New Blog Address

I have been working on a major update of our website and as a result the location of this blog has changed.

New blog address for Gleanings from the Field:
http://www.dahlfred.com/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field

New feed address for Gleanings from the Field:
http://www.dahlfred.com/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field?format=feed&type=rss

My apologies for the inconvenience of updating your settings but I have not been able to figure out how to redirect the old address to the new ones.

When did Siam become Thailand?

Siam is the old name for Thailand and I have never known why and how that name change came about. A Bangkok academic is now petitioning the government to change the name back to Siam in order to make a step towards creating greater peace and unity in the nation. For those who are curious about the history of the name change from Siam to Thailand or wonder how on earth changing the country's name could do anything in the way of reconciling a divided nation, check out the Bangkok Post article "What's in a name?" The comments on this article are at least as interesting as the article itself as people weigh in on whether they think the change is a good idea.

True Repentance

What is true repentance? This morning I read Matthew 26 and as I reflected on it, I was struck by Matthew Henry's commentary on Peter's denial of Christ. Henry writes, "Peter wept bitterly. Sorrow for sin must not be slight, but great and deep. Peter, who wept so bitterly for denying Christ, never denied him again, but confessed him often in the face of danger. True repentance for any sin will be shown by the contrary grace and duty; that is a sign of our sorrowing not only bitterly, but sincerely."

In Thailand, I have seen far too many professions of faith that bear no fruit. I have also heard too many Christians misdiagnose the problem of people who profess faith in Christ but don't follow through. One suggestion is that these backsliders need more encouragement. Another suggestion is that they need more follow-up and discipling. Both of these may be true to a degree depending upon how we understand the terms but neither seem to get at the heart of the matter that genuine repentance has likely not occurred. Repentance is not only stopping doing something bad but is also the beginning of doing something new. As Henry points out, Peter not only ceased denying Christ, but he also did the exact opposite - stood up and boldly proclaimed him from that point onward. Repentance does not consist of merely admitting to, or confessing ones sins either to God or to others. Repentance is a decisive turning from evil and self, and towards God. Granted, some new believers exhibit more obvious repentance earlier on because of the gross nature of their former life while others seem to grow or change more slowly as it is less obvious elements, like attitudes of the heart, which need the most change. But in either case, there is a definitive turning. If this change is missing in the life of any supposed Christian believer then, Biblicially speaking, it is not possible to call that one a Christian (regardless of what label you use to modify the term Christian, i.e. nominal, backslidden, carnal, immature, not growing or what not).

The most helpful thing that a Christian believer can do to help a professing Chrisitian who does not appear to have repented is to kindly yet firmly talk with him, opening the Scriptures, and help him see the true state of his heart before God. The book of 1 John was written to help professing Christians have assurance that they are saved (cf. 1 John 5:13) and if we have doubts as to someone's conversion, some time in 1 John will hopefully help to either comfort or convict.

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly ethe love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him hought to walk in the same way in which he walked." 1 John 2:3-6 (ESV)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism also helpfully summarizes the Biblical doctrine of repentance so that, in a nutshell, we might know what it is that we it is that we should be looking for in the lives of those who profess Christ.

87. What is repentance unto life?
Repentance unto life is a saving grace,1 whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin,2 and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ,3 doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God,4 with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.5

1 Acts 11:18
2 Acts 2:37
3 Joel 2:13
4 Jeremiah 31:18-19
5 Psalm 119:59

True repentance is a beautiful thing, as illustrated by the life of Peter who, after being brought to the end of himself, was a new man: humble, yet bold and God-confident, not self confident. Profession of faith without true repentance, however, is an embarrassment to all who call themselves Christians and a defamation of the character of God.

Contextualization and its Abuse

In the United States, there is currently a debate about whether preachers should contextualize the Gospel. Those who oppose contextualization view those who favor it as people who compromise and undermine the true Biblical Gospel in the name of winning a hearing. Some of those who advocate for contextualization claim that those who don't contextualize (as they define it) are are going to fail to reach the current generation.

I've done a number of posts that deal with the issue of contextualization, realizing that some readers may misunderstand where I am coming from, and exactly what I am advocating. For those who are confused about contextualization or who suspect that I may be compromising the Gospel by advocating for contextualization, I want to recommend Dr. David Sills recent blog post on Reclaiming Contextualization. Sills discusses what is proper contextualization, why it is necessary, and how the term has been abused and redefined in recent debates.

Discovering Bible Reading

What is the best book or study guide or method to help Christians grow in their faith? Even on the mission field in Thailand, it seems like the options are endless as more and more literature is produced so that it might seem difficult to find the materials that will be most beneficial. A few weeks ago, I suggested a “new” method of spiritual growth to a Christian couple that I am working with. We had been discussing the nature and role of the Bible in our lives so I suggested that they start in Matthew chapter one and read one chapter every day. I told them that when they had finished reading a chapter, they should think about what that chapter says about God and about themselves. Also, are there any examples to follow or avoid? Is there something to thank or praise God for in what they read? How can they apply to their lives what they read in the Bible? This would be their homework and the next time we got together, we would all share one thing that was a blessing to us from our reading during the previous week.

Even though they have Christians for more than five years, having come to faith in a large church in Bangkok, this was a novel idea to them. Up until this point, their Bible reading had mainly consisted of reading the Thai version of a little devotional booklet called “Our Daily Bread” which contains a different story each day paired with a Bible verse or two. Reading this little booklet is better than nothing but it really provides very little Scripture in and of itself and is hardly designed to be a person’s only method of regular intake from the Bible. There was some confusion and reluctance on the wife’s part to try out this new idea, reading a chapter per day through a book of the Bible. She said, “Can I just read Our Daily Bread for now?” I strongly encouraged her to give this new method a try, just for one week. “Try reading a chapter per day just for one week and if you don’t like it, that’s fine. You can go back to Our Daily Bread”. She consented to give it a try.

A few days ago I went back to visit them to continue with our chronological Bible studies and inquired about their Bible reading. Both husband and wife piped up immediately, sharing how this or that verse in their daily readings from Matthew had encouraged or challenged them. I know that just reading through the Bible isn’t very creative or trendy but it is a very basic and essential God ordained method of spiritual growth. All the devotional books and study guides in the world can’t compare with the basic discipline of reading the Bible and thinking about what it says. And it gives me great joy to see Christian believers discovering the joy and blessing of one of God’s very ordinary, but very amazing and wonderful means of grace.

Music Education and Missions

A young man from one of our supporting churches recently emailed with the following question, "I was wondering if you have ever heard of anyone using music education as a platform for missions. If someone wanted to do something like that, how might they get started?" I imagine that there are lots of Christians out there who are interested in missions but not quite sure if their interests and skills are usable on the mission field and if so, how. So I thought I would post our answer to his question in hopes that others who are wondering about getting involved in missions, particularly in the area of music, would be benefited.

"There are lots of ways to use music education in missions. Formally, you can get a job teaching music education in a school, either in the local language or more likely in English. In a number of countries, there are schools that want to offer an international track where local students have all their classes in English, including various subject matter like science, math, music and so forth. Of course, there are also international schools, both secular and Christian where one can also be a music teacher. The requirements to teach in the Christian (MK) schools are probably lower than the secular ones. Getting a job as a music teacher in a school is something that can be done in an open or a closed country.

Informally, if you are in an open country, doing church planting, student work, or some other kind of ministry, you can teach music classes as a way to build relationships and get to know local people as a way to share the Gospel. This would most likely need to be done in the local language. And when you are in church based (or parachurch) ministry, there is always going to be worship music and worship leading of some sort. Neither my wife nor I are musical so if we were going to form a new church planting team, we would want to have a co-worker (missionary or local) who is musical. Worship is a really important part of the local church and we need music people to complement the other gifts on the team/in the church. Here in Thailand, it is common to teach guitar as form of outreach and I heard about a woman in Cambodia who teaches French horn.

Where to get started? If you are going to do something formal, like teach music education in a school, I'd get a degree in music and teaching/education and spend a few years teaching music in a school in the U.S., all the while serving in your local church. Then after you have some formal experience on your resume, contact the missions agencies working in the country where you want to go and ask about the possibilities for music education and missions. Or you could make some inquiries up front before finishing a music degree or starting to teach. It can never hurt to have some solid information on options before you begin down a certain track. If you want to use music informally for outreach, I'd check into the missions agencies in the country where you want to work and tell them that music is one of the things that you want to do. The more information that the missions agency or denominational missions board has about who you are and what you want to do, the better they will be able to point you in the right direction and match you up with a church planting team or ministry who is in need of someone with your interests and skills.

There is also the area of ethno-musicology which deals with study of indigenous forms of music in order to develop contextualized forms of worship. I don't know much about that but I think that Wycliffe has some people working in that area so you might ask them if interested."

Evangelical Unity in Thailand

How do very different denominations work together to do church planting? This is the big question that remains to be answered as the 7th Thailand Congress on Evangelism in Bangkok came to an end this past week. The conference brought together three of the largest Protestant church groups in Thailand - the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), the Thailand Baptist Convention, and the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT). In the past, these large denominations didn’t get along very well so it is encouraging to see leaders and members of these different groups coming together in order to pursue the goal of proclaiming Christ throughout Thailand. A few years back, the involved denominations had formed the Thailand Evangelism Coordinating Committee (TEC) and came up with Vision 2010 which aims to see a church planted in every provincial district (อำเภอ), a Christian group in every sub-district (ตำบล), and a Christian presence in every neighborhood/village (หมู่บ้าน).

Throughout the conference pastors, Bible college professors, and other church leaders from the various groups preached on the themes of Obedience, Faithfulness, Unity, and Cooperation. Listening to the preachers, worship leaders, and other speakers up on stage, I got the sense that the goal of the week was not so much as to spell out how to work together in unity, but rather to rally the troops and encourage the people in attendance that unity is important and the God will work as we work together in obedience and faithfulness to the Great Commission.

There was one session during the week where everyone broke up into smaller groups according to province in order to discuss which districts and sub-districts had or did not yet have a Christian group of some sort. I had thought initially that this would be a time of some substantial planning, bringing together all the church leaders from the given province. Perhaps it was for some provincial groups but for my group and the groups of others whom I talked to, the provincial session didn’t amount to much more than checking off a list of which sub-districts had Christians in them. What that means is that the real work of planning is going to have to be done on the local level after the conference is done.

What does evangelical unity look like in Thailand? The preachers at the conference spoke in many general terms about the importance of unity and loving one another, and the wonderful blessings that flow from unity. The actual “how to” be united in Christ and how to pursue this vision of nationwide church planting was not spelled out. The real test of unity will come as provincial church leaders come together and discuss how to reach their provinces for Christ. Although it was barely mentioned at the evangelism congress, there are still very deep differences between the various groups in terms of theology and practice. Since that is the case, it would seem that evangelical unity in Thailand will not mean that Pentecostals, Presbyterians, and Baptists join together in planting churches. That would be unrealistic and unwise.

Positively, what evangelical unity in Thailand could mean is that Pentecostals, Presbyterians, and Baptists get together to pray for one another and pull out a map of their province to take a look at which districts and sub-districts don’t yet have churches and then decide who will take responsibility for outreach and church planting in which area. Talking to the Thai pastors and church leaders at the conference, I got the sense that even though differences exist, their feeling is that having a church of any variety in an area is better than none. And if a given church is truly preaching the Gospel in accordance with Scripture, than I agree. Since Christians still compose less than 1% of the Thai population , there is plenty of room for everybody to find their own area of work as there is lots of room for lots more churches to be planted everywhere. (click here for map of percent of Christians in Thailand, by district)

The Thai church needs much prayer as they push forward in pursuing this vision of a church in every provincial district (อำเภอ), a Christian group in every sub-district (ตำบล), and a Christian presence in every neighborhood/village (หมู่บ้าน). The temptation to compromise the Biblical gospel in the name of reaching people for Christ is strong. Bad theology from the West, particularly the prosperity gospel of health and wealth is making inroads in many churches. The pressure for Thai Christians to return to their former religion or to pursue worldly wealth and status is ever present. An easy believe-ism which regards salvation as nothing more than saying a prayer of confession is common. Although the majority of Thai come from broken homes, it is rare to hearing teaching on marriage and family in many Thai churches.

May Christ be proclaimed throughout Thailand, and Biblical disciples be made. Not merely converts but true disciples who learn to obey all that Jesus commanded, from a heart of gratitude for the abundant grace poured out through Jesus work on the cross.

Thai Church Denominations

The church landscape in every country looks a bit different, depending on local conditions and the missions history of that nation. Here in Thailand, Catholics have been in the country since the 1600s, and Protestants since the early 1800s. The Christian groups recognized by the Thai government, registered through the Department of Religion are the Catholic Church, the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), the Thailand Baptist Convention, the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT), and the Seventh Day Adventists. The Hope of Bangkok church denomination (Pentecostal) and the Rom Glao (ร่มเกล้า) church association falls within the broadly Protestant evangelical fold but are not registered through the Department of Religion. The Hope of Bangkok churches are registered as a foundation and I am not sure how the Rom Glao churches are registered. The Hope Church denomination had a big split last year regarding the political ambitions and financial dealings of one of their leaders, and is rumored to be splintering further. I am afraid that I don't have details so we'll have to wait a few years and see how the dust settles and affects the overall landscape of evangelical Christianity in Thailand. There are other church associations, I am sure, but the ones mentioned above are the biggies. It should also be noted that the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witness are in Thailand as well although I am not sure how they are recognized by the government or how they get their visas.

CCT was started by American Presbyterians in the 19th century and currently maintains fraternal ties with the Presbyterian Church (USA), although it now includes Baptists, Lutherans and Pentecostals and is overall probably more evangelical than the PCUSA. The Thailand Baptist Convention is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention in the USA, and the EFT is really more of an umbrella organization that includes many different smaller church groups, including the Associated Churches of Thailand (ACT) which is connected to OMF, the mission organization that we are part of.

Generally speaking, Pentecostal churches make up a large section of Thai Protestant churches and their theology and worship style extends far beyond churches that would identify themselves as Pentecostal. It seems that a majority of Thai churches are egalitarian to a large degree although most pastors are still men. I have heard however that the Baptist Convention retains more a traditional complementarian view (only men as pastors).

This past week I attended the 7th Thailand Congress on Evangelism in Bangkok which brought together three of the largest Protestant church groups (CCT, Baptists, & EFT). In my next post, I’ll share some thoughts on the conference and take a look at the state of evangelical Protestant unity in Thailand.

Animism and the Prosperity Gospel

I keep hearing, both first hand and from others, evidences of a theology of the prosperity Gospel creeping through the Thai church. Certainly not all Thai Christians think this way and I don’t want to overgeneralize but I hear enough of it to be concerned. By the term “prosperity gospel”, I mean this type of “Christian” teaching that tells people that God wants them to be healthy and wealthy, and to see health and wealth as sure signs of God’s blessing in their life. I grant that God’s gracious provision of good health and financial prosperity are blessings from God but Biblically speaking, the pursuit of these things should not be the goal of the Christian life (1 Tim 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”) but rather, we should be content with what we have (Phil 4:10-13), and trust God to provide for our needs as we make obedience and faithfulness to God our primary concern (Matt. 6:33).

In many Thai churches, part of the worship service is a time for people to get up and give testimonies of God working in their lives in during the past week. There is certainly a place for praising God for giving physical healing, helping in times of financial difficulty, and other practical matters. But when these are nearly exclusively the types of praises that people are giving, then there is a problem. I asked an elderly Thai Christian, who has been a believer for twenty to thirty years, “Since you became a Christian, how have you seen God change your life?” He replied, “I was rather poor but now I am lower middle class.” I was hoping for more but that was it! I was talking with a fellow missionary who told me about the weekly “testimonies” of a church elder at the church where she and her husband worship. I know this church elder personally and he is a very kind grandfatherly type of man who in many ways is a great blessing to that church. However, at the same time, he is getting up in the worship service each week telling the people how God has blessed him financially, flashing money and new electronic gadgets as evidences of God’s blessing.

When I hear Thai believers who talk about God’s blessings in almost entirely financial terms, I can’t help but think of the prosperity gospel from the West which is making in roads in Thai churches. However, I also wonder if the animist mindset which saturates Thai culture is also influencing their thinking. On paper, Thailand is a Buddhist country but in practice, Thai Buddhists worship a variety of spirits and angelic beings. They are just as likely to seek help from a psychic, spirit medium, or a spirit reputed to be living in a large tree, as they are to seek help from a Buddhist monk. And Thai animistic Buddhism is a very practical religion. It entirely focused around seeking religious and spiritual solutions to everyday practical problems. There is no concern about glorifying or obeying any superior being other than doing a certain set of prescribed rituals in order to bring about a certain desired result - whether that be passing the university entrance exam, getting your husband to stop drinking, or being more successful in your business ventures. It is all about getting the spirits to help you pursue your own ideas of what a happy and prosperous life should look like. The variety of spirits don’t have any overarching plan or rules or priorities for how you should live your life or what the purpose of your life is. They are merely powers to be bargained with to get what you want. Seeing that this is the focus of animistic practice, I wonder if this mindset gets carried over into the church as Thai Buddhists become Thai Christians. In the animistic practice that they were used to, certain rituals were performed in order to bring the desired blessings. Now that one has become a Christian, are Christian rituals (such as going to church, tithing, singing worship songs, serving on the church committee) substituted in an ongoing pursuit of one’s own idea of a happy prosperous life without concern for what God desires or what God’s plan is for a their life? God desires to be glorified through repentance from sin, belief in Christ, and God-honoring living, exemplified in honesty, integrity, kindness, forgiveness, and reconciled relationships. But it seem that some view godliness (in this case, going through the outward motions of Christianity) as a means of financial gain (1 Tim 6:5).

Again, I am not sure where the unBiblical thinking is coming from, whether it be a heretical Western “Christian” religiousity or the remaining baggage from an unchallenged animistic worldview. Either way, the result is the same, and the Biblical faith is twisted into a pursuit of health, wealth, and one’s own ideas about what life should be like, and not about what God wants. The tragedy is that the joy and freedom of living in Christ is much more valuable than any worldly wealth or ideas of the happy life, but many don’t have the eyes or hearts to see it.