Partner with Southeast Asian churches to equip the next generation of church planters. In Thailand, there is a growing zeal and passion for church planting and missions, but there is a lack of training and opportunity to serve. You can equip the next generation of Thai church planters by partnering with the IMB Northern Thailand Team to provide comprehensive church planting and missions training for passionate disciples of Christ. Your gift will provide scholarships to church planting interns, enabling them to go train with experienced church planters and work side-by-side with them to start and grow new church plants.
This project is multifaceted. First, passionate disciples will be trained to grow in their walk with Christ and learn how to make disciples. Second, all trainees will be invited to join an eight-week to two-year church-planting internship. The interns will serve alongside IMB teams in Southeast Asia. Your partnership is vital to offer training and support for an entire generation of young, passionate Christ-followers who seek to fulfill the Great Commission in Thailand and beyond. Give now to ignite and fan the flames for missions among these church planting interns in Thailand!
“Twenty years ago, I was living on a mountain with my four siblings far from the city, where most people, including my father, were addicted to drugs. My mother often went without food, so her five children could eat. When I was six, my father sent my sister and me to board at a school about 60 miles away.
“During the 18-hour walk home at the end of each semester, I struggled with questions of fairness. Why don’t we have a house or car or money life others? Why do some people have power while others do not? As I got older, these questions led to others about the meaning of life, and I began to think about life after death.
“While my parents practiced animism and later Catholicism, I was introduced to Jesus in the Christian dormitory where I lived. I was baptized but struggled to follow the Bible because I did not understand what it truly meant to follow Jesus. One day, after experiencing a great injustice, I told God I no longer wanted to live. Despite my despair, Jesus responded with images of my family members: ‘Are you sure you want to leave this world? Look at these people; they haven’t received salvation yet.’ I felt a deep sense of selfishness, realizing my family did not know Jesus.
“I realized that I had encountered God. I began sharing Christ with my parents and oldest sister. Eventually, I had the opportunity to share Jesus with my younger brother, who became a believer. I want others to experience God the same way I did, so they find salvation and hope.”
We count on your partnership in prayer:
“’Love’ is our word for today,” Deer said cheerfully. “Can you say ‘love’?” The class responded in unison, struggling to articulate the final consonant. Deer and Panee explained the meaning of “love” to the class in Thai. They spoke of love among friends, between husband and wife, and from the Heavenly Father. The students in their English class were excited to learn new vocabulary, but they had never heard of a Heavenly Father who loved them.
Because of your generosity, Deer and Panee traveled to an unreached region of Northern Thailand to share Christ’s love with the people there. Deer was completing her last assignment as Church Planting Intern, and Panee was just beginning a new year. Together with two volunteers from the U.S., they taught English in the local school. They also prayer walked throughout the community and shared the gospel with many, many people.
Praise the Lord with us! Two women in the village accepted Jesus as their Savior. Panee will disciple them and train them to share Jesus with others. These new believers are a direct result of your faithful giving and intercession.
Please join us in prayer:
Pray for these two new believers to grow spiritually. Pray they will be bold in sharing the gospel with others in their village.
Meet Your Thailand Church Planting Intern. Deer is a seminary student at the Baptist Seminary, currently serving with our Northern Thailand Team. She is working in a province with a local church to develop their children’s ministry and leading the church to outreach to a nearby county without a church. Because of your gifts, she will serve with our team until May 2024.
Deer’s Testimony. I was not born into a Christian family, and many of my family still do not know Christ. My family life was filled with many family conflicts and lacked any compassion. I grew up amid family troubles and difficulties. My grandparents, who lived with us, do not believe in Christ but worship spirits and became upset when I went to church. My dad was never interested in his family, addicted and drunk most of the time. These family conflicts led me to question whether life was worth living. When I could no longer tolerate my family situation, I became a very rebellious child.
As a young teen, I went to live in a Christian dormitory and began hearing the Bible every morning and evening. I enjoyed learning about God but was afraid to talk to my friends or family and often stayed in my room. Thankfully, the other kids and staff at the dormitory encouraged me and taught me how to pray. I had so much peace as I began to learn more about the Lord and read the Bible.
During school breaks, I went home to help my mother with work. A pastor came to our house in the evening and shared with us. He encouraged us from Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” I cried and felt as if someone was holding me. I saw and experienced the love of Christ because of this pastor’s encouragement, and on that day, I decided to believe in God and be baptized.
My life changed when I became a believer. Because of Jesus Christ, I have become a child of God who always smiles. I have peace and am no longer angry or a bully to others. Soon, I began attending church and became a worship leader, servant, and leader in the dormitory.
More importantly, God transformed my family from one without care or compassion to one full of love. The gospel changed my dad, and he is no longer an addict. He now serves the church as a counselor, advisor, and mentor. These are things that God did in my life. I no longer view my life as worthless, but I see blessings from God throughout my life.
Matthew 9:37-38 is my theme verse: "Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”
Join Us in Prayer:
From the skyscrapers of Hong Kong and vast plains of Mongolia to smoky rainforests hiding winding rivers edged by golden sands, the natural beauty and long history of these Asia-Pacific Rim countries testify to God’s creative hand. This vast region houses four of the most populous global cities, as well as the country with the world's largest nominal population of Muslims.
Spirituality swirls through cities and countryside like the smoke from temple incense sticks. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, animists, Daoists and ancestor worshipers live here, comprising 851 unreached people groups who have never heard that freedom is found in Christ. Pray for divine appointments for Christian workers to share that Jesus is the way to peace with God and eternal life. Ask God to glorify His name among the peoples of the Asian Pacific Rim Peoples affinity.