This month in Thailand has blown my mind. Our team ventured off to the NE region of Thailand known as Isaan with 1 name and 1 phone number. Our mission was to meet with, encourage, and explore future partnerships with fellow believers and ministries. Well to save a story for a future blog and to make this one shorter, that one name turned into a network of twelve ministries in the Isaan area that we got to meet with. Three of those specifically target the rural villages and their inhabitants. Most people don’t know this but nearly 22 million people live in this region. That’s roughly 1/3 of Thailand and there are nearly 20,000 villages in this area. Less than 1% of Thailand is Christian and almost all of that statistic lives near Chang Mai or Bangkok. But, what our team has witnessed this month is that God is moving in NE Thailand, and these three men are His hands and feet that are bringing truth to the Isaan people one village at a time.
Bill Hughes and his wife used to work in the city of Khon Kaen for 12 years before they felt called to help the village people of Isaan. These people are farmers by trade and most of them are completely unreached in terms of Christianity. Bill is extremely relational and intentional about his work. His first step is always to build respect with the members of the community. Bill, his wife, and ministry partner Alex, spend six to nine months in a village before they meet a new one, and even then they follow up to encourage new believers. When they go and pray for people God shows up and the people are receptive to what he has to say. Bill told us a lot about the male children feeling the need to honor their mother and build status for the family by becoming a monk and how because of this, the women in the family feel pressure to bring money in and support the family. Even the youngest daughter who is supposed to take care of the parents and look after the house feels pressure to generate an income. With limited education in the area it is no wonder 90% of all prostitutes in Thailand come from the Isan region.
Vincent Lie has been doing village ministry since 2002. Much like Bill, Vincent is extremely sensitive to the culture of the Isaan people and approaches evangelism in a very relational way. Once he disciples a group of believers they start meeting in a home and thus a church is born. Vincent is a man on fire for God, and if you spend two minutes talking to him you will catch the spark of love and vision for the Isaan people.
Peter Martyn, a New Zealander by blood, moved to Thailand and married a woman from the city of Udon Thani. They have been doing village ministry since 2006 and are truly devoted to bringing Christ to the area. When sharing the Gospel, Peter starts at Genesis because in the Buddhist culture there is no creation story. Peter brings the Gospel in raw form without Western traditions and without forcing a planned response. He and his wife love to see how the Isaan people respond to Christ in their own genuine expression of faith. Peter and his wife also focus a lot of time on follow up with new believers and it is really neat to hear about how new Christ followers are becoming Godly leaders in their own communities.
Buddhism has gripped the Isaan people with fear and the whole concept of karma really contradicts the idea of God’s forgiveness and grace. Please join those working with the people of Isaan and pray for the continued tearing down of these strongholds. Pray for the four men I mentioned above, their ministries, and their families, that God would continually give them strength and wisdom. Pray for the sons and daughters of Isaan who feel pressure to become monks and prostitutes. And pray for North East Thailand as a whole because the harvest truly is great but the workers are few.
Mathew 9:37
P.S. Sorry no pictures.
