Every Little Helps?

We're no longer surprised to come across Western brands and stores in Thailand. Indeed, it's increasingly common to see Tescos, 7-11, Boots, Pizza Hut and Starbucks shops in Thai towns and cities.  To be really successful, these companies need to adjust their models to fit Thai culture, as epitomised by one particularly famous brand:

Last week, we were in Mae Sai, a Thai town on the Burmese border.  On our way out of town, we called in to the Tescos store.  I was amazed to see that the signs around the store were not only written bilingually (in Thai and English), but also in Burmese!

It struck me just how much effort these corporations put into making people feel welcomed and at home in their shops!  It also challenged me in the light of a conversation I'd had the day before with a church planter working in a Thai community.  He told me that his aim was to encourage a genuinely Thai expression of church - to the extent that a Westerner coming into that church would feel awkward and out-of-place.  Of course, a 'genuinely Thai expression of church' is going to involve more than a smiling plastic figure at the door and translated text around the building.  But wouldn't it be tragic if Thais (or Burmese) are made to feel more at home in Tescos than they are in a church?

Changes ahead...

Today is the final day of the Assembly of the Church of Christ in Thailand - a major event held every two years.  About 850 delegates attended, from churches across Thailand, including the Karen Baptist churches.

The Karen delegates formed a choir in the opening ceremony of the Assembly

The biggest talking point at the Assembly has concerned the huge changes planned for 2015 in the  Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).  On the 1st January 2015, Thailand and the other nine member states of ASEAN will enter into a new and closer union - modelled in part on the EU.  The slogan for the new union is 'One Vision, One Identity, One Community.'

Lofty ideals, perhaps - but there are serious and significant changes coming along with the rhetoric.  From 2015, ASEAN will become a free trade zone, with increased freedom of movement across borders, new transport routes and integration of education and health systems.  A few of the more immediate effects for Thailand will include English becoming ASEAN's official language, to be used in all official and cross-border communication, and Thai school term dates changing to the international (American) pattern.

Information on all ten of the ASEAN countries available at the Assembly

Church leaders have been discussing this week how these changes will affect the church in Thailand - and how we can prepare to meet the new challenges and opportunities ahead.  Along with most Thais, many church leaders are very concerned about the effect of increased competition on Thai businesses, tourism and service industries, as well as the wider economy.  Recent studies show that Thailand lags behind its neighbours in both English language ability and willingness to travel to other ASEAN countries to work or study.

But we have also been excited to see leaders considering the new opportunities which will open up for the Thai churches.  Undoubtedly, from 2015 we will see an influx of people from other ASEAN countries into Thailand - presenting the churches with an opportunity to welcome and help these newcomers, showing them God's love as they find their way in a new country.  And, as one Thai pastor noted yesterday, 'Our mission field is about to increase 10-fold - from 64 million Thais to over 650 million people within ASEAN.'  This could be the moment for the Thai church to develop and nurture a mission vision for previously closed countries - please pray for leaders with the courage and faith to encourage such thinking.

One of the Thai churches' new mission fields?

Bangkok Sights: Monk in a Truck

Complete with a loudspeaker, this monk had taken to the streets of central Bangkok to raise funds for a new temple building.  He was quite a hit with the office workers on their early lunch break!

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