Northern Thailand
Over the past 7 years, I have been living in Northern Thailand (the green on the map), I have participated in and facilitated many different types of ministry outreaches. This page gives a brief look into each area.
Discipleship Training School (Chiang Rai, Thailand)
A Discipleship Training School is an intense 5-6 month program through YWAM. The purpose of this school is to help the student grow in their relationship with God and be equipped to make God known to others. Topics included the Character and Nature of God, Hearing God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit, Worship and Intercession, Godly Leadership, Evangelism and Pioneering Ministries, Sin and Repentance, Godly Relationships, and more. YWAM offers schools all over the world with different focuses as well. For example, sports, worship, frontier missions, justice, children’s ministry, and backpacking are just a few specialties. After attending my own DTS, I felt like I needed to come back and staff in order to grow more in my walk, learn how to disciple others well, and learn to work better cross-culturally, before getting into my own ministry. Staffing DTS challenging but helped me grow so much, as well gave me a way to pour into the lives of my students. We had 3 months of lectures and three months of outreach each school. Some of the places we did outreach included Thailand, India, Vietnam, and Cambodia. For more information on DTS, check out our page on YWAM.
2014
2015
Bible Distribution (Chiang Rai, Thailand)
In 2015-2016, we helped pioneer a bible distribution ministry called Sharebibles. For more information check out our Sharebibles page. Here is a sneak preview:
Community Outreach
(Chiang Rai, Tak, Mai Sai, Phichit, Chiang Mai, Lampang, Nan, Kampheng Phet, Sukhothai, etc).
I have found that more people are open and responsive to the Gospel if you have a relationship with them or with their community. So we love community outreach. Different ways we serve our community include teaching English, Art programs, a weekly Kids Club, providing food, medicine and prayer for the Homeless, Bible Study, training Youth in leadership, translating for foreign medical teams, visiting different local churches, working alongside the community, working with the government in events as translators, youth group, visiting and supporting the elderly, university outreach, etc.
Culture and Language Training
The most beneficial and important thing you can do when serving God in another culture is to take time to learn the language and culture of those you are trying to reach. In 2016-2017, I spent a year doing that. Some of the training included language learning methods, reaching the unreached, church-planting techniques, Buddhism, working with teams, using storytelling, and more. Part of this included living in a village. There we we taught so much about Thai culture, language, food, farming, the family dynamic, the education system, and Thai Buddhism. We loved learning and the Thais loved teaching us. They quickly adopted us into their family and we built great life-lasting relationships. We also gave back in whatever way we could by teaching English, opening our homes to the kids, spending time with adults learning and sharing, helping with farm chores and other projects. It was an incredible experience and I highly recommend this to anyone working cross-culturally. The first three months we actually lived with different Thai families and now I have a new family for life.
School of Biblical Studies (Chaing Rai, Issaan, Thailand)
Bible School (Chiang Rai)