The southeast Asian country of Thailand shares borders with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. At least 98 percent of Thais would claim allegiance to Buddhism. To be Thai is to be a Buddhist. To profess faith in Jesus Christ alone as Savior and to declare that faith openly in baptism brings the certainty of isolation and ridicule by family and friends. Consequently, the Thai people weigh such a decision carefully, usually for several months or even years. Decision-oriented evangelistic methods like citywide meetings, tent evangelism, and mass tract distribution may produce a lot of hype; and Thais may even “receive Jesus.” But in the context of their culture that phrase simply means they believe in Him as well as many other gods. Genuine, Spirit-wrought conversions come slowly and generally through long-term relationships.
Deb and I arrived in Bangkok on Saturday, January 12, 2008, and left for India on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. During our stay our hosts were Dr. Ken and Alice Cole, veteran missionaries with ABWE, who spent 27 years in the Philippines and came to Thailand in 2004. Dr. Cole serves as the team leader for ABWE Thailand.
The Coles invested a lot of time orienting us to the culture through a variety of experiences, from Thai-style food, Thai shopping, and many Buddhist temples to different modes of transportation, including the river and canal boats. Deb and I thoroughly enjoyed their company and really appreciate all they did to help us understand the people, the country, and the ministry.
The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) and the Philippine Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (PABWE) partner together with the national Thais in their church-planting efforts. ABWE currently has five units (singles or couples in the country); the PABWE team consists of 8 units. Some of the church plants are pastored by PABWE missionaries, while other churches have Thai pastors. Thailand stands out as a model in that Filipinos are the prime missionary church planters rather than Americans.
On Sunday Deb and I joined the Coles as we worshipped at Grace Baptist Church, in Bangkok, pastored by Brother Kiatisak, a Thai pastor. Grace Baptist is one of the strong churches among the Thai Baptist churches. They have a beautiful facility with a congregation of about 75. Pastor Kiatisak is the chairman of the Association of Grace Baptists of Thailand.
What a privilege it was to meet Pastor Ponsak, the Thai pastor of the Bang Khen Baptist Church in Bangkok for 22 years. He serves as the chairman of the Association of Romphra Khun Fundamental Baptist Churches of Thailand.
During the week we met Grace Kwok, a missionary sent to Thailand by the ABWE Hong Kong Mission’s Center who had arrived six months earlier. As a Chinese lady, she is currently in language school learning the Thai language. She hopes to be an inspiration to others in China to step out as missionaries.
Rick and Lesa Caynor (ABWE), currently in language school and teaching English, are pioneering a concept called City on a Hill. Rick will serve as liaison and coordinator for Christian colleges to conduct a student internship in Thailand. They hope to expose many young people to the effectiveness of teaching English in a foreign culture as a bridge into lives and hearts. In actuality most of the Thai church leaders have been reached through the English classes.
One afternoon Deb and I had an enjoyable meeting with Eddie Webber and Duane Scott, Baptist Mid-Missions church planters. We were already acquainted with Nate and Maam Beckman, also a part of the BMM team, but they were on furlough. The Webbers are the veterans on the team planting a church east of Bangkok. Eddie shared his burden of reaching out to the needy children through the establishment of an orphanage. His church plant is currently reaching mostly young people. The Scotts are in language school, anticipating a church plant in conjunction with the Beckmans in Bangkok later in the year.
After a one hour flight we arrived at Phuket, the resort and tourist center of southern Thailand. The purpose of our trip was to visit the tsunami-affected region of Thailand and see the work that God has been accomplishing. We were met at the airport by Pastor Reuel Lamilang, the PABWE church planter in Lam Khan.
Many organizations helped in the tsunami relief efforts. Over half of those organizations had short-term goals and have now pulled out. The PABWE/ABWE interest was to bring relief and the love of Christ. The long-term goal was to establish a local Baptist church to reach the Thai people and ground them in the faith. This combined effort led to the purchase of a two-story, side-by-side storefront. this building was converted into a church meetingplace, classrooms, office, kitchen, with several bedrooms upstairs. Pastor Reuel and his wife and children have been separated for many months as Phoebe stays with the children in Bangkok while they finish the school year. The family hopes to be reunited in the next couple of months.
It was thrilling to meet with this special group of people. They are the fruits of grace from the tsunami. These 12 Thais have professed faith, most have been baptized, and now faithfully worship together. They shared powerful testimonies of changed lives since coming to know the Lord. In a land where it often takes several years of cultivating relationships before harvesting any fruit, these tsunami-prepared hearts have responded to the glory of God. The Romphrakuhn Baptist Church has purchased land and expects to break ground soon on a new building. This is one of the areas where Gospel Literature Services provided thousands of tracts that were distributed along with the relief supplies. As promised, God’s Word has not returned void.
Even though the landscape of Thailand is dotted with hundreds of Buddhist and Hindu temples, the glorious light of the Gospel is streaming in. To be sure, the beam is tiny when compared to the darkness, but the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first but also to the Buddhist.