Chiang Mai Thailand is somewhat of a missional phenomenon. At any given time, this city is a haven called ‘home’ by hundreds (some say thousands) of Christian missionaries. It’s an odd circumstance that is the result of a few key factors including its strategic proximity to the 10/40 window, Thailand’s support of religious freedom, and a relatively low cost of living. The event that really tipped the scales though was the historical absorption of Hong Kong back into China in 1997, causing many Southeast Asian ministries to seek out a new home. In fact, so many missionaries have poured into Chiang Mai that a unique type of ministry has sprung up in recent years.
Missionary-support ministries.
Something that has become starkly real for me during my time on the race is the true daily life of a missionary. While there are certainly challenges unique to a given ministry, some struggles seem to transcend both ministry focus and country. The biggest struggle is an emotional sense of isolation- a lack of Christian community to turn to both for encouragement and spiritual support. Working to combat things like the cultural norms of sex trafficking or standing in solidarity with persecuted refugees day after day, or praying with sick people in local clinics or so many other ministry focuses is a heavy burden to bear day in and day out. Especially when the fruit of your work can take years upon years to see. Processing through new levels of the injustices in the world is a daunting task that necessitates Christian community.
Add to this then the physical sense of isolation and the inevitable culture shock that many foreigners feel. For many missionaries, it’s the first time they’ve experienced being the minority and the awareness of one’s own ‘otherness’ can be overwhelming. There are new foods, new living conditions, new modes of transport, new norms for body language, and new cultural taboos to navigate. These things are incredibly difficult to explain to your supporters and your home church and reality is that no one will fully understand until they experience it for themselves. Dealing with even the smallest of daily life issues can emotionally flip a switch inside you, especially if you can’t adequately feel seen in it.
And finally, there are the hidden struggles of missionary life, the ones you don’t even realize are going to be issues until you bring your kids into the mix. Many missionaries home school their children due to the lack of educational options wherever they’re living, but ask anyone whose walking this road and they’ll tell you that it becomes difficult as the complexity of the material increases – Algebra and Chemistry, anyone? Also, once a family commits to home schooling, then one parent is essentially entering even deeper into isolation. They’re in a foreign country spending their entire day serving solely their family – the inevitable thought of ‘why are we here? this would be so much easier back home…’ will lead them to question their purpose.
While living in Chiang Mai doesn’t eliminate the issues that missionaries face, it does have so many things to offer to alleviate them. A unique missionary community has been cultivated here. Interdenominational churches offer a place of familiar corporate worship and fellowship each sabbath, missionary counseling ministries give space for intentional processing, Christian retreat centers provide rest and respite at affordable prices, and K-12 missionary schools give missionary parents assurance that their children are in great educational hands. When God calls you to Chiang Mai, you can almost breathe a sigh of relief.
As we sought out Unsung Heroes this month, my team got to visit with many missionaries here, including missionaries serving missionaries. One of these people is Tim Dunham, the pastor at Chiang Mai Christian Fellowship, an Acts 29 church plant whose congregation is over 90% foreign missionaries. Over iced coffees at a Christian-owned coffee shop, Zion Cafe, Tim explained to us the unique joys and challenges he faces in shepherding this congregation. He smiles thinking of all the dear friends in Christ he’s had the privilege of doing life with, but the smile fades a little as he tells us about the transient nature of his congregation. Missionaries are usually called to a place for a season, sometimes just a few years and occasionally a few decades. Regardless, people move on and Tim has said many tearful goodbyes in the years since the church began in 2006. Last summer he said goodbye to 35 families who were moving on in order help their newly graduated kids transition to college back in their home countries.
Tim has often struggled with the question of how best to build community among an ever changing congregation. Some things look the same, for example, there’s a kid’s ministry on Sundays and youth group on Wednesday nights. Like many other stateside churches, CCF is missions focused. Their outreach arm, The Family Connection Foundation, includes over 15 projects addressing the needs of Thailand. Yet some things at CCF look entirely different, like membership. Most of his congregation are still members of a church back home, so there’s a gray area of formal accountability and committed fellowship at CCF. They’ve just begun a new thing, a Covenant Community agreement, in order to make a commitment to better see and love each other well.
We were blessed to attend Sunday services and meet some of the awesome missionaries who call CCF and Chiang Mai home. Even for my team who has only been living a missionary life for 7 months now, little things like coffee and snacks before service, worship in English, and Communion were so life-giving. And the welcome we received just walking in the door made us feel so at home. They are deep in an Exodus sermon series, unpacking the story together and rediscovering the faithfulness of our God. It’s something missionaries need to be reminded of daily. God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful. Living in Chiang Mai is a testament to that – God desires to give good gifts to his children, and the community here is one of them.
To my friends and family back home, I would love to share more with you about the wonderful missionaries I’ve met in Chiang Mai. There are so many wonderful people here to support!
