Note #9230 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06177 March 23, 2006
PC(USA) mission workers investing in Thai believers
Christian leaven beginning to spread through predominantly Buddhist country
by Jerry L. Van Marter
BANGKOK - A new school year is about to start at the Bangkok Institute of Theology (BIT). Students, staff and faculty are gathering to renew acquaintances, worship and pray and prepare the two buildings of the institute's "campus" in a quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of this teeming southeast Asian metropolis.
BIT, now in its 60th year, is a flagship school of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT). It trains clergy and lay leaders for Christian churches throughout the country, where Christians comprise just 1 percent of the population. However, the growth of the church in the predominantly Buddhist country is reflected in BIT's enrollment, which has nearly doubled in recent years to more than 100 students.
"We try to train every level of the people in the church in order to serve ministry in the church and the world," says the Rev. Rung Ruengsan-Ajin, BIT's president. "We see BIT as a means that God ordained to work along with the church, and we hope that by serving and training we can provide better and more effective leadership for the church."
Two catalysts of the burgeoning community are Leith and Carol Fujii, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-workers who have served at BIT since 1998. Although their official titles sound modest - Leith is "instructor in theology and evangelism" and Carol is an "English-as-a-second-language teacher" - their ministry in Bangkok permeates the school and extends far and deep into the city.
What it amounts to, Carol says, is "investing in people."
"When we first came to Thailand," Leith says, "our thought - or especially my thought - was that I would be involved in more a traditional missionary model, where I thought I would be teaching at Bangkok Institute of Theology. But as I became a part of the actual ministry at BIT, I heard very clearly from the faculty of their desire for me to really focus in on teaching English and helping students to be able to use English, especially in being able to read the textbooks."
It was this crying need for English instruction - an effect of globalization, which demands proficiency in English to deal with everything from theological libraries to the Internet - that drew Carol out of traditional Presbyterian missionary-wife "ministry in the home" and into the BIT community...and beyond.
"Because of Leith's involvement (at BIT) and their need for an English teacher there, they were more than happy for me to join him," Carol says. "So he recruited me to teach freshman English there."
Adds Leith: "It's really a delight to be involved in the ministry of BIT as a team with Carol."
"We appreciate that the PC(USA) sent Leith and Carol to work with us," says Ruengsan-Ajin, the president. "The major task that they are doing right now is in the language classes - to be specific, English. Since globalization and also because most of the resources are in English, we need our students to study English so they can get first-hand information. Most of our students, and many Thai, are not very good in English. So we still have to have the students study English for many hours in a semester."
Faculty mentoring of students is a key feature of the BIT education. "At our school, they assign each of the teachers a group of students that we're supposed to advise or to come alongside," Carol explains. "We would like it to be a Christian community that represents a family."
"As I focused on teaching English," says Leith, "I began to realize that my true passion was not really teaching English, but my passion was in being able to help people grow in Christ. The English teaching has really provided a bridge for being able to develop relationships."
"We have some activities such as cell groups ... that Leith and Carol are involved in," Ruengsan-Ajin says, "helping the students understand their faith in ways they can lead their life in terms of Christian teaching."
In time, those relationships have extended beyond the campus to Thai congregations and outreach ministries where the Fujiis now are involved in multi-faceted ministry far, far beyond their "jobs."
Moon Propon Church
Leith speaks of a church called "Moon Propon" - meaning "Corner of Blessings."
Moon Propon is a "mission station" of a congregation in Bangkok and a partner congregation in Singapore. Most of its outreach is to Singaporeans living in Bangkok and Thai workers who have returned from Singapore to Bangkok. Its pastor, the Rev. Ajon Suttoporn, is a former CCT missionary who worked with Thai workers in Singapore before returning to Bangkok.
A BIT graduate named Jane Jiravis is Moon Propon's assistant pastor. She's a combination of TV game-show host and stand-up comedian and has a special gift for teaching and communicating the gospel, Carol says.
"Jane is up-front, and she kind of has a Bible quiz - she gives a passage from scripture and there are blanks, and we in the audience have to figure out where it came from," Carol says. "Because a lot of the people are new Christians, they don't know the Bible that well, and it's just kind of a game to encourage them to know the scriptures."
Leith, an ordained minister, often helps out, preaching and conducting the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Carol helps with small-group ministry and English instruction, both natural extensions of her work at BIT.
"They have these things called ... they're like a cell group or small group, and they meet during the week to encourage each other's faith," she says. "Having some time other than Sunday just to encourage us in our faith, where we can share what we're learning about God, our struggles and praying together is really important, no matter what country you're in, actually."
Says Leith: "(Moon Propon) provides a wonderful opportunity, not only to come alongside our colleagues in ministry, our graduates and students, but also to be in contact with the local church."
"I'm really proud of our students," Carol says, "because they are trained in knowing how to lead worship, knowing how to work with groups. Many of them - not just Jane Jira - have a very good stage presence, and they're really able to lead charismatically and are very entertaining."
The Well Ministry
Named for the story in John 4 about Jesus's encounter at the well with the woman who had had many husbands, the Well Ministry was started by two BIT graduates to reach out to women trapped in Bangkok's notorious sex industry.
"I've had the privilege, through two of our students, Kay and Gong, to have this outreach to women in the bars, in the sex industry," Carol says, "to help them come out of that, to show them the love of Christ, to offer them a new life and to give them a different chance of life that they haven't had."
Every weekday morning, Well Ministry participants engage in Bible study. The rest of the day is devoted to basic education - English and math, primarily - and a greeting-card business that provides job-skill development and income.
"It's fun to be with these gals," Carol says. "Their cards are exported to different churches in the United States or beyond, anyone who wants to support them. And the money goes back into helping these women to make a living, as well as to help them grow in Christ, because there's so much brokenness in their lives that it just takes a long time."
The Well Ministry is just one example of the kind of personal evangelism that the Fujiis believe is essential in Thai culture. "What's neat is that, when one person comes to Christ, then they want to share Jesus with their neighbor or their other girlfriend in the bar," Carol says. "And they have relatives. And so it's through that one that many are affected, and this is what our desire is. The strategy of one-on-one, one-by-one is a really good one."
The football program
Tuwesok became a Christian through his love for football (soccer). A Buddhist by birth, he began meeting Christians when he joined the football program at Sauthorn CCT Church, and it was his coach who led him to Christ.
And Tuwesok's Christianity is infectious.
He is an example of "the students we've identified in our BIT faculty development plan," Leith says, "where we've seen people with certain gifts and sense of calling for ministry that we would like to see trained with a higher degree of education."
Although he was not recruited to play football, Tuwesok attended one of the best universities in Thailand, where he made the football team. His natural leadership ability led to the presidency of a football league and further training as a coach, but his growing faith was leading him to ministry.
"We've been very impressed with how he relates to people, not only his colleagues at BIT, but also to the faculty," Leith says. "Here's a guy who has this educational background and proven leadership ability, but because of limited exposure to English, he's not ready for a graduate program."
BIT is trying to establish a relationship with churches in the United States or other English-speaking countries "where the church might have a vision of inviting a person like Tuwesok to be part of their ministry there with international students."
Such cross-fertilization is a win-win deal on both sides of the Pacific, Leith says: the U.S. churches benefit from stronger international student ministries, "and our church here in Thailand would be able to benefit from developing a network of relationships."
For now, Tuwesok is continuing his studies at BIT and coaching the Sauthorn football program that brought him to Christ. Through football, Leith says, he "has had the opportunity in these small groups to take the boys one step closer to getting to know Christ in a personal way."
That's home-grown evangelism.
You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS listserv of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to
mailto:PCUSANEWS-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org.
To update your email address, send your old email address and your new one to mailto:PCUSANEWS-owner@halak.pcusa.org.
For questions or comments, send an email to mailto:PCUSANEWS-owner@halak.pcusa.org.
To learn more, visit http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville, KY 40202 (888) 728-7228