That my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth
Isaiah 49:6

 “The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion.” These are the opening words of the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio of Pope John Paul II which he issued in 1990, 25 years after the publication of the Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes Divinitus, and 15 years after the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntuandi (Evangelization in the Modern World) issued by Pope Paul VI.

The First Southeast Asian Regional Conference of Couples for Christ, which will be held from 6 to 8 December 2002 at the Baan Phu Waan Pastoral Training Center just outside Bangkok, Thailand, will bring together delegates from the various CFC communities in Southeast Asia, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, to share experiences and discuss how the Gospel may be proclaimed to all the peoples of the region. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Conference will aim to find the ways and means to help fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 49:6: I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

The urgency of the need to proclaim the Good News was stressed 37 years ago in Ad Gentes Divinitus: “There are two billion people – and their number is increasing day by day – who have never, or barely, heard the Gospel message; they constitute large and distinct groups united by enduring cultural ties, ancient religious traditions, and strong social relationships. Of these, some belong to one or another of the great religions, others have no knowledge of God, while others expressly deny the existence of God and sometimes even attack it. If the Church is to be in a position to offer all men the mystery of salvation and the life brought by God, then it must implant itself among all these groups in the same way that Christ by His incarnation committed Himself to the particular social and cultural circumstances of the men among whom He lived.” This is the purpose of the Conference – to determine how the community of Couples for Christ could “implant itself among all these groups” so that Christ’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”