Opening Doors in Thailand
3 Apr 2017
Thailand is a proud Buddhist nation that has been resistant to the gospel over many decades. The middle to upper classes are especially unengaged and untouched by the gospel. A new church is being launched in an up-market area of Chiang Mai with the vision to reach this specific group of people. People that already have the power and influence to make a huge impact on Thai society as they start to follow Jesus. We asked Deb, Australian Pioneers worker and one of the key initiators, how things are kicking off…
The Start
Gracepoint Church had a bit of an unconventional start for a church plant. After inviting like- minded believers to join our core team over the past year, we found ourselves asking some of them to wait before joining us as our renovations were still not finished for our 19th Feb launch date. It was encouraging to know that so many had been waiting for us to start and were keen to visit and check us out. We are waiting until our renovations are completed before we will start our official ‘reach out’ to the community.
The Gathering
So far, it’s hard to say what our church will look like exactly as we’ve only had 3 services to date and we are continually evolving during each service. Our vision is to have a gospel centred, grace filled community that ‘does life together’, not just on a Sunday, but also throughout the week.
The Joys
Over this past year, our team has been blown away by God’s constant provision of all things, from team members from different organisations, a local leader, property in a strategic location surrounded by schools, a university and a hospital for an amazing price, funds that have allowed us to renovate and get started right away without having to wait and do major fundraising. Now we are waiting to see what God has instore for this next chapter.
The Obstacles
The biggest challenge for us right now is the unknown. We have only just started our church services in February, in a building that is still a construction zone. There are so many unknowns for us right now and things that are literally just ‘messy’. But at the same time, we are highly excited about the possibilities and the opportunities that lie ahead of us to get this church plant and gospel community up and running.
The Future
Our first big task is to get all the renovations finished so we can move in, set up properly and from there we will begin to action lots of our ideas for outreach in the area. Our dream is for Gracepoint to become the hub of our gospel community. There is a long way to go, but we know our God is sovereign and able to do all things.
-DC
Why not take a few minutes to pray for Gracepoint Church as they seek to complete their renovations and then start to reach out to the local community. Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare hearts to be soft towards God, and for the Gracepoint team to be led to those people.