PCT sees recent changes in Thailand and Myanmar as golden mission opportunities

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3116 Edition

November 14-20, 2011

Headline News

PCT sees recent changes in Thailand and Myanmar as golden mission opportunities

Reported by Sam Lee, Chen Yi-hsuan

Written by Lydia Ma

PCT General Assembly sent a team of ministers to Thailand and Myanmar in early 
November 2011 to survey the extent of damages in these countries wrought by 
massive flooding and meet local church officials to see how they could help. 
Besides dealing with the latest flooding, both Thailand and Myanmar recently 
had elections and a change of government.

Thailand was plagued with unrest in the past few years with conflicts between 
the “red shirts” and the “yellow shirts”, which culminated in a presidential 
election in July and the election of the first woman Prime Minister in 
Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra. However, the legislature remains highly 
polarized and Shinawatra’s challenges in leading the nation have only begun.

In neighboring Myanmar, an election was held on November 7, 2011, and Thein 
Sein, a moderate and a retired general, became the new President. Shortly after 
his election, he freed National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu 
Kyi.

PCT and Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) have been partners in mission 
ministries for quite some time. PCT established a Taiwanese Presbyterian Church 
in Bangkok and sent a missionary there to minister to Taiwanese people living 
in the area. That church is now part of CCT’s 6th District and is pastored by 
Rev. Lin Jen-shan. The plot of land where the church stands was given by the 
CCT free of charge in hopes that the new church might become a place of 
fellowship between PCT and CCT, as well as a place where more joint mission 
projects might emerge.

As for CCT ministries in Taiwan , CCT missionary in Taiwan, Thuanthong 
Sodthaisong, serves in PCT North Synod’s Labor Outreach Center, and CCT youths 
have been coming to PCT’s Ecumenical Youth Exchange Program for many years.

As for mission projects in Myanmar, both the PCT and the Presbyterian Church in 
Myanmar (PCM) are members of Church World Mission (CWM) and have used CWM as a 
means to partner with each other in ministries. The Myanmar government 
continues to restrict church groups and foreign missionaries from entering the 
country, making joint projects between churches difficult..

PCM Youth Ministry delegate Lal Run Suak spoke at a recent youth leaders’ 
summit hosted by CWM and said Myanmar churches desperately need resources from 
other churches on child and youth evangelism because PCM has little resources 
of its own and the Myanmar government has been monitoring every move religious 
groups make, resulting in further setbacks in evangelistic ministries.

Nevertheless, CWM has decided to hold a “I Love Myanmar Gospel Camp” on October 
2012 wherein churches from across East Asia will send one youth delegate and 
one ministry staff to Myanmar to train youths in Myanmar on missions as well as 
share other helpful resources with local churches there.

Referring to evangelistic ministries in Myanmar, Taiwan Church Press President 
Joseph Chen recalled his first ever visit to Burma this past August with Taiwan 
Evangelism Explosion III (TEE). Chen was invited to conduct a seminar on behalf 
of TEE at a local Chinese church in Burma. When he reached Burma’ third largest 
city, he was taken aback by the muddy roads the team had to cross due to recent 
floods.

After struggling to adjust to local foods, he said he could now better 
understand the challenges missionaries faced when they came to Taiwan to preach 
the gospel at the turn of the 20th century. He underscored that Taiwan had 
received a lot of help from developed countries in the past and now that it 
could stand on its own, it was Taiwanese Christians’ turn to care for 
marginalized Christian communities in other countries.

 

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