Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Rick Kajiara, Rick McEdward
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000034
|
00:01 Global mission pioneers in the city of Bangkok
00:03 and mission service in Sri Lanka and the Philippines 00:06 that and much more coming up next 00:09 on Global Mission Snapshots. 00:22 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:24 Jesus gave us a command. 00:27 He gave us a mission. 00:30 Jesus said, go. 00:32 Go unto all the world, telling them of His love. 00:37 This is our mission. 00:39 This is our "Global Mission." 00:47 Hello and welcome to "Global Mission Snapshots." 00:49 I'm Gary Krause. 00:51 On today's program we will be talking with 00:52 Rick Kajiura communication director for Adventist Mission 00:56 who recently visited Global Mission pioneers 00:59 who are planting new groups of believers in Bangkok, Thailand. 01:03 We will also talk with another Rick, 01:05 Rick McEdward whose family served as missionaries 01:08 in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. 01:10 Dr. McEdward has a passion for mission and today 01:13 directs our Global Mission study centers. 01:16 We'll also visit a Global Mission pioneer 01:18 working in the highlands of Sri Lanka. 01:21 But first stop, let's go back a few year 01:24 to a video we produced looking 01:26 at challenges and plans for Bangkok. 01:29 We called it Hope for Bangkok. 01:34 The cities are a huge challenge, 01:37 they represent postmodernism and all the various elements 01:41 that come from around the world. 01:43 Today I happened to be in Bangkok, 01:44 Thailand, it's the city of 12 million 01:47 and over the past 100 years we established 01:50 about five churches that were in the process 01:52 of putting in 18 new churches. 01:56 Located in the heart of Southeast Asia, 01:59 the kingdom of Thailand is a tropical country 02:02 with a rapidly growing economy. 02:04 Major exports include textiles, footwear, 02:07 automobiles and computers. 02:09 But the main stay of the country is rice. 02:12 Thailand is the world's number one exporter of rice, 02:15 exporting enough annually to feed over 02:17 44 million people for an entire year. 02:20 Domestically Thai cuisine is accompanied 02:23 predominantly by rice, lots of rice. 02:26 A typical person in Thailand consumes over 02:29 100 kilograms of rice every year. 02:32 At this Buddhist temple a large group 02:34 has gathered for mid morning worship. 02:36 They brought food to be blessed by the monks 02:38 and then given as an offering. 02:41 About 95% of the population of Thailand 02:43 practices Theravada Buddhism. 02:46 This traditional or early form of Buddhism has been interwoven 02:49 with the belief of animism across much of the country. 02:53 Over time this syncretistic religious system 02:56 has been ingrained into 02:57 the cultural DNA of the Thai people. 03:00 Many homes and businesses have miniature temples 03:03 known as spirit houses place on their property. 03:07 Animism teaches that booth good and evil spirits live 03:10 in many of the objects of everyday life. 03:13 Offerings of food and incense are left 03:15 in the ornate miniature temples to appease the sprits 03:18 and keep the family out of harm. 03:21 Recently Gary Krause, director 03:23 of the Office of Adventist Mission talked with Pat Gustin 03:26 who served as a missionary in Thailand for 17 years. 03:30 Buddhism is a very tolerant religion 03:33 that opened many new ideas. 03:36 It's a gentle religion in which people feel 03:39 that they can believe many different things 03:42 and still be good Buddhist. 03:43 And so I'd sense it's not hard for them 03:45 to be covered of Christianity but then to move away 03:49 from that and to become totally--give total allegiance 03:53 to Jesus or to Christianity, that's a big challenge. 03:57 This challenge was met in 2006 with the launch 04:00 of Global Missions Hope for Bangkok church 04:02 planting initiative, Global Mission 04:05 is the frontline mission on Adventist mission and office 04:08 of the Seventh-day Adventist churches world headquarters. 04:11 Since 1990 Global Missions helped to establish 04:14 new congregations in previously unreached areas of the world. 04:19 These include everything from North American communities 04:22 with no Adventist presence to unentered 04:24 countries in the 10/40 Window. 04:28 Bangkok is Thailand's capital and largest city 04:31 with more than 12 million people living and working 04:34 in extremely cramped conditions. 04:37 Gridlock consumes the maze of streets almost 24 hours a day, 04:41 heavy investment in mass transit system, 04:43 strain to move the huge and rapidly growing 04:46 metropolitan population of Bangkok 04:48 to and from work everyday. 04:51 Doug Venn, an Adventist missionary 04:53 coordinates to Hope for Bangkok initiative. 04:56 With the Hope for Bangkok project and support 04:59 from the world field, we started 10 new church plants. 05:02 Now these are, you know, from small groups 05:05 to now some have even grown into, 05:08 we have some baptism and truth from God 05:10 of how He changed lives and so but then the layman, 05:14 this is exciting thing is that the layman have just seized 05:17 the work and so our investment of 10 and think 05:21 the sacrifice of the world church 05:23 has now blossomed and so another eight more 05:25 have started and actually this month 05:27 we are going to start on our 19th one. 05:30 Today, 69 Thai people have accepted Jesus through baptism 05:33 at the nine church plants across the city. 05:37 The project is finding much of its success 05:39 by using friendship evangelism. 05:41 People from non Christian background 05:43 to become a Christian, the majority will become 05:46 Christians because of the relationship 05:48 with the loving Christian. 05:50 More than doctrine, more than teaching, 05:52 more than any of these things ultimately obviously 05:54 we do have to teach people and give them good answers 05:57 to their question of life. 06:00 But, first of all friendship and relationship 06:03 and building bridges with people as friends 06:06 is got to be the foundation. 06:11 One story of friendship started when Nung decided to leave 06:15 her career as a dancer in one of Thailand's 06:18 well known cultural theaters. 06:22 I first met God when I started working as a teacher 06:25 at Ramkhamhaeng Advent International School. 06:28 This is one of the Adventist schools in Bangkok. 06:31 I started teaching after I quit working at Siam Naramit 06:34 as a Thai cultural dancer in this theater. 06:39 Shortly after she began work at the school Nung met Pheem, 06:43 a Seventh Day Adventist teacher at the school. 06:49 We developed a close relationship 06:51 and I started to trust her. 06:53 I got to know her way of living even more 06:56 which is a Christian Seventh-day Adventist way of living. 06:59 I was impressed and learned about a life 07:01 that is truly simple and happy that motivated me to learn more 07:06 about who God is, what God is and how He works. 07:10 This is the reason why I wanted to learn more about God. 07:18 A year later following the Holy Spirit's leading Nung 07:21 was baptized after attending evangelistic reaping meetings 07:24 with Pastor Scott Griswold, hosted 07:26 at the Ekamai Thai Seventh-day Adventist Church. 07:30 Through the love of this caring Christian family, 07:33 Nung was drawn to its source, the living God. 07:37 Adventist Mission operates five global mission study centre 07:40 in key locations around the world. 07:43 Their purpose is to build bridges of understanding 07:45 and friendship with people from 07:47 major world religions and philosophies. 07:50 These study centers research and experiment with ways 07:53 to more effectively share with people from 07:56 profoundly different world views. 07:59 Scott Griswold is director of the Study Center 08:01 for ministry among Buddhist. 08:04 Every Sabbath Scott and his family open their home 08:07 to friends the had met while working in the community 08:10 despite the deeply religious culture of the country, 08:13 sharing a Christian message has been difficult. 08:16 I was trying to figure out how on earth do I say 08:18 about the Cross with the people who say, 08:21 ooh, he must have had that power to suffer like that. 08:23 I was trying to figure out how to share 08:25 when a Buddhist himself said to me, 08:28 whenever I'm angry, I think 08:30 about Jesus on the cross. 08:32 I said why do you do? 08:34 And he said, yes, He was so kind, 08:35 He was forgiving His enemies, He kept Himself under control 08:38 and when I think about it, all my anger just melts away. 08:41 Isn't that beautiful. 08:42 And it suddenly hit me in the cross of Jesus 08:44 is something that would draw all people to Him. 08:46 But, sometimes we have to look for that specific piece 08:50 that will be attracted to him. 08:54 The Hope for Bangkok team has the goal of establishing 08:57 eight new churches by the end of 2010 because 09:01 they are sharing the gospel through programs 09:03 such as teaching English for spiritual purposes, 09:06 conducting health programs to serve the needs of the community 09:09 and other methods that make it easy for some one 09:12 from a Buddhist background to learn about Jesus, 09:14 they are finding success. 09:17 Thank you for supporting Hope for Bangkok 09:19 through your prayers and thank you 09:21 for your financial support of Global Mission 09:23 and the mission offerings. 09:36 Here to talk more about the challenge of mission 09:38 in Bangkok in cities generally is Rick Kajiura, 09:42 Rick thanks for joining us. 09:44 It's good to be here, Gary. 09:45 Rick, the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the moment 09:47 is very strongly emphasizing 09:50 the challenge of cities, why is that? 09:53 You know for many years we have done very well 09:55 as a church in rural areas but the cities have increasingly 09:59 become the challenge, they have always been difficult 10:02 but more and more people are moving into the cities, 10:04 the cities are getting bigger than more of them, 10:06 and so the challenge of the cities is something 10:09 that we need to focus on. 10:11 You know, I remember years ago I was out driving 10:13 in a rural area and there is a small town 10:16 that we went through in. 10:17 I was passing churches and I wanted to know 10:19 is there's an Adventist Church here. 10:20 And I thought about, I saw the population 10:23 sign it was about 200 people in the small town 10:25 I thought you know, we can have 10:27 one apartment complex in the city that has that kind 10:30 of population and what are we doing to reach those people. 10:33 Yeah, I can remember driving through China 10:36 with these brand new freeways and whole towns, 10:40 whole cities are being created of high rises and each high rise 10:44 has may be thousand people and say you could 10:47 plant a church in each one of those high rises. 10:49 Yeah, and they were doing that in [1045] 10:51 recognizing that you know, there was a new city 10:54 coming up around factories and so they purposely planted 10:58 a church in that area before the population moved in there, 11:01 so we are ready when the people come. 11:03 Now, we just saw a video that from the few years ago 11:07 talking about the challenge of Bangkok and I know 11:09 that this was an intentional Global Mission initiative. 11:14 What has happened in Bangkok? 11:17 We know Bangkok is a very difficult city, 11:20 it's a population of about eight million 11:21 if you're conservative and don't look at the outlying areas 11:25 and yet it's a city with very few Christians. 11:29 And, you know, lot of people and they think about mission, 11:31 they think about poor villages you know, 11:35 but you are talking about a modern city here 11:36 with the high rises, luxury automobiles, restaurants, 11:41 you know this electrical power 11:44 everywhere, technologies everywhere. 11:46 So what do you do to try and reach these people 11:48 and so several years ago we put an emphasis 11:51 on Bangkok called Hope for Bangkok. 11:54 And its part of what they are doing there, 11:56 they had small church plants in different areas, 11:59 very challenging to start church plants in those areas. 12:03 And you know, we reach people 12:05 but it's difficult to reach the Thai, Thai people. 12:10 You know, it's much easy to reach 12:11 the foreigners who come in and things like that. 12:14 I may interrupt you because for more than 100 years 12:17 the Adventist churches had a presence 12:19 there but before this initiative began, 12:22 there was probably about four or five Adventist churches 12:24 and everyone of them was aimed at people 12:28 who are not indigenous Thai people, 12:29 so you did not, you have may be Chinese people, 12:33 you had expats but actually Thai local Thai people 12:36 they just weren't to be seen. 12:37 Sure and there is a church in Bangkok 12:39 that is as big as the church that I attend here in the US 12:43 and it's a basically a Chinese church 12:46 and they are mission minded. 12:48 Oh, we're thankful for that. 12:49 You know they try to reach out 12:50 but it's just challenging to reach 12:53 the indigenous Thai people. 12:55 Okay, so these new groups were started. 12:59 Yeah, these new groups were started 13:01 and one of the ones that I visited was, 13:04 was one with a global mission pioneer named Addison 13:07 and he is actually from the Philippines originally 13:10 and he is has been there for a number of years 13:14 and he has got a church plant there but this church plant, 13:18 you know, when I visited 13:19 it was primarily Filipinos who are living there in Bangkok 13:24 who to come to this church. 13:25 And it had a wonderful service, 13:27 you know, singing but they introduced 13:29 me to two women who are Thai people and one is a member 13:33 there and another one is someone from the neighborhood 13:37 who they have invited there. 13:38 And she has been attending church regularly 13:41 and I spoke with her and I said, 13:43 you know, what is that you like about them? 13:45 Oh, I'm not a member yet, I'm not a member yet you know, 13:47 but I just like coming here, I like the people, I like, 13:51 you know, and we have to realize that it takes time for people 13:55 to make such a radical transition in their lives 13:58 from not believing the God we believe in, 14:01 not believing the Bible and making those baby steps 14:04 toward becoming a Christian and she is taking those steps. 14:08 And I hope people will pray for people like this woman 14:12 who are just getting that first interest 14:15 and coming and learning more. 14:17 You know when I watch them, they're sitting 14:18 in the Sabbath school class on a little round table 14:21 just outside the church plant building and there is Tay 14:26 who is a young Thai man who was leading 14:29 the Sabbath school lesson, 14:31 so you know those first few people begin to grow. 14:38 Too often we think of mission as been quick fix, 14:42 quick turnaround living to an area, 14:45 running series of meeting, hold of baptism 14:47 but it's not going to work like that in a place like Bangkok, 14:49 it's going to be a long, long time as people 14:54 make that transition that you're talking about 14:56 and we need to face that as a reality. 15:00 Yeah, and you know, I think this is something 15:02 that church leadership has to recognized too in those areas 15:06 because they, they like those 15:07 quick fixes too because it's in the books, 15:10 but you know if you really wanted. 15:12 I remember years ago driving in Australia on the coast road 15:16 and seeing the arches the rock arches 15:20 there and thinking, you know, wow how long does it take 15:23 for these arches to form, they are beautiful. 15:25 And I thought about, you know, those waves hitting 15:28 the rock faces and over time eventually 15:31 there is a one little tiny hole 15:33 which grows into a beautiful arch. 15:35 But until that first little hole is made, 15:38 you know, there is nothing happening. 15:39 Once that first little hole is made and it begins to happen 15:42 faster and you get this beautiful rock bridges. 15:46 Well now there are more than 20 of these beautiful 15:51 new groups scattered all over Bangkok city. 15:54 Yeah, and there is one story that they shared with me about 15:56 a young man who came to study English and he was showing 15:59 an interest and so they gave him a New Testament 16:02 which he read very quickly. 16:03 He was studying in law, he was a law student. 16:05 And then he, he asked for an entire Bible 16:10 and his sister saw him reading the Bible and said, 16:12 you know, are you interested in becoming a Christian? 16:14 And he said yes, I'm and so the parents found out 16:17 and they weren't happy, and they said, well, 16:19 we want you to become a monk for two years before 16:23 he make any decisions and he kept reading the Bible 16:26 and he finally came and said my mother 16:27 has changed her mind, I can become 16:29 a Christian and he was baptized. 16:31 Wow, good story. 16:33 Well, Rick, thanks so much for sharing 16:35 with us a little bit about what's happening in Bangkok 16:37 which is an ongoing project. 16:39 It is an ongoing project 16:41 and I hope people will pray for them. 16:42 Well, thank you. 16:43 And please remember to pray for Bangkok, 16:46 pray for the Global Mission pioneers who are starting 16:49 these new congregations, this is difficult work, 16:52 this is challenging work. 16:53 Sometimes it can be lonely, sometimes it can be discouraging 16:56 but we are just so glad to see so many people's lives 16:59 been touched by the Gospel. 17:47 I'm delighted to welcome my colleague 17:49 Dr. Rick McEdward who is the director 17:50 of the Global Mission Study Centers. 17:52 Welcome, Rick. 17:53 Thanks, Gary 17:54 Rick, you are directing 17:56 the Global Mission Study Centers, 17:57 for our viewers who may not have heard of them before, 18:00 what do they do? 18:02 Well Global Mission Study Centers really 18:04 are there to equip Christians, church members 18:08 to be able to reach out to people 18:12 of variety of faiths and traditions. 18:15 It could be people who are next door neighbors 18:17 or in other part of the world but to try to help people 18:20 to know what they understand and how to touch their lives. 18:25 Now, how many centers do we have? 18:27 Currently we have six. 18:28 Okay and they would be? 18:32 You know, we just started our latest one, 18:34 it's the urban ministry centre. 18:35 We have also a Hindu ministry center, 18:38 a one for Islam, one for Buddhism, Judaism, 18:45 secular postmodernism as well. 18:47 So, these are spread in only North America? 18:51 We have a nine staff members spread out all over the world 18:55 only a couple of them live here in North America. 18:58 Now, Rick you and your family served as missionaries 19:01 for some time in Southeast Asia. 19:03 And I know that you were living in Sri Lanka, 19:06 then you were living in the Philippines, 19:08 but you traveled to many different 19:10 territories in your work. 19:11 Describe some of the different context 19:14 that you have to work in. 19:15 Well, you know, it's interesting 19:17 as I traveled around over the last ten years 19:20 of doing mission, different kinds of mission work. 19:25 I have seen the poorest and the wealthiest of context. 19:29 You go to a place like Dhaka, Bangladesh 19:31 and you go to a place like Singapore. 19:33 They are radically different although both in Asia. 19:37 You see a Buddhist context which tend to be around 19:42 surrounding the temples and the context of sacrifice 19:47 in the temples with the lambs and different things. 19:49 And you go to the Muslim context 19:51 where there is a different kind of devotion, 19:53 praying five times a day and very strong 19:56 spiritual connection with God there and so these wide contexts 20:01 really provide us opportunity to understand 20:04 people in a different way. 20:05 You also had territories that were communist governments? 20:09 Military governments, communist governments, 20:12 very secular places, some countries 20:17 that are Islamic republics where we have been 20:22 and not to focus on that but we visit these place 20:26 because sometimes we have friends 20:28 and others that live in these context. 20:30 Now Rick when you--when you look at all these different contexts, 20:34 how do we even begin to witness to Jesus Christ in a way 20:40 that is meaningful to these different traditions, 20:43 I mean where do we start? 20:45 Well, you know, where we have typically started 20:47 is we typically share Christ with other Christians 20:51 and I think that doesn't fully represent 20:55 the commission Jesus has given us. 20:58 So what I like to say is begin with the person 21:01 who is closest to you, begin with your neighbor, 21:03 begin with somebody who you can start associating with, 21:07 that's the place to start. 21:09 Now, you went to Sri Lanka from North America, 21:13 this was your, you'd lived overseas 21:16 before as a child but this is your first experience, 21:19 what did you learn from that experience? 21:22 You know, I came in as a--thinking I knew 21:25 a lot and finding out that I knew very little. 21:29 It was a country that was divided. 21:33 We know from the stories Sri Lanka 21:34 that there is a civil war going on there. 21:36 And I lived in this really incredible Buddhist community 21:40 where people were so loving, so friendly and who accepted us 21:46 even though we were foreigners into their midst. 21:50 What I found out is that people are people and a lot of times 21:56 others will respond to kindness or friendship, 21:58 some love, some service 22:01 where we think its complicated. 22:03 Share an experience of how you were able to engage 22:06 in somebody's life when you were over there? 22:08 One of, one of the experiences I like to tell is about my wife. 22:13 She like to go around the community 22:18 and share some of the holiday goodies at Christmas time 22:22 or some of the local holiday time. 22:24 And as that happened, people opened up their lives. 22:28 They began to invite her. 22:31 She was a nurse, so she would go to their home 22:33 at times of distress or sickness. 22:35 She go to funerals in the community. 22:37 My children began teaching English, 22:39 they were just small at the time 22:41 teaching English in the community. 22:42 And you know over time it really meant a lot 22:46 when we visited there after moving away. 22:50 People stood in the alleyway outside the house 22:54 for three or four hours, some of them coming up 22:56 and stroking my wife's cheeks and hugging my children 23:00 and I knew that my wife and my children 23:03 while I was traveling around the country, 23:05 were able to make deep impact into the lives of people. 23:09 So, looking at that experience on the ground, 23:13 in the field with your work now. 23:16 How do you see that marrying together? 23:19 You know, I think we have to come out 23:21 a witness as learners. 23:23 I have just because I'm the director 23:25 of the study centers, it doesn't mean 23:26 I have to stopped learning and as we learned in the field, 23:30 we can then talk with others may be do a little coaching, 23:35 find some principles of similarities, 23:37 commonalities between how do we share with people 23:40 of this background and how do we share with others 23:44 and I like to think over this a time of trying to find ways 23:50 of getting behind the iron walls that people have put up. 23:54 Now, Rick, when we look at Seventh-day Adventist, 23:59 do you find that we have more in common with people 24:04 from say an Islamic tradition that many of us 24:08 would have first thought. 24:10 You know, I find incredible bridges 24:14 that we have as Adventist that virtually every other 24:18 Christian church wishes they had. 24:21 And some of this has to come because 24:23 of our belief in the second coming. 24:25 Some of has to do with the Sabbath or the way we eat. 24:27 All of these have provided for us a rich ability 24:32 to reach out and help people understand who God is. 24:37 Tell us about this new study center 24:39 for urban mission just briefly? 24:41 The Study center for urban mission is really geared 24:44 for understanding the cities. 24:46 How do we reach out in this complicated urban setting, 24:49 that's really what it's about. 24:51 Fantastic, thanks for joining us, Rick. 24:53 And viewers at home, please remember 24:55 the Global Mission Study Centers in your prayers. 24:59 It's a challenging task to find ways that we can be more 25:03 effective in building bridges to our brothers and sisters 25:07 who come from vastly different 25:08 faith traditions to what we have. 25:30 Meet Raja, a global mission pioneer 25:33 in the hill country of Sri Lanka. 25:36 Several times a week he meets with the small group 25:39 here in a small meeting room 25:41 attached to one corner of his house. 25:43 The service is simple yet meaningful. 25:48 This is the second group of believers 25:49 that Raja has helped to establish in the past four years 25:54 in this region there are no large halls 25:56 to host evangelistic meetings. 25:58 Cars are luxury that few people can afford. 26:02 Most people walk or travel by public transportation 26:05 getting from place to place can take hours. 26:09 This makes public and personal witnessing difficult. 26:17 This pearl shaped island nation some 20 miles 26:20 of Indian's south eastern coast also has strong ethnic 26:24 and religious divides that cause people 26:26 to be vary of Christianity. 26:29 As a result, the Adventist Church 26:31 has grown slowly over the past century. 26:34 Then ten years ago Global Mission started 26:37 an imitative to send frontline pioneers to meet people 26:41 where they live, Global Mission pioneers 26:44 like Raja understand the culture, 26:47 they speak the language and they are able to breakdown prejudice. 26:51 Raja is just one of some 2,500 26:55 global mission pioneers around the world. 26:58 These lay church members typically spend 27:00 at least two years working to establish 27:03 a new congregation within their culture. 27:07 Global Missions work of intentionally reaching people 27:10 where they live is paying off. 27:12 Over the past decade the number of Adventist congregations 27:16 in Sri Lanka has gone from 28 to nearly 50, 27:20 a growth rate of more than 50%. 27:27 Thank you for your support of Global Mission 27:30 and your mission offerings that help reach God's children 27:33 in the tea estates of Sri Lanka. 27:37 To learn more about Global Mission, 27:39 please visit, global-mission.org. 27:46 If you care about mission and love the peoples' cultures 27:50 and places of the world. 27:51 And if you like good food, we like to send you a free copy 27:55 of a taste of travel, this beautifully illustrated 27:58 vegetarian cook book features soups and stews 28:02 from more than 130 countries of the world. 28:06 And Nancy Kyte, Adventist Mission's 28:08 marketing director personally taste, 28:10 tested each one of the recipes. 28:12 Recipes such as sweet mango soup from Jamaica, 28:16 tomato basil soup from Latvia 28:18 and sweet potato stew from Guyana. 28:22 So if you live in North America and you like 28:24 a free copy of this book, please call our toll free number 28:27 1-800-648-5824 or visit our 28:32 website and ask for your copy 28:34 of a taste of travel or the soup cook book 28:37 if you don't remember the title. 28:39 But hurry because supplies are limited and please remember, 28:43 clearly state your name and address and mention 28:46 the cook book. 28:48 Well that's about it for today's program 28:50 and I hope it inspires you to pray for the people 28:53 and places you will see. 28:55 And a special thank you to those viewers 28:57 who call or go online at www.adventistmission.org 29:03 to financially support Global Mission projects. 29:07 For the office of Adventist Mission, 29:09 I'm Gary Krause and I hope you can join me next time 29:11 right here on Global Mission Snapshots. |
Revised 2014-12-17