Alan & Lynette Johnson

Alan was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, but he and his wife of 39 years, Lynette, have lived in Thailand since 1986. They have worked in church planting and various forms of formal and informal training with the Thailand Assemblies of God. In 2003 they pioneered work among the urban poor that continues today through the ministries of a local Thai church. Currently they are leading a training hub to develop church planting teams among the 7 million Muslims of Thailand.

In addition to their work with urban poor Alan has been involved in several functions at a broader level that coalesce around least-reached peoples. This includes the serving as the secretary of the Missions Commission of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, and serving the Asia Pacific region to develop church planting teams among the 450 million unreached people in the region. He is a member of the missiology group convened by the Executive Director of Assemblies of God World Missions, and serves as an adjunct professor for the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS), the Pan Africa Theology School (PAThS) and the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) and also provides training for people working among people groups influenced by Buddhist worldviews He served as the Hogan Chair of Missions at AGTS for the 2006/2007 academic year. The monograph he wrote as part of his responsibilities for the chair is was published by William Carey Library in 2009 under the title Apostolic Function in 21st Century Missions.

Alan likes to read and is an intensely curious person. (The words he has heard most frequently in his life is “Put that book down!”). His journey in formal education reflects his wide-ranging interests, and he is probably the only person that sees them all connecting in a cohesive fashion. He left the study of hard sciences at the University of Washington after being called to full-time vocational ministry, completing a B.A. in Pastoral Ministry at Northwest College. Using the decadal approach to graduate education he completed an M.A. in Biblical Studies from AGTS working both before and after going to Thailand (squeezing in itineration and mastering Thai in between for 5 years). His curiosity about leadership and culture led to an M.A. from Azusa Pacific University in social science and then doing ethnographic work on social influence processes in a slum community in Bangkok for a Ph.D. with the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies/University of Wales. The dissertation work was published by Regnum under the title Leadership in a Slum: A Bangkok Case Study.

Alan and Lynette have two grown daughters who are both alumni of Northwest University. Laura and her MK husband, Mark Snider, who is a pediatric emergency doctor, live in Memphis and have two children. Rebecca and her husband Phillip have three children and live in Central Asia, working with an unreached people group. The Johnsons currently reside in Bangkok.