A new year - God's work continues (part 2 of 2)

Part 2 of "God's work continues" features a small selection of the fellow believers that we work with - Thai people who love Jesus and desire to make Him known to others that have little opportunity in life.

Our church - this is where we meet with some great people on Sundays

Probably one of my greatest joys in ministry in Thailand has been to connect with this fellowship of believers (known as Muang Samut Prakan Church). I am thoroughly blessed as we meet together to worship the Living God - frequently, I am overcome with tears at the goodness of God as we worship together in that simple building pictured above. They have helped us grow our worship in Thai and have partnered with us in every aspect of the ministry in which God has called us to do here in Samut Prakan.

Our friend and church pastor - Ajarn Chaiyut

Ajarn Chaiyut did his theological training in America, so he can speak English. However our friendship has been built with him using only Thai language. On the rare occasions when I preach (about 3-4 times a year), he translates into Thai for me as I am not confident enough to preach in Thai yet. He has a good understanding of the Bible himself and faithfully teaches and preaches God's Word. God used him to start this church around 12 years ago. It has since grown to now have somewhere between 70 and 90 regular attenders (including children). Every Tuesday morning for about 2-3 hours we meet with and pray with Ajarn Chaiyut as we work very closely on proclaiming Jesus in Samut Prakan and growing fellowships of believers in the many communities in which we work.

Mae Dukada - one of our "mothers" at church, aged 82 years

Mae Dukada speaks of renewed energy in her life since meeting Jesus for the 1st time only 3 years ago (at the ripe old age of 79). She lives a very simple lifestyle in a poor community but Jesus has provided everything she needs and she is satisfied with her new life in Christ. Last year she was attacked and robbed and suffered injury and bruising, but God protected her from losing her life. She says the only priority in her life now is to read God's Word and pray - God does everything else. She is a living example of God's faithfulness to the other older ladies in our church that come from poor communities. Praise God for Mae Dukada, we love her very much :-)

Jen with Jemoway in her house in the smaller slum community

Jemoway has worked with us for over 2 years now. She is full of the joy of the Lord despite having very little of her own things. She lives in one room that is her workroom (where she makes clothes), her kitchen and bedroom altogether ..... note the ironing board in the picture with a garment on it that she is making. Until recently Jemoway was the only believer in the smaller slum community in which we work (now, there are a few teenagers as well that Jen is discipling after the Christmas outreach). Every week in her room (pictured above) we have read God's Word together and prayed together for the establishment of God's church in her community. God is at work and the gates of hell cannot prevail against Him (see Matthew 16:18).

Please pray with us for these and others we work with who already know Jesus. Pray that we will encourage them to disciple the Thai church so that it grows into the next generation as a strong church that reaches the nation, the region of South East Asia and beyond.

A new year - God's work continues (part 1 of 2)

I was reading Colossians 4 a few days ago and God drew my attention to the following in verse 18 "... see to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord". There are 2 very important truths here - firstly, God requires resolute faithfulness and obedience from me ("complete the work") and secondly, this ministry in the slums of Samut Prakan comes from God, belongs to God and is for His Glory ("the work you have received from the Lord"). So we are into a new year, and I have no idea what it will bring. God willing, the year can be divided into 2 parts - ministry in Samut Prakan up to early June, then Home Assignment in Australia for the rest of the year.

So, in this blog, let me introduce you to some typical people that we work with who don't know Jesus (next blog I'll introduce you to some people we work with who do know Jesus) .....

This is the Committee Chairperson who runs/governs the larger of the slum communities we work in.

God has enabled us to find favour with him while he has observed our Saturday work with the many children in his community. It was this relationship that paved the way for the Christmas outreach to be held in the central community area where somewhere between 400-500 people attended and heard about Jesus for the first time.

This lady also comes from the same community - we teach her English each Thursday and have a very good relationship that opens the door in sharing the Good news with her.

She helped us tirelessly with the Christmas outreach, providing sweets for the 300+ kids who turned up. She also cooks us something yummy each week and/or takes us out for lunch. We have many good conversations with her, but she is tied to the cycle of "doing good to receive good".

This 8-year old boy from the larger slum community has hung with us for a year now. He is slowly growing into a friendship with Jesus.

His name in Thai means "ant". He displays typical behavioural problems associated with a child who has been abandoned by their parents. As he learns to trust Jesus fully, I firmly believe God will bring the healing he needs to be a whole person. He is seen here at the Christmas outreach throwing down his ticket number which was not called out for a present because we ran out of presents.

This lady lives in the smaller slum community in which we work.

She makes pegs - 10 hours work for a mere $2. She is very needy and has the added responsibility of caring for her grandchildren who have been abandoned by their parents. She loves chats with Jen and stopped me in the street yesterday to tell me how much she has missed us over the last week or so when we were away. As we share the Good news with her we are reminded that Jesus loves her and wants to see her come to Himself.

I have just opened a small window to only 4 people who are fairly typical of those in Samut Prakan for whom Jesus died and cares for, but still don't know the saving Grace of a friendship with Jesus. Please pray with us over the next few months in Samut Prakan that God's work will continue for His Glory and that we will remain faithful as the temperatures soar to over 40 degrees (celcius) and humidity hovers around 90-100 per cent.

Encouragement of Christmas outreaches

As another year draws to a close, I am conscious of many discouragements in this difficult land, yet also many encouragements. You know, if we go simply by feelings we will fail to walk along the path that God wants us in ..... I have certainly learnt that over this last year. God's call to win the Central Thai people group and the enormity of the task at hand has not changed. But who am I? a simple person who has fallen and being broken over many years - not capable of doing the task at hand on my own, but ever determined to follow my best friend Jesus in winning the lost, even if it means walking to the cross.

I have posted below some pictures of our Christmas outreaches held in 4 separate communities in the period 13-19 December. You can also see a short video of one of the outreaches by clicking on my Youtube channel on the right of this page. The encouragement of the Outreaches has reinforced to me the promise of God's faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22,23), which has completely overshadowed all discouragements of 2009. For those not on Facebook, this will be your first view of these pictures. Please look at them slowly, read the short descriptions and pray for the people you see ..... it may be their only chance to get snatched from the lake of fire that we read about in Jude verse 23. And on behalf of those people in the photos and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for praying, I love you and appreciate you very much.

A 13 year old girl chooses to follow Jesus

The fulfillment of an ice-cream is nothing compared to the fulfillment that Jesus can give (as Jet is being exposed to)

Rays of sunlight beam onto children choosing Jesus

Jen & I with some of our kids we teach every Saturday... as they hold their Christmas gifts, we desperately want them to grow in the gift of Jesus for them

Sea of faces (adults and kids) wait to hear the Good News

The challenge of ongoing discipleship as many say yes to Jesus

Truly the harvest is ripe and the labourers are few. We are trying to put discipleship groups together to respond to the many who came forward to receive Jesus at the Christmas outreaches. The task is great .... Jesus has them in His Hands, but we need your help. Will you join in working with the movement of the Holy Spirit through Asia?

A warrior of the faith

It is refreshing to meet Thais who love their people and have a burning desire to see their fellow Thai come to know the Living God. These people are true leaders who give and serve, even when they're feeling tired, for the sake of their own people. One such man is our friend Citichai. He loves Jesus greatly and works tirelessly to see Jesus become known amongst the Central Thai.

Here Citichai works with some kids from a slum community

Citichai is a happily married man aged 40 with 3 beautiful young kids. He works as the Assistant Pastor at our Thai church. However, life was not always happy for Citichai. He sold himself into drug addiction for 13 years, which took away many years of his life and plunged him into a life of hopelessness and poverty. However, Jesus rescued him 14 years ago and transformed him into the new man we know now.

We love Citichai, we laugh with him at his constant forgetfulness - a consequence of the long hard years of drug addiction - yet know that Jesus never forgets him and is with him every day in the tough battles God calls him to fight as a warrior. He understands the many addicts that live in our slum communities - having been rescued from this lifestyle.

He recently told us that now he has children (which take a lot of his energy) he gets up as late as 6.00am everyday to meet with God. I am not sure what time he used to get up, but even at 6.00am this is a real commitment that obviously results in an infectious love for Jesus.

Kids tend to be drawn to Citichai's infectious love for Jesus

Thai kids cling to Citichai because there is something different about him - maybe it is the transformed life and love that flows naturally from him as he walks daily with the Living God. There is nothing in terms of possessions that makes Citichai smile, he has very little. The car he drives (essential for his ministry) is VERY old and breaks down every day. One day he turned up late for a leaders meeting at church because his car broke down and then he had to catch a motorcycle-taxi during which time his glasses blew off and subsequently broke. A friend at church was quick to do some temporary soldering work so Citichai could see again :-) Citichai's wife must work full-time (although they have 3 young children under the age of 6) in order for them to be able to feed and clothe their children.

Although he has little in terms of material possessions, Citichai loves serving the Living God

This is an example of a new/first-generation Thai believer who we are working closely with in one of our slum communities. Please pray for Citichai that his infectious love would continue to touch his people and the schemes of the evil one would be ineffective against him.

Please also pray for us as we work with Citichai on Christmas outreach over the coming weeks.

When prayer offensive takes place opposition is certain

Last week we were blessed by a group of Thai believers prayer walking with us one evening through our communities of ministry - the slum communities in which we work and the schools in which we teach. It was stirring prayer, in which we claimed territory for Jesus Christ, and in which we claimed the end of exploitation of human beings by the evil one. Also, I've been prayer walking through one of these communities almost weekly now for the last year and a half. One would think the job is done, right?

I'm afraid not. The very next day, Jen & I went as usual into one of these slum communities to teach the children, including opening God's Word together. However, this day we saw the greatest disruption we have had - with most kids being troublesome so that even the few that were interested could not have the opportunity to hear a story about the Lord Jesus.

Then last week both schools that we prayer-walked past contacted us to cancel our Christmas Day outreach (Note: Christmas Day is a normal working day here as it is considered a 'western festival' only and therefore is NOT a holiday). The reasons for cancelling seemed minor and irrelevant (i.e. an all-day 'teachers meeting' to close the school for the day, rescheduling of exams to take place on 25 December). This disappointment comes despite our excellent relationships with both schools and the credibility God has built up for us there over many years already.

I could slip into disappointment and depression about this, because it does tear my heart apart. But God has been speaking to me (no coincidence, of course) in Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2. After engaging in 4 months of prayer, Nehemiah sought the king's permission to rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. Yet he faced ridicule and opposition. Further reading shows he pressed ahead in strength claiming the power of God over opposition. It seems to me that this is what I need to do in this circumstance - not to give up prayer-walking or serving in these communities, but to press ahead in the strength and authority that is available from the Living God through Jesus Christ my Lord.

Some of "our kids" in one of our communities

- they get an opportunity to hear God's Word every Saturday

Will you pray with us, please? , because when a prayer offensive takes place then opposition is always certain !!

An Attempt to Ease the Poverty Dilemma

Last month we blogged on the poverty dilemma that we see every day in our local communities. As we have prayed and talked with people and brainstormed with our local pastor, an idea that we have had in the backs of minds for a while now, is beginning to look like becoming reality.

There are many women in the slum communities who are constantly trying to find ways of making enough money to live on. We wrote about Mae Gulaap who looks after a baby for the equivalent of $3 a day. Others sweep streets, clean toilets or collect recyclable rubbish from rubbish bins. Last week when I visited a friend, Pi Eew in her home, she was putting pegs together. For 10 hours of this menial work she receives the equivalent of $2.


At the same time, another friend, Pi Anong, has craft skills that she would love to share with people in her community but has not been able to get any support from her community leaders. Another friend at church is ready to teach women jewellery making skills in order to give them another option for earning an income. The only missing link is a viable market. This is where you could come in.

If after looking at the accompanying photos of jewellery and Anong's handbag, you have ideas for selling these products eg, in churches, coffee shops, at parties, please let me know, as we can't begin a project like this without being sure we can draw an income from it for the women.

A new fellowship birthed

God blesses us with times when we come across some extraordinary people. Charlee is one of those. He is blind - the result of a fight some years ago. Subsequent to that, Charlee met Jesus. As a result, he loves the people in his community and has never wallowed in his plight of poverty and disadvantage (in Thailand there is no Government help for those who are stuck in poverty because of their circumstances). We came across Charlee last year when we served for some months teaching English in his community. Charlee started a cell church in his one-room dwelling (no bigger than 9 square metres). As the cell church began to grow it soon became apparent that the accommodation was inadequate .... so Charlee approached us for help to move to a bigger dwelling.

We then adopted this church as one of our financial projects. Thanks to the financial generosity of some of our friends in Australia this little cell church in the slum community now has a place to meet. To our knowledge it is the only church operating WITHIN a slum community in Samut Prakan. Samut Prakan is the city province in which we live - an industrial city housing most of Thailand's major industries, but also a city with large tracts of people living in poverty and sub-standard housing.

Outside the cell church building

Dom (standing) and Charlee leading a worship service

Sitting on the floor waiting for church to begin

Jen interacting with some of the kids, while Charlee tunes his guitar in the background

Some of the kids perform a dance of praise to God

Please pray for this community that the witness of faithful people like Charlee (who have very little) will continue to touch the people around him whom he loves.

English Camp at the beach

Last week we ran our Annual English Camp with a local school from Samut Prakan. This represents the only opportunity these people get to hear the Good News that God had placed in our hearts. We travelled down to Rayong Beach. 90 kids attended, along with 10 Thai teachers and our team of 11 native English speakers (including Jen & I). By the way, I'm still not telling anyone that I failed English at school :-) Thankfully, I am married to a wonderful woman who not only has TESOL training but clearly knows what she is doing. Also, we were blessed with a great team of volunteers who came from Chiang Mai (Thailand), Sydney and Canberra (Australia). They gave their all and brought a variety of skills and gifts to the Camp (beyond English teaching) - they were a fantastic team :-)

The great group of volunteers who helped us run the Camp

Hot pink was the theme colour for teachers at this year's camp. Somehow, I don't think I will be wearing my hot pink shirt again - Jen tells me it doesn't suit me !!

This is a unique opportunity we have every October to continue to build relationships with this local school and share the Good News with those who come along to Camp. We are really thankful that every child got an opportunity to hear about Jesus - either through the 'Bible Story' activity or through our interactions with them. Also, we were blessed to have many opportunities to interact with the Thai teachers. These relationships allow us to hold an assembly in the school on Christmas Day to share the Good News story God has given us - yep, schools here are open as normal right through what Westerners know as the Christmas period.

Acting out a story about Jesus going to His friends in the storm

One of the 5 teams lining up for a photo on the beach

Outside games activity

As we plan to be in Australia this time next year, we are unable to run the Camp next October. This was burdening our hearts, yet we are hopeful that God may have provided already a team of people who can liaise with one of the Thai teachers and another worker here in Thailand to make sure the Camp still goes ahead next October.

Yet another opportunity that God provides here to testify about the God of all creation to a people group that has had previous little impact from the Good News.

The poverty dilemma

I often ask myself the question here in Thailand .... why do people live in such poverty when so many are living comfortable lives? And then, how best can we help people who are often in dire physical need?

Let me share a story.... Mae GuLaap (translated 'Mother Rose') is a 70+ year old lady who must fend for herself in her simple dwelling made of wood and cast iron in one of the communities in which we work. She needs to earn income because social welfare is inadequate to keep her alive. She lives with two children who have been abandoned by their parents. Then she looks after many more each day in order to earn 100 baht per day (equivalent to around $A 3.40). These little children are left by their mothers because they must go off to earn whatever they can through selling food on the streets and work long hours (a 12 hour day selling food is not uncommon). The dilemma Mae GuLaap has is that (in case of 2 children previously) the mothers may not come back for their children and then she must take on more young ones in her permanent care. The picture below shows one of the children (a small baby) looked after by Mae GuLaap. This baby is left with her for around 12 hours each day for 7 days a week.

One of the children looked after by Mae GuLaap - a baby rocking to sleep outside Mae GuLaap's dwelling

Mae GuLaap has tremendous needs, yet her face oozes out the love of God with a smile that can only come from Jesus giving her strength. She is a member of our church. But she rarely gets to church because she must earn her income 7 days a week. This is the reality of living from day-to-day on the poverty line in a country where there is little social welfare and few people to help those in need.

Last week we took Mae GuLaap a huge bag of rice - her face lit up like she had won the lottery :-) . A practical way to help meet a need and it probably means she can feed the children who have been abandoned into her care during the next week.

Green stagnant water lays beneath these places all year round in one of our slum communities

As you can see in the picture above, a lot of care is undertaken to ensure the spirits reside in well elevated little dwellings that are clean and carefully maintained. People, on the other hand, reside in houses made of whatever materials can be slapped together. We would love to be able to help teach people the importance of a clean and safe environment. Also, there are huge opportunities here to help in community development (more specifically community health development), if we had the people skilled in this area.

But, daily we are faced with the dilemma of how to best help people in poverty .... handing out money is not wise because it grows dependence and breaks down community by showing favouritism, yet turning your back on valid needs is certainly not what Jesus would do. We are increasingly coming to the conclusion that one reason God has called us here is to share our blessings with people in need - through providing food and other practical assistance (such as helping to pay education fees for children). It is a dilemma - while financial dependence is not a good thing there is a need for assistance. This assistance must respond to specific needs (e.g. helping the elderly with food parcels, or, helping younger more-able people with the means to run their own businesses). That is, in the case of younger people, the old adage applies "if you give them a fish, they will eat for a day but if you teach them how to fish they will eat for a lifetime".

Above all, we have Good News about salvation. God calls us to share this Good News while we are being Christ to people in caring for them physically.

Finally, we must ask ourselves the question in all circumstances like these .... what would Jesus do?

Is this a future Thai leader?

Every community has its leaders, whether by natural selection, by force, or by default. Even in a community of kids there are natural leaders who step up to the mark and lead their mates around. We see this with the kids we interact with in the communities we serve here in Thailand.

Let me introduce you to one of those ... his name is Jet and we think he is 8 years old. Many kids in our communities don't actually know how old they are because no one has told them when their birthday is. The number of kids we get to our kids' program on Thursdays and Saturdays can often depend entirely on how Jet feels that day. Let me share an example .... last Saturday, Jet said to me that he was not going to our Program of English teaching and games in the afternoon. And, so true to his word, he walked around telling others also not to go. His 'followers' promptly did what he said and didn't turn up. More on that later ....

Jet, like many kids we spend time with, is very needy without any male role model in his life. IF he is feeling OK he will grab hold of you and insist you give him all your attention and stops others receiving attention. Yet, on the other hand, he also takes a natural leadership position of organising the kids and trying to control them (whether they are older or younger) and many follow - out of respect or fear or wanting to be led, I really don't know why.

Mischievous Jet - but insisting on being up the front

Jet is very happy when he is in charge. But he is somewhat disruptive when he is being led.

Again, Jet making the 'statement' that he is the leader of 'the gang'

He doesn't go to school and spends his time either wandering around his slum community or playing and then is ready to boss others when they return home from the local school.

Jet refusing the challenge of a friend climbing to his 'height'

Most kids respect him and don't stand up to him, because he will be very forceful to get his own way.

Jet (on the right) trying to be cool, but he doesn't let his friends 'step out of line'

Anyway, back to last Saturday .... Jet finally decided (out of boredom, I think) that it was a good idea to join in with our kids' program at which time he stood with hands on his hip and yelled at the top of his voice for all the neighbourhood kids to come along as well. Those who didn't dare challenge his leadership prior to this time were now free to come and they all enjoyed our time together joining in with lots of fun games and activities. We had around 20 kids that day.

What do you think when I introduce you to Jet ? Possibilities can include ....

1. You may see his leadership qualities and the potential of a young man like this ?

2. You may think he is just a kid who misbehaves and wants his own way and should be disciplined ?

3. You may see that he is a kid with deep needs and deep wounds who has been rejected by potential adult role models who are too preoccupied by their own issues that stem from their extreme poverty ?

4. You may see that this child needs love and the care and leadership of Jesus in his life ?

I actually see the enormous leadership potential in Jet and want to provide care for him that eventually introduces him to my favourite leader - Jesus Christ. I have been encouraged by a friend in Australia to pray for Jet that one day he will become a servant leader of the emerging Thai church. Will you consider praying that with me?

My favourite leader is Jesus Christ because He showed how to lead people through servanthood. He never lords it over people but poured Himself out through His sacrificial death and continues to pour Himself out so His followers can be free. There is no better leader than Jesus - that is who we seek to serve and demonstrate to the communities in which we live.

Please pray that these natural leaders (like Jet) would choose the servanthood leadership of Jesus Christ and become natural servant leaders for their people in a way that revolutionises the Thai church.