The beginning of the PAM concept took place in a lunch discussion between Dr. David Wang, (president of Asian Outreach), Rev. Veikko Manninen (former mission director of Finnish Pentecostals) and Arto Hämäläinen (at that time the director of Finnish Pentecostal mission) close to the middle of the 1990’s. Dr. Wang had observed the lack of links between the missions, national leaders and missionaries. The result of that discussion was the Asian Mission Consultation “Together We Change…To Change the World” which was held in Hong Kong in 1994.

The second consultation took place also at Hong Kong in April 1996. The theme was “Marching into 21st Century” and guests included leaders such as Ms Jackie Pullinger who shared on God’s transforming power among the drug addicts in Hong Kong. The practical arrangements of the consultation were again made by Asian Outreach International. There was a clear desire to continue these kind of gatherings and so a planning committee was formed for the next consultation.

The third gathering took place at Chiang Rai, Thailand 17-21 May, 2000 on the theme “Opportunities Now!” There were 94 participants from 20 different nations. The theme of the next consultation was “Open Windows to Asian Worlds”, and it was held at Bangkok, Thailand 11-15 May, 2004. There were about 90 participants from 16 different countries.

During this consultation the committee decided to transfer the position of chairmanship to Asia, and Rev. A.H. Mandey was elected to serve as chairman. The name of PAM (Pentecostal Asian Mission) was elected to use for the cooperation which had already taken place longer time through the consultations. In the next year in February the committee gathered at Macau to plan the Asian mission cooperation and the next gatherings. The purpose of the PAM was then defined “Pentecostal effort to promote, generate and facilitate Asian Missions in cooperation with international missions.”

The fifth PAM consultation having the whole Asia basis took place at Pattaya, Thailand 23-27 October, 2007. The theme was “New Challenges in Asian Missions – Empowered to fulfil the Task”. There were 110 participants from 16 countries in this consultation.

After having five Asia consultations and one regional consultation the PAM committee felt the need to develop more the structure of the Asian mission cooperation. PAM had grown to include not only Nordic countries background Pentecostals, but also Assemblies of God churches as well as the Foursquare Pentecostals. In Europe outside Nordic countries there were contacts to Germany, France, and to the European sister organization PEM (Pentecostal European Mission). The committee drafted PAM Guidelines in its meeting at Bangkok in January 2009. The guidelines were then finalized and accepted in the committee meeting also at Bangkok in November 2009.

The sixth PAM consultation took place in Toda, Japan in September 2010. The conference had three parts. The first part was participated by 256 people, second by 320 and the third by 358. The feedback was encouraging: “The presence of foreign guests brought international atmosphere and strong spiritual sense throughout the meetings. God blessed the offerings over our expectations, we could manage our finance.”

The next consultation was hosted by Assemblies of God of Cambodia at Siem Reap, Cambodia 22-24 May, 2012. Meanwhile the South East Asia region organized a conference at Jakarta, Indonesia 25-28 August, 2014. The theme was “God’s Way”.

The eighth PAM Consultation took place at Pattaya, Thailand 22-24 February, 2016.

PAM is the only umbrella organization serving all different Pentecostal churches in their mission activities in Asia. It has a good future if the development which has already affected many countries and national churches will continue. The spiritual truth about the unity of the body of Christ will surely promote the PAM become a strong inspiration, encourager, provider, implementer, and coordinator in Asia.

There are also links from the PAM committee to the global level. Several committee members are serving also in the World Missions Commission of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF).

– Dr. Arto Hämäläinen