership.”

“When one side has all the money, it creates power dynamics that you can’t erase,” said Noel Becchetti, A3’s vice president of leader development since 2012. “Most of our Asian leaders have had the experience of being told that they were equal ‘partners’ with a Western-funded ministry until a difference of opinion arose, with the Western ‘partners’ then threatening to pull their money out if they didn’t get their way. If Westerners are serious about partnership, they have to be serious about sharing power.”

For Becchetti, that has meant listening for local priorities while keeping his own mouth shut.

“I would be in a meeting with friends in an Asian country, and they would ask if I had an idea. But if I offered an idea at that point, they would just do whatever I said, even if they didn’t like it. That is the power dynamic: ‘He has the money and we have to defer to him.’

“By the time I got to A3, I had learned to sit there and say nothing. If asked for my opinion, my reply would be, ‘I don’t have one. I’m here to help you with your opinion.’ Eventually my Asian colleagues in A3 started saying, ‘If he doesn’t have any ideas, maybe he will help us with ours.’

“Leaders in Asia are accustomed to dealing with setbacks that would cause Westerners to panic,” Becchetti continued. “Ultimately, they get to a better solution more quickly because they are used to functioning in a more chaotic environment.”

Over time, A3 incorporated more indigenous facilitators and trainers as well as empowering the national leadership. “Our national partners now trust that we have their best interest at heart,” Becchetti stated. “We’ve no doubt made a bunch of mistakes, but the fundamental trust we’ve fostered is priceless.”

Herman Moldez, A3’s national director in the Philippines, said that empowering attitude was especially important in his country, which is arguably the most Americanized nation in Asia.

“Most outside organizations have their own agenda, and we are used to being part of the numbers they are supposed to produce,” Moldez explained. “If they give the money, we have an obligation to do what they ask of us. A3 is different. They bring resources but they don’t define the outcome. We are able to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.”

Becchetti said distrust and competitiveness are common problems for the church in Asia. “You have small populations of Christians functioning in an isolated manner, which makes them weaker,” he explained. “Underneath the veneer of politeness, people don’t trust each other. Most Asian countries are autocratic, creating a tough environment. Our job is to facilitate a community where Christian leaders can learn from each other, and to strengthen them so that they can be more effective without burning themselves out.”

Becchetti added that relative to the West, Asian Christians tend to have a more collective mindset, a relationship orientation rather than a task orientation, a high level of resilience, and a tendency toward long-term thinking.

Dayalan said one of his favorite stories involved a pastor known for his showmanship who showed up at an A3 event in flashy clothes. Dayalan didn’t think this man would fit well into an A3 cohort, and he also saw red flags in the pastor’s family life. But over several meetings, the pastor’s priorities changed: not only did he start wearing a T-shirt and jeans and stop carrying a makeup kit with him, but he also founded an orphanage and became personally involved with its children. At the end of the cohort, the pastor’s wife told Dayalan joyfully, “Your program changed our lives.”

You can learn much more at Eastern Voices, an A3 website designed to share the insights of Asian Christian leaders with the world.