Rajaphat University

The South African short-term team has come and gone. The photo above is at the Rajaphat university in Lampang where we ran some English classes for these accounting students and also for highschool English teachers from surrounding provinces. It was a very enjoyable team to have and we were able to do some new things which we haven’t done before. I took 4 of the young men to the sports field near our house and we played 5 a side soccer (football for the purists) with another team which happened to be there. Also I was able to join some people playing boules.

In less than a month the an OCF short term team from Australia will be coming for 2 weeks and preparations for that team have begun.

School for the Blind, Lampang

We currently have a short-term team from South Africa helping us and last week they visited The School for the Blind in Lampang which is close to where we live. They helped teach English by singing songs, telling stories and playing games. Today, the team went to the Rajaphat University in Lampang to teach accounting students English. We are back there tomorrow morning with the team.

Loy Kratong

 Loy Kratong Festival in Lampang

Kratong

Last Sunday was the Loy Kratong Festival in Thailand. “Loy” means to float and “Krathong” is a small floating wreath or basket. According to Wikipeadia, “The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters. Today it is simply a time to have fun...”

The Thailand.com website states, “The Loy Kratong ritual is a simple one. One needs only to light the candles and the joss sticks, make one's wishes and let it float away with the current of a river or a canal.

On that day, thousands of people will gather beside the canals and rivers. With kratong in hands, they light the candle, put some coins in the kratong and silently make a wish, and carefully place their kratongs in the water and release them to the current.

They watch intently as the float drifts silently downstream, hoping that the candle will not go out. Its flame is said to signify longevity, fulfillment of wishes and release from sins. Altogether it is considered a romantic night for couples or lovers. Couples who make a wish together on Loy Kratong are thought to stay together in the future.”

The origins Loy Kratong are disputed and no one really knows the true origins. Thailand.com states that, “Whatever the true origin ... Today, Loy Kratong offers a unique occasion to celebrate. It's a good time for people to make wishes and look to the future as they float their floral offerings along the waterways.”

Thai Christians in general have avoided participating in Loy Kratong because of it’s origins and association with the spirits and Buddhism. This alienates Thai Christians from other Thais and relating with non-Christians.

However, is there a way for Thai Christians to be able to participate in this festival so as not to alienate themselves from their friends, yet not be syncretistic? Could Christians infuse new meaning in this festival. Could the candle represent Jesus being the light. Could Thai Christians praise God that their sins are assured of being forgiven through Jesus while they release their Kratongs?

Undoubtedly, Thai Christians and missionaries will have vastly different views on this issue.

Tomato Sauce on Garlic Bread

After our son passed his Taekwondo grading and gained his yellow belt, we went of with some of his friends at Taekwondo and their parents for ice cream and then dinner to celebrate. We had a great time and it was eye opening culturally. I thought only western children went wild at restaurants (generally Thai children are well mannered when with their parents at a restaurant) but our son and his friends proved otherwise. I’m surprised they didn’t break anything, though the waitress was very quick in removing the glasses and replacing them with plastic ones.

Also, I was very surprised when one of the parents put a large blob of tomato sauce and lots of spices on his garlic bread. I’m looking forward to my next dinner with my son’s friends families.

Birthday Girl

Our little girl turned 2 today. Happy birthday!

Does my motorbike have "bad luck"?

Last month I lent a fellow missionary my motorbike to use while we were going to be away. Unfortunately, she was just learning and lost control and accelerated into a busy street and was hit by a car. Praise God that she wasn't injured seriously.

When I returned from holidays a Thai friend told me that I should sell my motorbike because it was “bad luck”. 5 people have already had a crash on this motorbike since I bought it less than 3 years ago. I should really sell it and buy a new bike to escape this motorbike with bad luck.

Another missionary was able to buy a virtually brand new car very cheaply as the owner had hit a Chinese person on a bicycle (which was bad luck).

From a western perspective, we would argue that there have been so many accidents because all the people who had crashes were new or relatively inexperienced riders. So that is why people had accidents. But for many Thais, in their worldview, you cannot ignore the “bad luck” of the bike.

Rare honesty from a church planter

I’ve been reading the book “Church planting is for wimps” by Mike McKinley and in one chapter he bemoans the fact that most church planters are not honest about how things are REALLY going in their church plant. Most church planters overemphasize whatever good is happening and hardly mention the difficulties. Mike’s book was a refreshing change as he honestly recounts the damaging effects that church planting had on his marriage (and thus warns others not to make the same mistake.)

The following is an extract from a prayer letter from one of my missionary colleagues and I’m grateful for his honesty as I can truly relate to his sentiments.

“Dear Friends & Family,

“How is church planting going?” I donʼt particularly enjoy answering this question but I wish I did. With only about 3 months to go until our home assignment in the U.S., it is time to look back at our first full missionary term in Thailand and ask, “What has been accomplished? What do we have to show for ourselves as we head back home and meet with supporters?”


I wish I could tell you that new churches (or at least one new church) has been planted. Or maybe that a small group Bible study of some sort has started that we hope will grow into a church. Or at the very least, weʼd like to report about some promising new believers who have come to faith while weʼve been here. We know that in Thailand people are coming to faith, new small groups are starting, and churches are being planted. The statistics that came out for 2009 said that the number of Christians in Thailand is growing seven times faster than the biological growth rate of the country. That is great news. I just wish that we were seeing some of it in our neck of the woods.


Weʼve tried a lot of different things but nothing seems to have taken off.... [he goes on to list all the things he has tried]


With all the failures, one might be tempted to throw in the towel and go home. But the funny thing is, leaving the mission field has never crossed our mind. “And why not?” you may ask. Because the ultimate success of church planting in Thailand does not depend upon our efforts but the promise of God. Christ said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18). If Christ has said it will succeed, who are we to say it wonʼt?”

Fishing in Thailand

I'm currently on holidays in South Thailand at a guesthouse owned by our mission.  It is right by the beach and kid friendly with all meals and laundry included in the service, so it is much more convenient and relaxing than staying in a hotel.  On Sundays they have a church service at the guesthouse as all the guests are either missionaries for Christian workers.  The highlight so far as been hiring a local fishing boat and going fishing with one of my collegues and his father in law.  Caught a nice bream and lost another one big one.  Definately will be doing this again sometime.

Deep Church

There are so many books on church planting and church how do you decide what you should read and what you shouldn't?  On the front cover of the book "Deep Church" by Jim Belcher, it had Tim Keller's endorsement "This is an important book", and that was enough for me.

And being 3 quarters of the way through it, I agree that it is an important book.  It suggests a "third way", that doesn't have to be "traditional church" or "emerging church" but a "third way" with a mixture of both.  In my opinion though, Belcher in his "third way" leans much more towards a traditional model in the end and I wonder in reality what he offers is that much more different than a traditional church.

What I like about this look is that Belcher is very balanced in his assessment of traditional church and the emerging church.  Something which generally I find is handled very poorly.  Most of the time, writers say they are trying to write a balanced view and in love but in the end they fail on both counts.  They end up just taking snip shots at the other camp to justify their own positions.

Evidence of this balanced view is that on the back cover you have endorsements from people like Mark Driscoll (Traditional camp) and Rob Bell (Emergent camp).

Belcher's background is interesting.  He knows and dialogued with the some of the main emergent figures as they were just "emerging" but ended but being a Presbyterian minister and started his own church in this "third way" model.  But he was once part of ministry team of 17 at a 5,000 member congregation, then he became disgruntled and started a small organic church in his home.  He's really read up on all the traditional and emergent conversation, actually visited some the churches of the emergent leaders and talked to them.  Then he went out and tried to start a new church with the ideals of his "third way".  Once his church grew he faced the problem of some of his key original church planters being unhappy about the structure and vision of the church as it grew and the Presbyterian denomination had to step in to help resolve the conflict.  This is real experience and not just someone writing from theory.

So this is an important book to read especially in the traditional vs emerging church debate and one I'll need to go over again.

Home Schooling

One of the difficulties missionaries face is the education of their children so that when they eventually return to their home countries, their children can fit back into their home country’s schooling system. In Thailand missionaries have many different options depending on their location. In Bangkok or Chiang Mai there are excellent (but expensive) International School with either a British or American curriculum. Little supplementing would be needed for Australians such as ourselves.  There is a small international school in Lampang with a British program but after starting with this option for our boys we decided that it wasn’t the best for them as they were not learning enough time. After much soul searching and research (mostly by my diligent wife) we decided on our children going to Thai school supplemented by home schooling. 

So my wife goes into our oldest son’s school 3 afternoons a week for an hour to supplement my son’s education following the Sonlight curriculum (American). We hope it will be adequate but we won’t really know until we go back to Australia in 3 years time. One of the great things about OMF is that twice a year they organise Home Schooling Week where homeschooling families get together and have a week of homeschooling with the help of teachers from overseas. So we are off tomorrow to Bangkok for our first home schooling week.

Home Schooling Fun - Volcano Experiment