Charles and Florence are retired, but still play a vital role in the mission by serving as president.

Ambassadors for Christ was established in 1970 by Charles and Florence Littell as a mission work specific to the Island of Mindanao. Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines with a population of eighteen million. The main religion on Mindanao is Roman Catholic, but Mindanao is where the largest concentration of Muslims is located. Muslims comprise 5% of the total population of the Philippines.

The Littells vision for Mindanao was for evangelization through church planting. After working on the island for a number of years and trying several methods of church planting the highly successful concept of the In Service Training Program was developed. Before the In Service Training Seminar program began an average of seven churches per year were planted on Mindanao. Since the program began and average of 20 churches are being planted every year on Mindanao.

Eight In Service Training Seminars are conducted each year, four at each of the training centers. Our team of 15 trainers teaches an established curriculum of 30 separate and independent seminars. Our trainers are men and women with college degrees and experience in ministry and are able to teach in the dialects of those who attend the seminars. The seminars are divided into five levels and graduations are held for those who successfully complete the six required seminars for any level. A 140 hour internship with an experienced pastor and established church is also required before graduating from the 4th level. Trainees come from the mountainous interior of Mindanao and are usually older men and women who desire to lead a congregation and have other means of support for their livelihood such as farming. Some of the trainees have a high school education but many do not.

In the middle 90’s the Littells recognized that a large segment of Mindanao—the professional people who live in the cities, was not being reached by In Service Training. Half the population of the Philippines lives in urban areas; a statistic we cannot ignore. Plans to plant churches in 20 cities were developed.

Urban Church Planting Begins

Rodger and Dixie Shewmaker, missionaries since 1988 on Luzon Island, joined AFC in 1997 to lead the development of the new urban churches. They immediately began working with the first urban church in Iligan City. The need for evangelization was great, the plan to reach the professionals was in place but we lacked one significant factor—human resources.

Because previous efforts on Mindanao had been in the rural areas, there were no Filipinos equipped to work in the urban churches. Several young men in whom we saw potential were hired and the Shewmakers began to work with them. Through mentoring and coaching by short term and career missionaries these young men grew into leaders who comfortably work with professionals. Leadership skills, discovery of their passion for ministry and clarification of vision is allowing these men and women to take ministry to higher levels and to reach the business men and women of Mindanao.