Reaching the poor - Isaan strategy

You have probably caught up with the fact that we are intending to move to the Isaan Region of North East Thailand by the end of this year to start a new team "Sowing Seed to Plant Indigenous Churches".

Seed sowing is an important occupation in this large region of 21.5 million people. It is mainly poor rural communities that make up Isaan - main industry is agriculture, with the production of Sticky Rice accounting for 60 per cent of the cultivated land in Isaan. However, Isaan is the driest and poorest region in Thailand - all of Thailand's 10 poorest provinces are in Isaan (the poorest province is Si Saket, which is just to the west of Ubon). Isaan has a history of being dominated and oppressed by various regimes over the last 800 years - which paints a painful past for the ethnolinguistic groups that occupy the region (Isaan, Lao and Khmer).

We are excited about the potential here for great things to happen and for building on the work already started by others in some parts of the region. In early May we are making another survey trip to the Isaan and visiting with a Thai Christian worker in the needy province of Si Saket (poorest province in all of Thailand) to see how we can partner with him in the future.

What is a picture of the need in Isaan?

The following statistics give a stark picture of the spiritual need in Isaan and are what God is using to drive my heart toward the unreached .....

Population per 1 evangelical Christian

Regional Data - Thailand (174), Isaan (634), Bangkok (113), Chiang Mai (20), Chiang Rai (17)

Isaan provincial data - Khon Kaen (528), Ubon (844), Surin (1,076), Si Saket (1,068), Kalasin (1,303)

This data shows that in order to evangelise their respective provinces, each Christian in Chiang Rai only needs to reach 17 people, while each Christian in Kalasin needs to reach 1,303 people. Much God-honouring work has been done in the past in areas like Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai and we celebrate the progress of the Good News in those places. But these figures demonstrate the enormity of the missions task STILL to be done in the Isaan region and its true nature as a largely unreached area.

Crowds of Isaan people gather at a concert in one of the cities

My heart cries deeply as Jesus spoke about the harvest being plentiful but the labourers are few. This truly reflects large sections of Thailand, with a heavy focus on the 20 provinces that make up the Isaan region.

Challenge to pray

Will you pray with us as we seek to build a team strategy, survey and build a plan of action over the coming months to reach the great unreached region of Isaan in North East Thailand. Please pray that seed would be sown in relationship building that lasts for eternity to give people an opportunity to hear the Good News about Jesus.

Moving on in tears ....

Yes, we are planning a move from Samut Prakan to another part of Thailand by the end of this year - to do similar ministry. After 3-4 years of sweat and tears, God blessed us with the official opening of our church plant in our local slum community (see photos after this 1st paragraph). This seemed impossible 7 years ago (end 2004) when we did the surveying and then even more impossible when we started the reality of working there 4 years ago in 2008. But God does more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20,21 - my life favourite verse). During that time we have seen God bring people to Himself in a new faith, and taken us through some incredibly difficult times, given us strength through discouragement, gave us the opportunity to train a team of Thai leaders and now He gives birth (officially) to this new church! We are hanging around for a few more months yet, until we are sure they are fully equipped to reach out to new slum communities in our city.

Picture 1: The church gathering from the back

Picture 2: The "front door" of church :-)

God is faithful .... as a quote from my autobiography says "Never doubt His faithfulness and His character to do more than what you can ask or imagine. Believe in the impossible and what mankind says is unattainable until, through God’s strength, it becomes possible and attainable."

Moving on doesn't mean abandoning an area or ministry (i.e. the urban poor) .... it means giving it freedom to 'fly on its own' - in a similar way that God called us to do with our children when they became adults. 'Flying on your own' grows maturity and dependence on God like nothing else - we've seen that with our own children. Now we hope to see it with this new church plant.

God has convicted me strongly in this country (and taught me through some very hard lessons) to be careful to hand things over to local believers (when the time is right) and remove myself from the temptation of squashing their initiative with my control tendencies.

I have observed Jesus' example and Paul's example of an incarnational approach to ministry. But they never stayed in a place for very long. In Jesus short time of ministry He lived in at least 3 different places (Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth). In His ministry He travelled extensively to many places - moving on when He sensed the time was right! Paul, while being very incarnational, only planted himself in any location for up to 2 years (his longest was in Corinth for 2 years).

I firmly believe I see the best fruit when God uses me (only by His Grace for an deserving sinner like me) to pioneer a new work where people haven't heard about Jesus, see God bring them to Himself and then grow them into a new church. What comes next is incredibly hard for me - MOVE ON !! God is now telling me to do just that. He is also telling me to maintain an apostolic connection for the rest of my life with the slum ministry in Samut Prakan. He is now telling me to follow His path to work in reaching the great unreached region of Isaan.

I choose to obey my God - in tears I choose to move on .... watch this space over the coming months as we share more of the vision to reach the 21.5 million Isaan people group of North East Thailand - where the poorest of the poor live in this country.

Pray for Thailand

Most of you would be aware that Thailand has been coping one of its worst natural disasters over the last month or two - as massive amounts of floodwater flow through the country from the north to the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. On its way south the floodwaters have caused over 500 deaths, destroyed innumerable amounts of infrastruture (including many industrial parks and highways) and led to homelessness for millions of people. It has also wiped out a quarter of Thailand's rice crop - Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice. Much of the floodwaters have now escaped to the ocean, but there is still more water to work its way through Bangkok, which remains under 1 metre or so of water in many parts.

Our province - Samut Prakan - has largely been spared damage from these floodwaters, although parts of our province are now becoming flooded. Samut Prakan is the last province the flood passes through before spilling into the ocean. We are immediately south of Bangkok and at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. That is to our advantage - at least the floodwaters had somewhere to escape (i.e. into the ocean).

Below are some images of the flood in Thailand. I stress that none of these pictures are my own, I have merely taken some off the Internet. After viewing the pictures, could you please note the prayer points at the end of this blog and take a few moments to PRAY for THAILAND!

Many people have evacuated their homes across the country


Not even Big Mac survives the flood :-)

Floodwaters in some towns have been neck-deep for at least a month

It's sad what people cling to in a crisis - this person clings to 120 baht (around AUD4)

Prayer for Thailand

• that believers would continue to be 'His Hands and Feet' to the vast numbers of people in need;
• that people would see help coming from Christians as coming from the the Living God, the Only One who can help them in their time of desperate need;
• as floodwaters gradually abate that water-borne diseases would be controlled (note: there are already reports of people in the Central Plains suffering from water borne diseases).

Thank you for praying for Thailand. Many of those suffering are very poor. Therefore in partnership with our church we now have a flood relief fund. 100 percent of monies given go directly to providing help for flood victims. If you are interested in giving to our flood relief fund, please contact me at email: malone.phil@gmail.com

Good news story

By God's Grace we have been interacting with people and working in our local slum community for around 3 years now. Our approach has been very simple ....

- pray ... into strongholds and for new openings,

- serve ... the community according to their needs,

- build ... relationships through whatever means God opens and provides,

- search ... out 'a person of peace' (c.f. Luke 10:1-9),

- pray & prayer-walk ... regularly through the community,

- pray ... again and again,

- wait on God ... for opportunities to share about His Grace while praying again,

- wait on God ... to bring people into a believing faith of Him while praying again,

- celebrate ... new birth and encourage new believers,

- meet ... with new believers regularly, with emphasis on getting them into the Word of God and praying with believing prayer,

- build ... a new church around the original 'person of peace',

- seek God ... to build a vision of outreach into new communities and pray together for these communities to start the process over again.

With praise to God we celebrated 5 new believers in this community last week. :-) Our small fellowship has grown by 50% overnight. It is by God's Grace that these new believers will remain faithful over the years. I don't know the outcome of that at this stage. Other new believers in our other slum community, a further distance from where we live, have struggled. BUT, the new believers in our local slum community who met Jesus around 18 months ago are going strong and loving new discoveries in the Word of God.

Jen & I with 3 of the new believers of 18 months ago and 2 of the original members of this church plant

It is beyond my human comprehension how God begins to transform a community that once had no hope. Ephesians 3:20,21 reminds me that nothing happens in my human comprehension anyway. It is an awesome privilege to serve the Living God and be a part of what HE is doing. In our 4 years here there have been huge setbacks and unbearable periods of pain (physically, emotionally and spiritually). But it is all worth it when a community begins a process of transformation before your very eyes!! It is all worth it when the God of the universe decides to involve the worst of sinners (i.e. me) in His plans!! There is very little else that brings such tears and weeping to my heart and eyes.

Community of hope? not at the moment

As I lay sick in bed from dengue fever during May and then unable to move because of back problems, God brought to mind one of our communities to pray for regularly. When I had the strength to pray, I wrestled with God over the plight of our larger slum community - a community in which we have worked for around 2 years now. Yet there remains little visible fruit from the hard sweaty labour. Unlike our local slum community (which is the smaller of the 2 communities in which we work) where the fruit has been good, we are struggling in the larger slum community to plant a strong community church with faithful people. We do have a small church there but it is struggling because of the veil over the community of no hope. God spoke directly to me, as I lay on my bed listening to Him, about the reasons for this - which is really the subject of another blog .... watch this space ! :-)

But in the meantime, God has provided for us to open a Ministry Resource Centre in this larger community - thanks to a generous one-off donation a few years ago from St James Menangle in Sydney ( http://www.menangle.anglican.asn.au/ ). We have named this Centre the House of Hope. It is placed in the middle of this large community that has no hope. Daily, in this community, we are faced with heartache and pain that would rip open even the hardest of hearts. It is a smelly, sweaty place that some residents desire to get out of ..... and some do if they are lucky enough to find a job and get some money. I have posted 2 videos below of the opening of our Ministry Resource Centre last Saturday - please check them out, but then please read on AFTER the videos as I share an opportunity in this community which God is urging us to jump at !!! ....

I wrote above that this Community has no hope. There are lots of reasons for this which stem from a spiritual stronghold over the place of drugs, alcohol, bitterness, jealousy and hatred. BUT the community is also bracing itself for the ultimate building of the Skytrain which will put a station right outside this place. The community of around 5,000 people is owned by one person who rents the swamp to poor people who build wobbly structures on it. This one person is now likely to sell his swamp in 2-3 years to developers to build condominiums for richer people to live next to the new Skytrain station. Residents will then be thrust out to other swamps/communities they can find to build makeshift dwellings. Many have lived here for over 30 years, so the breakdown in community that will occur is horrendous. BUT .....

God is in control and I believe this is a unique OPPORTUNITY to disciple new believers before they are ultimately thrust out to new locations. Could this be a strategy to reach the unreached communities in our city?, bearing in mind we have only impacted 3-4 of the 30 slum communities at this stage. Please pray for God to open hearts and bring down strongholds of hopelessness in this community and grow this opportunity to disciple people BEFORE they are thrust out in order to reach all communities. Will you take up this challenge with us and pray?

It only takes one Sovereign touch

I felt compelled to write this blog while recovering from Dengue Fever - a debilitating fever that requires rest for as long as it takes to recover. I'm only up to one week's rest so far, only God knows how long He wants me to rest. I never get bitten by mosquitoes, while Jen always gets lots of bites. But the one Sovereign bite I got must have been by a Dengue mosquito.

This reminds me of the Sovereign touch from the Spirit of God ... it only takes one powerful touch and then someone is infected by the Almighty Living God. We have seen that one powerful Sovereign touch in lives already. Have a look at the photo below and then I'll talk you through only a few stories of the touch from God ....

This was taken last week as we led some members of our small community church in Klong Da Nu slum community through a game putting together events from the Bible into chronological order. The 2 guys on the right (squatting) are Bom and Lung Bratheung (Bom's father). Lung Bratheung was touched from God around 13 months ago and is developing as a leader in this new church plant. His son Bom and some of his household have since been touched from God and also are now believers. The guy on the left in the white singlet is Lung Tui. Every week for almost 2 years I visited Lung Tui's little shack to collect his grandson who he cares for and bring him to the kids activities we were holding in a different part of the community only 2 minutes walk away. Lung Tui was always happy for his grandson to go with us because he liked us. Lung Tui was also touched by the Sovereign hand of God and has since decided to follow Jesus. Lung Tui has a hunger to 'eat God's Word'. Every week he has questions and is desiring to learn ... he loved this game because he wants to know how everything in the Bible fits together.

I was pondering on this during one of my many rests in bed this week. Let me introduce to another who had one Sovereign touch from God. He is in the picture below.

This is Pedro - a young Thai man who has been discipled by Noom (our son-in-law) and our daughter Karis as he lives with them in Ubon Ratchathani. Pedro is pictured here leading worship for us in the same slum community last week. God has sovereignly provided Pedro for us and brought him to live with Jen & I for the next 3 months to help us in the ministry. All this at a time when I need to rest and recover from my sickness. To have someone on our team who obviously knows the language and culture (especially at this time when God sovereignly knew I would not be able to do much) is an amazing Sovereign touch from God!

Please pray with us for more Sovereign touches from God.

Escaping the poverty trap

Over the last two years we have been praying about helping those living in poverty to begin a new occupation that will provide sustainable income. We've been asking God to lead us to the right people who He has prepared and have been waiting for His guidance.

At the same time, over the last two years, Khun Jaa has had a dream to help her community by learning a new trade. She hopes this will provide a sustainable income to support her family and enable her to give more money to help her community church. Many of you have visited or read about or financially helped this slum community church led by a blind pastor, Ajarn Charlie. Besides supporting her family and church, Khun Jaa also has a burden to teach others in her community so they too can have an income to support their families.

On a recent visit to Ajarn Charlie's church we were chatting with Khun Jaa on the way out. She happened to mention her dream to us and asked that we would pray for her, that God would provide the money needed to make her dream a reality. As we listened more to Khun Jaa's desire to help her community and church, and as we talked to God about her we were excited to realise that God had brought us together. God had placed us there in order to play a small part in bringing about His plan for Khun Jaa and her community.

This is a photo of Khun Jaa with the items she was able to buy with the funds provided by our Foundation and some of the flowers she has learnt to make to sell at the market. There are already many others who are keen to learn when Khun Jaa opens a class at the church and passes on to others what she has learnt.

May God use this enterprise to help many escape the trap of poverty, to help grow this small church and to bring glory to His Name.

House Hunting - A Cultural Lesson in this Oral Society

Who needs a real estate agent when you have friends, old nieghbours, acquaintances, and even strangers to show you around? We've been blown away by the kindness and generosity of the Thais around us as they've helped us in our search for a home to live in for this next stage of our journey. All we have to do is mention that we're looking for a house to rent and they're already offering to help us, whether it's our closest friend walking around the streets with us, an old neighbour taking me on the back of her motorbike, the father of one of the boys in the slum where we taught English riding around on his motobike with us sitting in his little Thai-style side-car, or the assistant pastor at our Thai church taking us around his old car.

Everything happens by 'word of mouth' so they'll take us to where they've heard of something available, and ask people on the street, who then will often join the search with us and take us on to another location. In one slum community a man with a bottle of whiskey in his pocket heard of our search and led us down a path to a house he knew of. In another, a street vendor drew a map for us and called ahead to his fellow coffee vendor to take us to see a landlord he knew of. In our old neighbourhood the mother of one of our previous English students who would have loved to have us rent her place that wouldn't be ready for another two months, instead took us to another neighbour who has a townhouse for rent. This one we are hoping will be the end of our search, funnily enough in the same street as last time.

We had been praying about living in one of the slum communities alongside the people we are working with and knew of several homes there that would be suitable for us to live in, but as none are available to rent at this time, it seems that God has other plans, perhaps because our vision is to reach into many communities not just one. We only pray that we'll still be able to share not only the Gospel, but our very lives with the poor in the communities around us. (1 Thess 2:8) Even though they may be poor materially, they are certainly very generous in giving of their time and the resources they do have. We have much to learn from them.

Thailand Ministry Images

Check out our new video "Thailand Ministry Images". Some of you may have seen this video already as we have used it to present to groups over the last month. The video was made by a friend who visited us for a week in April 2010, so contains some excellent live images of bits of our work there. Why not have a look and leave feedback or a comment :-)



We continue to be on furlough in Australia and it is our plan to return to the work in Thailand with the urban poor in January 2011.

Our first 3 years in Thailand

We are enjoying our Home Assignment in Australia, experiencing an Aussie winter again after 3 years of intensely hot weather in Thailand. I have compiled a very amateur video of our first 3 years in slum ministry in Thailand. Please have a look, feel free to drop a comment and enjoy :-)

Also, use this to stimulate you to partner with us in prayer. The needs are great, only God can adequately meet all the needs through His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus (Phil.4:19). What a privilege it is to serve the Living God - made possible only through His sovereign Grace :-)

STOP PRESS - we will shortly have 2 more videos put up made more professionally by a friend with videoing skills .... watch this space.

1,033 days on ..... expectations exceeded

That's the length of time we have been in Thailand ... wow, what a journey it has been!! We look forward now to catching up with friends and family in Australia for the next 7 months.

We have seen God exceed our human expectations, but at the same time are not surprised because God can do immeasurably MORE than all we ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20,21). We have been "riding on God's Back" as He does His work in Samut Prakan - we have simply been His willing (and some days not so willing) servants. Sure, the heat and humidity and general daily discomfort of living conditions get to you, but in the end it is worth it seeing the Hand of God in people's lives and His transforming power to behold. Only last Sunday, after preaching on Mark 13 at church God gave me the blessing of praying with a friend from our local slum community as he received Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.

Blessing of praying with Brateung as he receives Jesus

What then are expectations of our time back in Australia?

Firstly, to have quality time with friends and family. We will not push ourselves onto you but will serve those who are willing to have the time. This we hope will include lots of laughter, but may also include some tears (depending on what you - our friends - and we have been through over these last 3 years).

Secondly, we would like to share our burden for cross-cultural mission in Asia and want to (with passion) share with those who will listen how you can be involved in a great movement of God's Spirit across Asia. We want to celebrate God's Goodness together with you.

Thirdly, we will need to take some rest time in our own culture for a change. So, we do expect to get to the surf and also to the mountains and Aussie bush at some stage. Also, getting to see the Rabbitohs will be high on the list - wouldn't it be great if they made the grand final this year?

In the meantime, please continue to pray with passion for our friends here that God would continue to transform lives in the slum communities of Thailand. Below is a picture of our last cell church meeting last week. We praise God that after 2 years of meeting every week with only one of these people in our local slum community that God has added to the number for His Honour and Glory. What a Great God have we!!

Riding on God's back

Whenever I go to either of our 2 slum communities I am greeted by several smiling little Thai faces calling out "kru fil ma laew ... khii lang, khii lang". Basically, what they are saying is "teacher Phil is here, can we ride on your back". Generally, these kids have no fathers, they live with their grandmothers or another relative and yearn for male attention and rough play. The only attention they normally get from adults is an aggressive hit over the head. So I respond to their plea by giving them a ride on my back. I pay for it the next day - most of the time with a sore and stiff back. I've come a long way from someone who (at times) couldn't walk because of my injured back, as a teenager I was told I needed an operation with at least 1 year's convalescence.

Check out the video below of a happy little 8 year old (called Jet) taken a year ago riding on my back. If the video doesn't load you can view it on my Youtube channel.

As we conclude our first term of service in Thailand it occurs to me that this is what we have been doing - we have been riding on our Father God's back. It is only Him who has kept us faithful during opposition. During this time He has established a ministry here in the urban slum communities. He has planted 2 cell churches to be a strong and faithful witness in these 2 communities. We have also seen people make commitments to follow Him as their Lord and Saviour. Let's not be under any illusion here - it was God alone who was preparing to do a work in Samut Prakan 3 years ago. We've just come here and have ridden on His back. Zechariah 4:6 confirms this when it says " .... not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty".

The video below shows a prayer time at the end of our cell church meeting in one of these slums. In this particular slum we started a small cell group (when we started a kids ministry) around 2 years ago with the only believer in this community. It is a huge blessing to see what God is doing as He "adds to the number those who are being saved" (Acts 2:47) and has raised up solid Thai leadership ..... no need for me to teach here anymore and we can feel thankful and 'blessed out of our boots' as we go on Home Assignment next month. Watch and enjoy what God has done :-)

Yes, riding on God's Back is the best thing we can do. What are you going to do in your life? I plead with you to choose to ride on God's Back - it is worth it, you get to see things from a HIGHER perspective, you get protected by the strongest back in the universe, you get to have fun !! However, it is a bumpy ride sometimes but I can testify it is worth it and I wouldn't exchange riding on His Back for anything else in this world !!! :-)

Cell church in the slum

Just wanted to give you a 'small peek' into the cell group we run in Klong Da Nu slum community. Every Thursday we meet with 3 believers and are often joined by neighbours or other interested people who want to see what it is like to worship the Living God. Klong Da Nu is a community of around 700 people.

This video was taken last Thursday. If you have problems viewing the video here, you can also view it on my YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/malonephil
along with other videos there.

This is very early stages of church planting in an urban slum community. After 18 months of working in this community we feel a part of it. God has used this time to build credibility for His Name amongst a people who are hurting from a range of issues in their lives and background. God has given many opportunities from these many friendships to share about the Good News. It is long and hard work, but a privilege to testify to the faithfulness of God in our our own lives.

Faces of Klong Da Nu Community

Please pray for us as we continue to work in this community on days when the temperature reaches 40 degrees with high humidity. You may notice in the video a wet towel around my neck (this is a necessity at this time of the year).

We are now in the midst of the lengthy Thai summer break when schools are closed and many return to their rural provinces for time with their wider families. It is also the Thai new year in a couple of weeks. So, from Monday 22 March we will be on holidays for around 4 weeks (which will include a conference with our mission agency in the middle of that time) and include a celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary with all our children. So, we probably won't blog again until late April :-) Happy new Thai year.

Neighbourhood offering to monks

Thailand is a country of festivals ..... never a month goes by and we see a festival of some description. Last month we witnessed a parade of monks coming through our area to give their new year blessing to the neighbourhood. Receiving this blessing from monks is very important to the Thai - from their perspective it will give them good fortune, protection from evil spirits and earn good merit - all part of a journey to earn their own salvation.

A neighbour prays over her offering for the monks

An official precedes the monk procession to collect a monetary offering from the neighbour

The procession of monks comes down the road calling into each house

Another neighbour shows respect while they receive blessing from a monk

All the 'goodies' collected are thrown into a ute accompanying the procession

Please pray with us for release for the Thai from the burden of making merit. We know that Jesus has made perfect merit for us that lasts for eternity and provides a free gift of salvation for all people.

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?

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.