Dr. Chana [ E-mail ]
  Chana's Dissertation(2)
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CHAPTER IV THE VISION OF KOREAN MISSIONS TO THAILAND

A. Vision of Korean Church for Mission to Thailand
1. Calling of Korean Church for Mission to Thailand
In comparing Thailand with Korea one can see many reasons why the Korean church has a special calling to Thailand. Koreans have a special understanding of Buddhism and the mixing of religions from their own past, but now are an example of the gospel breaking through these barriers. Koreans can also identify with Thailand having communist neighbors.
Finally, the Korean church and its rapid growth and reverent prayer have been a point of great interest of Thai Christian leaders in recent years. Thus, a special relationship has been established with the Thai church.

2. Expectations of Thai Church Leaders for Missionaries
a. Don¡¯t work alone, but with Thai workers in front.
b. Don¡¯t interfere with established churches.
c. Don¡¯t be a pastor or leader of a Thai church or organization.
d. Don¡¯t assist in any work too long.
e. Stick to the Gospel of Christ.
f. Don¡¯t get involved in regular social work.
g. Be united with other Korean missionaries.

B. Evangelization of Thailand and Greater Mission throughout the Communist Countries in the Region

1. Mission for Thai-Tribal
The Thai government reports that there are at least 30 different tribal groups in north Thailand. Some have come from Laos, Burma, and China in the last 200 years. Other have been in Thailand for up to 2,000 years. The population of tribal¡¯s in 1983 was 405,777 of the major tribes are Karen, Lisu, Hmong, Khamu, Lahu, and Akha.,
Mission work has gone on among tribal groups for about 40 years. Most of the work has been by the OMF, NTM, American Baptists and Christ church of USA. The KPM Thailand has now established 13 tribal churches since 1984.

2. Missionary Vision for Communist Countries
a. Refugee camp work
Thailand presently has 123,042 refugees living in 7 provinces. These camps represent an important and strategic opportunity to train leaders who will either go on to third countries or will be sent back to their home country. There are 14 Laos¡¯s churches in 3 provinces in Thailand with a churches membership of 3,472.

b. Missions for Communist countries
There are presently a number of western mission agencies doing relief work in Laos. The KPM Thailand has also had the privilege of helping in training pastors from Laos in partnership with the Laos Evangelical Church. These pastors meet for training four times each year for 2 weeks each time. The meetings are either in Laos or in Thailand. There are some 20 pastors involved serving some 160 churches in Laos.

c. Thai Missions to Communist countries
The Vision 2000 project of the Thailand Protestant Churches Coordinating Committee has set the exciting goal of having 60 Thai missionaries sent out by the year 2000. Most of these missionaries would be most likely sent to neighboring countries who share a similar cultural and religious background.

C. Future Mission Strategy of Church in Korea

1. Situation of Korean Missionaries in Thailand
There are now 44 Korean missionary families serving in Thailand. They are very hard working and earnest in their mission efforts, but tend to work independently without a clear mission strategy or direction. This lack of strategy sometimes causes difficulties and conflicts with a Thai church, other western mission agencies and even within the Korean missionary community. While most Korean missionaries are aware of this weakness, they have been unable to find solutions or come to agreement on a shared mission strategy.

a. Mission Agencies with Korean Missionaries
There are 16 sending agencies that have sent Korean missionaries to Thailand. In Thailand they work in 12 different organizations. Some belong to Korean organizations directly affiliated with either CCT or EFT. Other belongs to international mission organizations which are also affiliated with the EFT. In addition to these there are two families here independently with no affiliation. This information is seen as follows;
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AFFLICIATION NO. OF ORGANIZATION NO. OF FAMILIES
¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦
Church of Christ 4 7
Evangelical Fellowship 2 16
Other Missions 6 21
Independent - 2
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b. Weakness of Korean Missions
As with any new mission effort there are several weakness of Korean missions in Thailand that need to be improved and corrected. Some of the most important issues are;
(1)Tendency to establish personal kingdoms.
(2)Tendency to use money to buy churches and leaders in order to get fast results.
(3)Tendency to compete in ministry among Korean missionaries.
(4)Zealous pursuit of mission goals without any knowledge or sensitively to Thai culture or Thai context.
(5)Seeking to build churches rapidly without a strong foundation.
(6)Sometimes lacking a clear call of God for this work.
(7)A lack of professional skills to focus on special areas of ministry in partnership together. Instead most people are generalists and end up getting too involved in each other¡¯s overlapping ministries.

c. Strength of Korean Missions
(1) It¡¯s the strong background of Korean churches and a mission organization for supporting.
(2) The strong support of prayer and money for mission.
(3) The strong support of short term mission groups.
(4) The missionaries are high ability.
(5) The church planting and church growth of Korean churches are models for Thai churches.
(6) Thai churches likes Korean churches for with work together..

2. Future Mission Strategy of Korean Missionaries
a. Present situation of disunity
The biggest challenge facing missionaries sent by the Presbyterian Church in Korea is a lack of organizational unity. Over the years the Presbyterian Church sent missionaries to Thailand who now works in four different organizations. This problem of a lack of unity was perhaps cause by not having a clear policy or direction as a sending agency when the missionaries where first sent out. At present the missionaries work in the following organizations;
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Missionary Mission Organization Affiliation of Thailand
¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦¡¦
Dr. HS Shin World Mission Partners 7 District, Church of Christ in Thailand
Rev. SH Chung Korea Presbyterian Mission Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand
Rev. SG Kim Seomoom World Mission Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand
Rev. DH Kang Korea General Assembly Mission 6 District, Church of Christ in Thailand
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b. Recommended steps toward unity
1) Two body of Mission organization in CCT and in EFT centered unity
The first step toward unity needs to be the merging of the two missions affiliated with the CCT to be one organization and the two missions affiliated with the EFT could also be merged to be one. As for the missionaries who would merge under the CCT, they could change their name to be the same as the sending denomination in Korea, Korea Presbyterian Church in Korea. AS for the two mission groups now affiliated with the EFT, upon merging they could retain the name Korea Presbyterian Mission. The reason for this is that the KPM is already an official mission organization recognized by the Thai government with a sufficient number of visa slots. Therefore, it would be in everyone¡¯s best interest to maintain this status under the KPM.

2) One body of Mission organization of GAPCK
Once the first steps of cooperation and merging are successfully implemented, then additional steps can be taken to bring greater unity between the missionaries affiliated with the CCT and those with the EFT. Eventually, all of the missionaries sent by PCK could be united as one organization working in Thailand under the name of our denomination. The work of KPM could then continue as a kind of branch mission of the PCK. This kind of cooperation and unity would greatly enrich and strengthen the mission efforts of all the missionaries.


CHAPTER V MISSION STRATEGY FOR CHURCH PLANTING IN THAILAND

A. The Nevius Methods as General Mission Strategy
1. Background and Principles of Nevius Methods
The Nevius method of church planting and church growth was presented by Dr. Nevius who served as a missionary to mainland China. The method is most noted by its principles for establishing strong and productive churches. Namely, Dr. Nevius proposed that all churches which are planted by missionaries should seek to become self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating.
Perhaps these ideas were not entirely original with Dr. Neviys since these principles can be seen in the local churches of the New Testament. Henry Venn, who served as the general secretary of the England church missionary society for 31 years, and the policies of Rufus Anderson, who served as secretary general of the American Board of Commissioners for foreign missions, ABCFM both had established very similar policies for their missions.

2. The Strengths and The Weaknesses of Nevius Methods
a. Strengths
There are a number of strengths with using these methods in church planting which have caused these methods to be used by many mission agencies today.
First, churches are encouraged to be more responsible and stronger in their commitment.
Second, members of such churches have a greater interest in studying the Bible and are able to develop greater abilities in leadership.
Third, the local church is able to better fit to the local situation and culture being self governing.
Fourth, these churches are able to be multiplied many times over because they do not create a dependency on an outside mission.

b. Weakness
While these methods are very helpful, there are also some weaknesses.
For example, it is hard to raise up strong leaders or give assistance when so much emphasis is placed on the churches helping themselves.
Second, it is hard to establish Bible institutes or schools without outside help.
Third, it is hard to create a sense of unity between churches because of the scene of
Independence that each church.

3. Application of Nevius Methods in Korea and Thailand
In Korea, the Nevius method of church planting has been used with great success. Strong and
growing churches have resulted.
In Thailand, the method has met with less success. The failure of the method in Thailand is not so much due to the methods or principles being wrong, but is due to a misapplication of the methods by missionaries. The missionaries did not carefully follow the methods in a sincere way. Instead, too often the missionaries looked down on the Thai and therefore did not give over enough of the leadership to Thai leaders. Another part of the problem may be the character of the Thai in not wanting to take on full responsibility from the missions.

4. Requirements for the application of Nevius Methods in Thailand
The Nevius methods can be used in Thailand with success, but a couple of requirements must also be taken to correct the weaknesses of the methods in Thailand.
First, the mission agencies need to use their financial resources more freely in assisting the churches to become stronger. This will not create dependency, but will show trust in the Thai leadership and bring encouragement to get over the difficult beginning stages.
Second, more effort must be given to training Thai pastors and leaders so as to make the churches stronger. These corrections will help to establish stronger and healthier churches.

B. Pastoral Training for Church Planting as New Strategy
1. Through Bangkok Graduate School of Pastoral Theology
In 1985 the KPM Thailand established the Bangkok Graduate School of Pastoral Theology with the purpose of strengthening churches to become strong mission and evangelistic centers. The school assists pastors who have finished Bible school and are already in ministry. Students in the school attend seminar classes five days a month for three years. As the conclusion of their time in the program they are also taken to Korea to learn from the rapid church growth movement there.

2. Through The School of Thai-Tribal Church Workers
Besides this higher level of education, the KPM Thailand also provides training and Bible teaching through its School of Thai –Tribal Church Workers taught in the north.

3. Through The School of Laos Church Workers and Pastoral Training Course for Seminary Students The School of Laos Church workers, and through a pastoral training course for seminary students. In all of these ways, pastors and future pastors are being trained, encouraged, and built up in the service to the Lord.

C. Example of Church Planting and Growth in Thailand by New
Strategy
1. Principles of Church Planting and Growth
a. Select a place and leader for the church plant.
A worker and leader for any new church plant is best chosen from the local area since the person will best understand the local people. The leader should have finished high school education and a Bible school graduate preferred. Then have that local leader select the actual site of the new church plant.
b. Prepare for the new church.
(1) Pray, Pray, Pray.
(2) Select room to rent for worship. – Beside of main and sub road
(3) Select name for the church. – following the name of Province, District and Village.
(4) Promote church through posters and fliers.
(5) Train local lay leaders.
c. Begin the church services.
(1) Move to the area.
(2) Begin worship services on Sunday (even if only one family is coming). 50% of the house rent for the worship room supported by the mission.
(3) Visit new contacts and interested people.
(4) Have an opening ceremony once enough new members are added to make it meaningful.
(5) Make examination of the new church and leaders.
(6) Assist pastors with salary as needed and provide accountability through a monthly report.
(7) Continue pastors training at Bangkok Graduate School of Pastoral Theology 5 days per month.
(8) Train new members of the church for baptism twice a year. – Training classes may run six months using mission curriculum.

d. Actions for Church development.
(1) Train and supervise workers to help them develop spiritually, in Bible knowledge, and their lifestyle. This is best done through regular visits to the workers.
(2) Promote evangelism. Workers should be out doing evangelism four times a week. The members should be encouraged in doing evangelism. Also, new members receiving training should be visited at least 3 times a week by the worker.
(3) Help to establish strong Sunday school program for children and a youth group for teenagers. Members themselves need training in disciplines of Christian life.
(4) Provide discipleship and train leaders in the administration of the church including decision making and finances.
(5) Build a church building using church funds as much as possible.

e. Church Growth and Expansion.
(1) Prepare to start a daughter church in the nearby area.
(2) Promote missions to neighboring countries.

2. Application of Principles throughout Thailand.
These principles and strategy detailed above have been applied with success by the KPM Thailand in tribal church planting in the north, urban church planting in Bangkok, and in rural church planting in the northeast.

3. Tribal Church Planting in the North
The tribal work is still in need of more church workers and the lack of higher education of some difficulty.

4. Urban Church Planting in Bangkok
The dynamic of the work in Bangkok are different where the Korean missionaries are able to be directly involved in the church ministry.

5. Rural Church Planting in the Northeast


2009-04-03 08:39:10


   

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