Tag Archive for: Thailand

Continuing education workshop in Thailand

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In late February this year, 14 church leaders from 9 church bodies throughout 8 Asian countries met in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for three days of intensive Bible study in one common language.

The workshop was a collaborative effort between Asia Lutheran Seminary (ALS) and the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. The goal was to encourage church leaders from partner churches served by WELS in Asia to commit to a plan of continuing education by whetting their appetite for more. To that end, PSI Director Prof. Harland (Skip) Goetzinger taught a ten-hour mini-course on Christology, demoing the use of “Dialogue Education,” an educational approach that emphasizes student participation.

While a primary focus of their time together was the review of the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, the participants—almost all of them pastors and/or theological educators themselves—also engaged in topical discussions, Bible studies, uplifting conversations, and devotions led by these same Asian church leaders. Representatives from both ALS and PSI also presented information on formal continuing education programs.

The workshop schedule was full but still left room for outings to see some local sights like elephants, temples, and markets—and even an evening round of mini golf (which almost none of the men had ever played before). These casual outings (and the inevitable laughter while learning to putt in the dark) provided additional opportunities to cultivate cross-cultural relationships among the participants from a wide range of cultures and experiences.

One participant commented afterward, “The study portion was very valuable in that it not only refreshed and reinforced what I have already learned during my seminary study but added new insights and info. The time spent with the brothers was even greater; it gave me a lot of encouragement and inspiration.”

Organizing the workshop and the various visas, flights, and food preferences was challenging, but ALS staff worked hard to make it happen. As the director of ALS’ Regional Theological Education Program, I explained that the hope for that week was not only to cultivate a greater thirst for professional and spiritual growth in the Word but also to further enhance the bonds of fellowship between these confessional Lutheran leaders who have had limited face-to-face time together. We knew we were trying to do a lot, but by God’s grace, we feel like we knocked it out of the park in every area. Good connections were made between the participants, we have at least half a dozen signed up for a new master’s program, and all expressed an eagerness to gather like this again.

This workshop served as an initial trial run for the new English master’s degree programs (M.Div., M.A.R.) offered by Asia Lutheran Seminary. Since its founding in 2005, ALS has developed a strong theological education program aimed at preparing Christian leaders in East Asia. Now, however, the seminary is expanding to serve students from countries across the continent with courses taught in English, a common second language for many. God willing, this program and all the training provided through ALS will strengthen the church across East Asia and its leaders for generations to come.

Written by Guy Marquardt, world missionary on the Asia-Oceania Team.




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Faces of Faith – Joe

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Killing a pig is one reason for feasting in Village 9. It is even more an opportunity to share the gospel. Pastor Joe, one of our local Lutheran pastors in Thailand, recently did exactly that.
When he decided to slaughter his pig, he obviously had to invite everyone in the village to share in the feast. In fact, not sharing the feast would have cut him off from his community.

Much of the community is not Christian. Many of them have no interest in coming to church. Many of them are not interested in hearing the gospel. Yet Pastor Joe used this feast as an opportunity to show hospitality, Christ’s love, and the light of the gospel to the community around him. He used it to not only show how God has blessed him with a pig to slaughter, but a Savior who was slaughtered for their sins. He used it not only to let them feast on the pig, but to feast on God’s Word. He used it as an opportunity for his community to hear about the greater community connected to our loving God. Please continue to pray for our pastors in Thailand as they continue to leverage community events to share the gospel with their neighbors!

From Mark Zondag, Asia One Team missionary

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Isolation and gathering together

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If there were 100 Thai people in a room, how many would be a Christian?

One.

Let that sink in for a minute.

How would it feel to be the only Christian in a room with 99 unbelievers?

Let’s change the question.

If there were 100 Thai Christians in the room, how many would be Lutheran?

One.

Let that sink in for a minute.

How would it feel to be the only Lutheran in a room with 99 other Christians?

If you answered “isolated,” you would be correct. Often, Lutherans end up feeling especially isolated in their communities. On one hand, they are different from the 99% of unbelievers around them. On the other hand, in the small Christian group, they are different from the 99% of other Christians. They don’t preach in a non-Lutheran worship service. They don’t commune with Christians in other churches. Due to fellowship problems, they will not participate with other Christians in evangelism or church activities. They are isolated.

Yet, they aren’t. Lutheran members gather regularly for church and fellowship. The pastors meet twice a year for conferences. During the conferences, they grow together, encourage each other, update each other, and preach the gospel to each other. They remind each other that they are not alone in their struggles.

Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds his readers to think about each other. He reminds them to stir each other up to love and do good works. Meetings face to face give Christians the time and place to spur each other on as well as encourage each other.

The leaders in Thailand take these reminders to heart. They encourage each other. They encourage each other with God’s promises: God no longer remembers their sins (Hebrews 10:17-18), God’s Word is powerful and active (4:12), and God is with them (13:5). They especially remind each other that God is with them in their lives and ministry, always (Matthew 28:20) even if they feel isolated. God is with them, even when they are the only Lutheran in a room with 100 other people.

Please keep the Lutherans in Thailand in your prayers, especially their leaders. Pray that they continue to encourage each other with God’s promises. Pray that they continue to stir each other into acts of love. Pray that they continue to gather—and all the more as they see the day of Jesus’s return approaching.

Written by WELS World Missionary to Thailand..

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All over the map

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Ministry in Thailand is…all over the map.

In January, I became the Asia One Team champion for the ministry in Thailand.  Part of my role is to catch up on the history of ministry in Thailand.  One way to describe Thailand’s past ministry: three-tracked.

In the past 30 years, the WELS helped start three different ministries with three different focuses in Thailand.  One ministry focused on ethnic Thai people, another on Hmong people, another on various people groups around Northeastern Thailand.  As they focused on different people, they focused on different regions in Thailand.  Hence, the ministries were all over the map, literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately in those 30 years, some ministries fell off the map.  Support changed.  Circumstances changed.  Ministries changed.  Thailand also suffered from this change when some ministry fell off the map.  The devil worked hard to push the entire ministry in Thailand off the map.  But, God is good and he kept ministry on the map.  He kept it on the map through the dedication of many leaders, both local and missionary.  Therefore, ministry in Thailand continues today.

But ministry is not just about the past, but also the future!  In the past year, the leaders in Thailand officially decided to pool their knowledge and start working together.  All three-ministry tracks have connected and joined.  The three strands have woven together.  After two conferences of discussion, they started mapping out a plan for ministry going forward in Thailand.  Their main purpose: to strengthen each other in faith, build unity, and spread the gospel.  Their name (translated into English): the Lutheran Christian Confederation.

The Confederation asked the Asia One Team to help support their ministry.  So, the Asia One Team continues to find ways to support.  The Asia One Team supports conferences to encourage and build each other up in God’s Word.  It supports the growth of the local leaders in God’s Word.  It connects local ministry to other resources, such as Multi-Language Productions and Christian Aid and Relief.  Lord willing, the Asia One Team will help the Lutheran Christian Confederation build up local leaders to then add new leaders.

As the various groups in the Confederation use the same ministry road map, Lord willing, he will put more ministries all over the map.  As this happens, the more his Word can lighten the dark places off our map.  After all, that’s what a map is for, to see where we have been and to see where we can be going.  A map helps us see where the light is and where it needs to go.

May the Lord guide the ministry of the Lutheran Christian Confederation and the Asia One Team as they spread God’s Word all over the map.

Written by Missionary Mark Zondag, Asia One Team champion in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

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What goes around, comes around

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As a WELS pastor, I have been blessed with three overseas calls. In between stateside parishes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, I served in Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Indonesia again. The first two deployments included moves with our children. On those occasions, I vividly remember my wife, Connie, and I informing our parents that we were taking their grandchildren and moving around the world.

As “Third Culture Kids,” our three daughters have carried their overseas experiences as children into adulthood. The international travel and lifestyle bug especially bit our youngest, Grace. During her college years, she volunteered with Kingdom Workers, which landed her in Brazil and Mexico. Later, as a young wife, she and her husband, Jeremy Seeger, spent time with Friends Network in East Asia. While there, they also visited Connie and me in Indonesia. Their return to the U.S. was via Bulgaria, where they connected with friends from Grace’s childhood.

Fast-forward to early 2023, when Facebook Messenger chimed on my wife’s iPad. It was Grace and Jeremy. They informed us that Jeremy, a WELS teacher, had accepted a call to serve as a Tech Missionary on the Asia One Team. They soon will be moving with their daughters to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Although retired from the full-time ministry, I am still serving in a part-time capacity as the WELS friendly counselor to Indonesia. This means that my son-in-law and I will be serving on the Asia One Team at the same time! As the sun sets on my time with WELS World Missions, Connie and I feel truly blessed to see it rising on Jeremy, Grace, and their daughters as they prepare to join the Asia One Team in Thailand. Like all our WELS workers at home and abroad, they have answered the Lord’s call to serve by humbly saying, “Here am I. Send me!”

The Bey family in Indonesia in 1992

As we begin retreating into full retirement, we will be joining the ranks of those who also serve as they sit and wait prayerfully for the furlough visits of their children and grandchildren. As we do so, any number of clichés come to mind: “The shoe is on the other foot!” “Like mother, like daughter!” “It takes one to know one!” Or perhaps the most fitting, “What goes around, comes around!” Just as we took our children around the world so that we could live and serve in places initially foreign to us, our son-in-law and daughter will be taking their children around the world to Asia. Now, we are experiencing emotions that our parents must have felt so many years ago when we announced that we were taking their grandchildren around the world to live in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

Together with so many other Christian parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, friends and loved ones, we give thanks to our gracious God and Savior for raising up a new generation of called workers who are willing to go wherever the good Lord calls them. We place them solely into his loving hands and under his watchful eye as we pray for their safety and health, and for their spiritual well-being.

To Jeremy, Grace, and their daughters, and to all our families in fields across the globe, allow me to say, “Thank you for your service, for your ministry!” As you travel around the world to do the work to which the Spirit has called you, we pray that these benedictory words of Solomon might always fill your hearts and minds: “May the Lord our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers” (1 Kings 8:57). You will be in our thoughts and prayers continually. But of far greater importance is the fact that you will always be held securely in the arms of Jesus. Soli Deo Gloria!

Written by Rev. Gregory Bey, WELS friendly counselor to Indonesia 

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