What follows is a sharing about our journey and road ahead at our field church a few months after we arrived in Chiang Mai.
Ever since we first came to Chiang Mai in 2018, many people have asked us this question: “Why did you choose to come to Thailand?” To us, the more accurate question would be, how did God lead us to come to Thailand?
There is a long answer, but in short, God has been nudging our hearts in this direction ever since our youth ministry days in our home church in Singapore. Different circumstances led to Jan taking up Thai language studies in university, and Daniel traveling to Thailand frequently for journalistic work. Both together and individually, we had a vision of doing missions through our work in Thailand, just as Paul did as a tentmaker in the Bible.
In 2018, God led us to do two things that set us definitively on this path.
Firstly, we started a marketing business called With Content, which we wanted to use as a means to provide work and employment to people from around Southeast Asia. By this time, we had decided that we wanted to explore doing missions in Thailand, and running With Content gave us an important foretaste of handling cross-cultural relationships in the workplace.
Secondly, we decided to do a three-month stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to explore doing missions here. We ended up living here from 2019 to 2020 as well, and the time we spent here confirmed God’s call for us. But first, we had to return to Singapore to do theological studies and settle some housing matters.
Over these five years, we had a lot of time to seek God on His vision for our future work here in Thailand. We reflected frequently on the nature of missionary work, and what it means to be a missionary.
Missionaries are Ordinary Christians, too
What comes to mind when you hear the word “missionary”? We’ve been turning this word over our heads since we arrived here in Chiang Mai. The truth is, this term is loaded with connotations and expectations.
The type of missionary you’re probably most familiar with is the one that serves full-time in a foundation or church, runs a children’s home, or teaches English in a local school.
Some think that missionaries have a noble calling; others question their intentions and methods. Some expect missionaries to do everything possible; others question the need for missionaries in their country.
Like typical Singaporeans, we’ve been feeling the pressure to start doing something, start solving problems, start achieving something. Not from anyone—everyone around us has been very kind and patient with us—but from our own self-imposed expectations of what a missionary needs to be.
The concept of a “missionary” comes from the biblical concept of the disciples being “sent out.” Luke records the first sending out of the disciples by Jesus to “proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal,” and the disciples did exactly that (Luke 9:1-6). A chapter later, Jesus sends out the seventy-two to bring peace, heal, and proclaim that the kingdom of God is near (Luke 10:1-12). The seventy-two obeyed and returned to report what they had seen (Luke 10:17).
In the early church, the “sent ones,” like Paul and his companions (Barnabas then Silas), walked with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:4, 9), “proclaimed the word of God” (Acts 13:5), shared the truth about Jesus Christ (Acts 13:16-41), healed the sick in body, mind, and spirit (Acts 14:8-18, 16:16-19), and lived among the people they were sent to (Acts 16:11-15, 18:1-3).
At its core, the disciples were ordinary people who obeyed Jesus as they were sent.
Rather than focusing on what humans have to say about our purpose and role here as “missionaries,” we see ourselves as ordinary people, living ordinary lives, and doing ordinary things. What is more than ordinary comes only by the grace of God, who somehow turns our work and witness into fruits for his kingdom, according to His good will and purposes alone.
Just like the early disciples who shared the gospel wherever Jesus sent or the Holy Spirit brought them, we pray that we’ll be able to do that through the vocation God has given us in this land that He has brought us to.
Proclaiming and Finding Shalom in Thailand
For us, God has called us to be missionaries in the business world. Specifically, He has given us a vision to start a “business-as-mission”, to use business as a platform to introduce shalom—wholeness, well-being, and peace—into the lives of employees, customers, and even the church too. We plan to do this by curating a retreat space that offers soul care through programs, people, and place.
Just as Jesus commanded the seventy-two early “missionaries” in Luke 10:9, this is how we eventually hope to “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”.
But more importantly, we first want to proclaim and find peace here in Thailand, eating and drinking what is “set before” us (Luke 10:5-8), learning to live life like everybody here does. This is our focus for the year, to build a firm foundation and sharpen our axes for the work ahead, just as our pastor has been preaching about this year. A big part of this would be improving our Thai language proficiency.
We will also be supporting the ministry work of MCA and NYMC. We hope to get to know each of you better and serve together in the days ahead.
Co-workers in God’s Ongoing Mission
The proclamation of the Gospel is not simply our work. It is the mission of the universal Church of Christ. As much as we are sent out as missionaries by Christ, we are also sent out by his body, which is the Church, through the Holy Spirit. For us, that is through our local church in Singapore.
So we are here not to create and pursue our own mission, but to participate in God’s ongoing mission of redemption, which was, and is, and is to come both in Singapore, Thailand, and all around the world. We are fellow co-workers with all of you in God (1 Cor 3:9), continuing the good work that has already been done and will continue to be done here.
Our prayer is that we’ll get to know you, our brothers and sisters in Christ here better, and have the joy of journeying together in life—that we may build one another up upon the firm foundation of Christ, so that the community around will see the beauty of this home and family, and desire to be a part of it.
May God help us. Thank you and God bless!
Amen.
