Sometimes life is messy. My life is messy, your life is messy, and the guy sitting on the couch, in the corner of Starbucks next to me, has a messy life too. We all have junk. All of our junk is different, but is mine worse than yours? What about the prostitute at Darling Bar in Chang Mai, Thailand, is hers worse than mine?
This month, I have the privilege of working with Lighthouse in Action and Zion Café in Chang Mai, Thailand. Since it’s all squad month, we are all together, but we are serving Chang Mai in different ways. My team, along with Team Conquerors, is doing bar ministry this month. Before I get into all of the details, let me give you some vocabulary words that may be unfamiliar.
- Trick/John- A man who purchases women.
- Ladyboy- (Social term) A person who was born male, but has surgery to change his gender.
- Bar Mom- Basically a female pimp. Often times she runs a bar and “takes care” of her girls.
- Human trafficking- The exploitation of vulnerable populations into slavery, often times sex slavery.
- Red Light District – A street that is consumed by bars, prostitutes, foreigners and our ministry location this month.
(Bar Street during the day)
(Bar Street at night)
Bar ministry has many different aspects to it. Everyday, we prayer walk through the red light district for at least an hour. When it’s time to go out, half of our team goes to the bars, and the other half stays back to do intercessory prayer until they get back. We do both day bar ministry and night bar ministry. When we do day bar, we get the opportunity to really spend time with the girls, and chat with them because they don’t have to worry about clients. At night, we have less time with them because the bars are busy, but any opportunity to love on them is precious. Our goal in doing this is to love them. Every night these women sell themselves. For many women, this has been a way of life since they were as young as 12. Through conversations with these women, we have learned that abuse is a very real part of their lives. Many of them have scars, and bruises, and cigarette burns on their arms and legs. They don’t know real love. They don’t know that they are deeply loved and treasured by the King of Kings. These women rarely have encounters with people who actually care about them and care about how they are feeling. Most of their days and nights are spent giving of themselves and getting nothing in return.
The first night I did bar ministry changed me. Earlier that day on our prayer walk, my teammate, Acacia, and I saw a ladyboy sitting in a bar pulling ticks off of two small puppies. Obviously, I was drawn to the puppies so we had to walk over. We started chatting and helping pull the ticks off. After about 15 minutes we said goodbye and continued our walk. Later that evening when we were preparing to go out, we broke up into groups of two. As my teammate and I were walking, we decided to go back to the bar where the ladyboy, “Kris”, was working. She is actually the owner of Shamrock Bar. When we got there we said hi to her and sat at the bar. Another ladyboy, named “Morgan”, came over and started chatting with us. While we were sitting there, “Morgan” was really connecting with Acacia, so I took that opportunity to look around and observe. As I was doing so, I looked across the alley at another bar. There was a man sitting at a table with two young women. He looked like a typical American football coach. He looked like he was around 60 years old, he had grey hair, and he was wearing a white polo and khaki shorts. I also noticed that he had a wedding band on, and his wife was nowhere to be found. As I’m watching these girls flirt and butter up this man, my heart broke. My heart broke for him, and for the two girls. It’s really easy to be mad at these men. It’s really easy to be angry at them for doing what they’re doing. But for just one second, think about their hurting hearts. Think about what could have happened to lead them here. Think about what they’re searching for. Think about how they desire affection and love and they don’t think they deserve it so they have to buy it. Think about that.
(Shamrock Bar during the day)
(Shamrock Bar at night)
Now think about the girls. Think about what their knowledge of love is. Having someone pay for a night with them. Think about the internal torture they must go through that comes with selling yourself. Think about the physical pain that comes from abuse and the emotional pain that comes with it. Just imagine, for one minute, the strong desire they must have to be loved and appreciate and cared for.
This month in Chang Mai, Thailand has taught me so much more than I could have ever imagined. It’s really easy to think that someone else’s junk is messier than your own . It’s really easy to say “I’m a Christian, I don’t belong in a place like this.” In reality, that’s right where we belong. We’re called to love the hurting and the broken. What about Jesus and the Samaritan Woman? She was seen as a sinner. She had had five husbands and currently inlove with a man that she wasn’t married to. But what did Jesus do? He offered her living water that she would never thirst again. What about the lepers? They were outcasts in society. But what did Jesus do? He went to them and healed them because he loves them. We all have junk. Really messy junk. But we serve a Creator who doesn’t care what it looks like, or if it’s messier than the guy sitting next to me at Starbucks. He just wants to take it and make it clean.
