CHECKLIST FOR DETERMINING PROPOSED INVOLVEMENT WITH NEW PEOPLE GROUP= S

Opportunity for Brindabella Baptist Church to be involved in reaching an unreached people group

“If we don’t ‘step in the gap’, God will ju= st use another group of believers who are willing to take a faith step.”=

Paper by Phil Malone

PLT Representative

March 2005<= /span>

<= /o:p>

And thus I a= spired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man's foundation; but as it is written, 'They who had no news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand' <= /o:p>

(Romans 15:20-21)

&nbs= p;

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

(2 Corinthians 2:14-15)

Key Points<= /span>

1. Purpose of this paper

· Submitted for consideration to BBC PLT and Leadership Team as an avenue to put BBC’s core values into action.

· An opportunity to reach out to an unreached people group and be involved in exciting church planting opportunities.

· God may be asking us to step ahead in faith= and be used by Him to break the strongholds of Buddhism (and potentially Islam)= in the world today and bring the good news of Jesus to millions dying everyday without the opportunity we have in Australia of hearing. If we don’t ‘step in t= he gap’, God will just use another group of believers who are willing to take a faith step.

2.&n= bsp; The core of unreached peoples are in the 10/40 Window – dominated by 3 satanic strongholds.

· BBC= has an opportunity to pioneer a new ministry in this strategic area and have an impact in reaching a pocket of the unreached Buddhist block into the 21st century.

3.&n= bsp; Samut Prakan

· 1.1 million people, largely 20-40 years of age

· Par= t of the Central Thai people group (= 28 million) – the Central Thai are one of the largest, yet most accessible, unreached people groups in the wor= ld

·      Str= ategic area in Asia – entry point to Bangkok, North Thailand and the rest of Asia (Pak= nam – key port area)

·      = 216;Melting pot’ of Thaila= nd

4.&n= bsp;     Spiritual landscape of Samut Prakan

·      No foreign missionaries or mission societies

·      0.1% Christian

·      Gro= wing disenchantment with Buddhism

·      Isl= am second largest religious/cultural block and making quick impact<= /span>

·      20 = of the 50 districts are without a church

·      Exi= sting churches are small struggling cell plants (up to 10 people), except Promise Church

·      Pro= mise Church – a unique (visionary) Thai church with which to partner<= /o:p>

5.&n= bsp;     Most effective way to reach the people of Samut Prakan

·      80% ‘heard’ but not understood, 19-20% never heard

·      Rel= ationship building (as for all of Asia)=

·      Eng= lish teaching – dual roles of: relationship building (for church planting); meeting practical and felt needs; and effective way to teach the Bible.

·      Promise <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Church – vision to sta= rt an English Language Centre=

6.&n= bsp;     Where do the Malones fit into this ministry?

·      Sou= ght Holy Spirit’s direction for the last 2 years (for the 2^nd = half of our lives)

·      Hea= rt for pioneering ministries

·      Held English sessions for community during evenings in January – oversubsc= ribed

·      Inf= rastructure/logistics there to establish English Language Centre long term, only thing missing is native English speakers

·      Win= dow for pioneering the English Language Centre from 2007/08 (building works complete and Promise Church pastor back from the USA) &#= 8211; fits our timing well (God has brought our hearts and timing together)<= /o:p>

·      Cur= rently applying to Pioneers Missionary Society

7.&n= bsp;     What will be needed to support this ministry?

·      Tea= m size of 3 family units

·      Team members – love Jesus and passion for reaching the lost, rely on the empowering of the Holy Spirit, love making relationships, very flexible and adapt to another culture, have an interest in teaching English, patience working with people who are slow to learn, skills in mentoring people in th= eir relationship with God, willingness to learn Thai, a visa to live and work in Thailand

·      Sup= port base of around A$40,000 per year for our family unit (preliminary est.)

8.&n= bsp;     What is BBC’s role?

·      A s= tep ahead in faith to be used by God to break strongholds of Buddhism and (potentially) Islam

·      Pra= yer covering

·      Fin= ancial support for church planting (e.g. Abba House cell church A$130-A$140 per mo= nth

·      Fin= ancial support and personnel for English Language Centre (Malones will need to raise sufficient support by mid 2= 007 to go as missionaries with Pioneers= )

·      Sho= rt term mission activity

1. Introduction

One of the core values of Brindabella Baptist Chur= ch (BBC) is a focus on mission and evangelism. This includes seeing our church se= rving and extending God’s Kingdom in other cultures through strategic partnerships and missional activities.&nbs= p; This paper has been written to provide an avenue by which BBC can re= ach out to unreached people groups.

Unreached peoples are still at a high level – about 35 per cent of the current world’s population of 6.31 billion.[1] The core of the unreached people o= f the world live in a rectangular-shaped window, known as the 10/40 Window, also known as the Resistant Belt, extending from West Africa to East Asia from 10 degrees north to = 40 degrees north of the equator. This area contains an astonishing 97 per cent[2] of the least evangelised nations and is dominated by three satanic strongho= lds – Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.

I have undertaken the background research and writ= ten this paper to facilitate a new work in the Central Thailand province of Samut Prakan= . Research was collected through per= sonal contact as a result of my family doing a short term mission trip in January 2005. Field research is supplemented with other information[3].

Samut Prakan is one region within the 10/40 Window that we visited during a mission survey trip in January 2005. BBC has a unique opportunity to support a new ministry in this strategic area a= nd have an impact in reaching a pocket of the unreached Buddhist block into th= e 21^st century.

2. All about= Samut Prakan

Samut Prakan is the second largest province in Thailand with an estimated population of around 1,100,000[4]. This province is part of the broad= er Central Thai people group which has a population of around 28,000,000[5].

Research indicates that the Central Thai people gr= oup remains one of the largest, yet most accessible, unreached people groups in= the world[6]. This people group is consistently defined as either unreached or least reached[7]. Estimates of Christian adherents i= n this group range from 0.1 percent[8] to 0.4 percent[9]. This compares to 10 to 12 percent = in Australia. There is a considerable amount of information on the Central Thai [10]. The Central Thai are the largest ethnolinguistic group in Thailand and are adherents of Theravada Buddhism, which adheres to an individual discovery of the path to Nirvana. Monks and nuns are devoted full-time to this pursuit.

Samut Prakan province is one of Central Thai’= ;s provinces, located at the mouth of the Chao Phra= ya River, 25 kilometres south of Bangkok. The province is also known as Pakn= am (meaning first door or mouth of river) and is considered a strategic entry point to Bangkok, North Thailand and the r= est of Asia.&n= bsp; It is administratively divided into 6 sub-provinces – Muang Samut Prakan, Phra Pradaeng, Bang Bo<= /i>, Phra Samut Chedi, Bang Sao Thong and King Amphoe. Within the sub-provinces are 50 districts.

Samut Prakan is an industrial province without for= eign residents. Its actual populat= ion is thought to be larger than the estimate because a large number are transient, coming south to look for work while remaining registered in the north and n= orth eastern provinces of Thailand. Samut Prakan could be regarded as the ‘melting pot’ of <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Thailand with a mixture of other unreached people groups.&= nbsp; The population is largely in the 20 to 40 years age group employed in numerous industries located around the province on both sides of the Chao Phraya River.

3. The spiri= tual landscape in Samut Prakan

There are no foreign missionaries or missionary societies in Samut Prakan. In January 2005 we stayed at an indigenous church - Promise Baptist - on Sukhumvit Road in Samut Prakan and worked with its pastor (Thanu Wongthanathikul) and the director of Chang Noi[11] ministry (Lee Davis). Lee liv= es in Bangkok.

Promise Baptist was established in 1968 in the sub-province of Muang Samut Prakan= . It has around 200 regular attendees. The church has a v= ision for church planting in Samut Prakan. Two small cell churches have been planted – Abba House in anot= her district of Muang Samut Prakan = and another in Phra Samut Chedi on = the western side of the Chao = Phraya River – with = under 10 attendees at each.

Chang Noi ministry partners with Promise Baptist in outreach ministries through the new cell church at Abba House and English teaching at a local school. P= art of the outreach from Abba House is to the Nardsoontorn slum area where Chang N= oi ministry aims to educate children and to prevent them from perpetuating the slum life of drugs, alcoholism and prostitution. Currently, there is no pastor for = the Abba House cell church. Chang= Noi ministry uses volunteers (such as us in January) to carry out its activities under the direction of Lee Davis who is a retired teacher.

One of the greatest barriers to the Central Thai coming to Christ is Buddhism’s connection with a strong national and racial identity. That is, to = be Thai is to be Buddhist[12]. However, in recent times there has= been growing disenchantment with Buddhism as monks have been discredited through sexual immorality.

Islam has wasted no time in using this disenchantm= ent to make an impact. Islam is t= he second largest religious block in Samut Prakan. Moslems are concentrated in the Bang Bo sub-province. Bang Bo has only one small cell group (5 people) and is the area in Samut Pr= akan with the largest concentration of people who have not heard about Jesus. This cell group is in the southern= end of the sub-province with the bulk of Bang Bo having no Christian presence at all.

There are around 1,000 Christians in Samut Prakan province (0.1 per cent of the population).= While Promise Baptist has a vision to plant a ‘cell churchR= 17; in every district in Samut Prakan by 2010, around 20 districts are without a ‘cell church’ or any Christian presence. While all sub-provinces have a gro= up of Christians, many are small and struggling cell groups rather than complete churches.

Promise Baptist is the principal church in Samut Prakan together with its smaller cell churches at Abba House and Samut Chedi. This church is a bible= -based evangelical church that believes in the infallible Word of God, the one and only true and triune God as creator, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and t= he empowering of the Holy Spirit in our lives today. Their doctrinal background is Sout= hern Baptist. The church has a won= derful and inspiring style of worship in the Thai tradition.

4. The most effective way to reach the people of Samut Prakan

Samut Prakan is a challenging and difficult area.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It is estimated that 80 per cent h= ave ‘heard’ about Jesus but have not understood, while 19-20 per ce= nt have not heard about Jesus[13]. The 80 per cent who have ‘heard’ have largely ‘heard’ through a tract. This has been the main form of evangelism and has mostly been ineffective. Relationship building is likely to= have the greatest impact in reaching the people of Samut Prakan – people w= ho are bound by the chains of Buddhism. Their principal ‘felt need’ is to learn English. With English they can get a good s= table job, which keeps them out of the poverty cycle.

Therefore Promise Baptist would like to establish = an English Language Centre in order to build relationships in the community and plant churches in districts withou= t a Christian presence. Jenny and= I are excited/convicted by the opportunity to pioneer this ministry and see it as= a strategic ministry in which BBC could be involved.

Also, an English Language Centre could be an effec= tive way to teach the Scriptures to Buddhists.&= nbsp; There are several models we have been investigating where the Bible = is used as text to teach English to speakers of other languages.

5. Where doe= s BBC and the Malones fit into this ministry opportunity?

Jenny and I have been seeking God’s direction for our future as we seek opportunities to serve Him in Asia. The short term mission trip we too= k with our children in January 2005 confirmed God’s call to us to serve Him = in South East Asia long term starting with a stint in Thailand. As we have been involved in pionee= ring opportunities all our Christian lives, we were seeking further pioneering opportunities in Asia. While we were staying in Samut Pra= kan we indicated to Promise Baptist that we were available to partner with them to pioneer this ministry opportunity.

We are very excited about the possibility of pioneering the proposed English Lan= guage Centre in Samut Prakan as well as moving to Thailand and being used by Go= d to reach unreached peoples (such as the Central Thai in Samut Prakan). We have been following Christ for = some 30 years – having grown up in a strong bible teaching and discipling church – and have been involved in an extensive range of discipleship ministries in Austra= lia. We have begun to pray for others t= o join us in this task and are planning another mission trip (October 2005) when w= e are hoping to take a team.

In preparation for longer term service in Thailand we are in the process of having f= ormal TESOL training as well as Bible College training. This will be in addition to mainta= ining an active involvement in BBC, including starting an outreach to new migrant= s to Australia through English conversation groups.

The logistics

In January 2005 we investigated the possibilities = of working with Promise Baptist and the living arrangements for missionaries.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Missionaries, in particular native English speakers, are needed to establish the English Language Centre.

Promise Baptist has the paperwork to establish the= English Language Centre and has ro= oms and offices for this work. Ch= ang Noi ministry has materials, which we utilised during January 2005. That is, the infrastructure and logistics are there to establish this ministry. The only thing missing is native E= nglish speakers. The need is obvious= ly there as the English teaching sessions we held in January 2005, in the even= ings for the community, were oversubscribed and people had to be turned away.

The logistical challenges include major reconstruc= tion work at Promise Baptist which is necessary to correct design faults in their building. Also, the pastor wi= ll be in USA from January 2006 and through most of 2007 to finish his theology training. This means the wind= ow for pioneering the English Language Cen= tre is January 2008, when the building works will be complete and the pastor ba= ck from the States. This opportu= nity really thrilled our hearts as January 2008 happens to also be the window wh= en we could get to Thai= land longer term (i.e. when Karis has completed her secondary school education). It appears God has moved both our timings together.

6. What will= be needed to support this ministry opportunity?

Team members

Ideally, the size of the team to work in this mini= stry would be at least three units (families or singles) including the team lead= er unit. This would allow adequa= te coverage for the English Language C= entre (which would hold classes at night for adult workers in the community) and cover English teaching in two local Buddhist schools to build relationships with the teachers and students.

Team members would need to be those who love Jesus= and have a passion to be used by God to reach a needy people group such as the = Central Thai. They should be people who love making relationships to see people co= me to an acceptance of Jesus. Th= ey would need to be very flexible (as plans can quickly change) and adapt to t= he culture around them (including the climate and food). They would also need to be people = who rely on the empowering of the Holy Spirit instead of seeking their own stre= ngth or will power.

Team members would also need to have an interest in teaching English as a second language and the patience to work with people = that may be very slow to learn. They should also have skills in mentoring people= in their relationship with God as a ministry role could also be training Thai Christians to build friendships with non-Christians in the community and to disciple new Christians. (Note, in discussions with the pastor at Promise, = this is an acute need as ex-Buddhists tend to see the pastor as the only “minister” in a similar fashion to the monk.)=

Team members will also need to have some working knowledge of Thai language and culture.&nb= sp; Initially, a conversational level of Thai would be needed to convers= e in the local market in order to talk about the English classes. A language school in Bangkok has been recommended to us (www.utl-school.com) that will enable on= e to reach this level with 6 months training.&n= bsp; Further language study would then be needed to allow the team member= to be more effective in reaching Thais. Cultural training could be through practical short term mission trip= s to the region. As no English is = spoken in this province a trip to this region allows total immersion in the Thai culture.

In terms of gaining entry into the country, I will= be working with Promise Baptist over the next year or so on the visa issue. At this stage the 90 day visa woul= d be used with exit and re-entry to renew. Obviously this is not an option in the longer term but once the plans for re-construction of the building are approved, with rooms for the English Language Centre, there cou= ld be scope to tie visas to this. In addition, we have had offers from two schools in the province to teach Engl= ish and this could also help gain longer term visas. (Note: all English teaching would = be on a voluntary basis with income provided by support from churches in the base country).

Financial support=

As discussed previously, the language centre could = be started with one unit (envisaged to be Jenny and myself) with local accountability and spiritual support from the pastor of Promise Baptist and= the director of Chang Noi ministry. However, for longer term viability, a team of at least three units w= ould be preferred.

The infrastructure for the English Language Centre would be provided by Promise Baptist Church so there are= no infrastructure establishment costs. Jenny and I have done some preliminary estimates on support base nee= ded per family unit. Based on our personal circumstances (i.e. one child in Grade 10 at an International Schoo= l, Jenny and I in language study and accommodating a family of four), we belie= ve initially we would need a financial support base of around A$40,000 per year. This is a preliminary estimate only and one that will require further prayer, work and refining before a more accurate base of financial support can be established.

7. Has the m= ind of the Holy Spirit been sought in an attitude of prayer?

If you could see my face as I write this report you would see how excited and convicted I am about this potential ministry. Jen= ny and I have sought the Holy Spirit’s direction for the last two years = on where the Lord would want us to serve Him in the second half of our lives.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This has involved regular communic= ation with the Heavenly Father and regular half days in prayer and meditation on = the Word.

The opportunity to serve in this ministry over Jan= uary confirmed our hearts’ conviction in so many ways. This has also brought our hearts a= nd Promise Baptist’s heart together on a ministry they have been praying about for several years. We h= ave also had several discussions with personnel from PIONEERS Missionary Society and OMF International in reaching t= his conviction on the Central Thai in Samut Prakan.

God has already begun to open and close doors in preparation for this ministry. Jenny and I are currently applying to join PIONEERS Missionary Society. PIONEERS leadership (both in Australia and Thailand) have been extremely positive about this ministry opportunity.

8. What can = BBC do to support?

1.      Prayer covering – God’s work needs faithful pray-ers as coverage in the spiritu= al battle that exists in satan’s strongholds like Samut Prakan. BBC can support this work by adding Samut Prakan to its regular missional prayer support.

2.      Financial support for church planting – In January 2005 we presented a gift to Chang Noi ministry of A$3,000 which had been collected from special offerings from BBC and our own tithe. Once a pastor is found= for ABBA House Cell Church (the ministry of which will include outreach into the Nardsoontorn slumtown= ), this gift from BBC will be sufficient to support him for one year. We hope to take further financial support in October 2005. Rent= for ABBA House is US$100 per month. BBC could consider supporting this ministry through a donation of A$130-$140 per month.

3.      Financial support and personnel for the Eng= lish Language Centre – God willing, we will move to Samut Prakan to start the English Language Centre, after some initial intensive Thai language learning, in 2008. As missionaries with PIONEERS, we will need to raise sufficient support by mid 2007 (i.e just over 2 years away). As BBC would be our principal sending church, we would be looking to raise significant support from BBC. PLT may consider including this in future budgets.

4.      Short term mission activity – BBC can provide volunteers who would like to serve in short term teams to t= his ministry. The next trip is in October 2005 to take part in an English Camp for students at one of the loc= al schools. During this time we = would also participate in activities at Abba House and Nardsoontorn slumtown=