2008 Christmas Outreach Photos

Here is a slideshow of photos from some of our Christmas outreaches in Nong Doan and PhraBaht in 2008.

Christmas in Thailand

Even with three to four years cumulative time living in Thailand, I am still not used to how different Christmas is here when compared to the U.S. It is different not only in terms of how the culture in general "celebrates" the holiday, but also how Christmas is celebrated at church and in the family.

Christmas in Thai Culture
Thailand is over 90% Buddhist so December 25th is just a normal working day like any other day. Buddhists don't celebrate Christmas - that is unless you own a department store or mall and want to get on the Christmas consumerism bandwagon. Because Christmas in the West is barely a religious holiday anymore, all that most Thai people know about Christmas is Santa Claus, gifts, Christmas tree, reindeer, and snow. And, of course, that Christmas is a foreign holiday, and therefore not for Thai people. But because of all the superficial hoopla in the West, many Thai people see Christmas as a fascinating curiosity. The big malls (which there aren't many of outside of Bangkok) put up some tinsel, sell Santa hats and fake Xmas trees, and have special sales, advertised, not as a Christmas sale, but something like "Amazing Gift Festival". And, like in the West, some Thai people find it fun to get on the superficial commercialized Christmas bandwagon. However, there is little to no knowledge about the true meaning of Christmas in this nation of Buddhists that has less than one percent Christians.

Christmas in Thai Churches
Many Thai churches (or at least the majority that I have seen) view Christmas as primarily an evangelistic opportunity - and with good reason. Many Thai Buddhists who would otherwise be completely uninterested in Christianity, will come to a Christmas celebration/outreach out of curiosity about this "Western" phenomenon. Christmas is a good opportunity to seize upon people's natural interest in the holiday in order to explain the true meaning of Christmas. Below are a few pictures from the Christmas outreach at PhraBaht church (apologies for the poor photo quality). The evening program included music, a buffet meal, games & prizes, and an evangelistic message about Christmas.


Something that amazes me about Christmas in Thai churches is that it seems to be viewed as an evangelistic opportunity over and above a time for church members themselves to pause and reflect upon the wonder and meaning of Christ's incarnation. In all the churches I've been involved with back home, Christmas is mostly an "in house" celebration for the faithful, not primarily an evangelistic opportunity for curious non-believers. Maybe seeker sensitive churches see it differently but I don't have any experience in such churches. Certainly, Christmas is an opportunity for evangelism no matter where you are, but it seems to me that it should not be exclusively evangelistic. I realize that the celebration of Christmas on December 25th is a human tradition and not a mandated holy day like the Sabbath so we would be hard pressed to find Scriptural regulations regarding Christmas (other than the normal Scriptural regulations for the church's worship in general). However, because of tradition and experience, I must confess that I really miss the Advent season and the solemn, yet joyful, church Christmas service that leads the faithful to reflect upon and celebrate Christ's incarnation, and the wonders of God's amazing grace that He would send his Son into the world to live and die for wretched and unworthy sinners.

However, although our family did miss some of the church Christmas traditions, hymns, and so forth we are used to back home in the States, we did take the opportunity to do some Christmas evangelism in our neighbor. It wasn't anything all that big or complicated but we merely wrapped up some tins of cookies, stuck a bow and a Thai tract about the true meaning of Christmas on top, and handed them out to some of our neighbors. We visited maybe four or five homes near us, chatted for a while, gave our gift and tract, and invited them to come to the Christmas outreach at the PhraBaht church.

Wrapped tin of cookies with evangelistic Christmas tract to give to neighbors

Joshua helps Mommy as our family prepares to visit neighbors with Christmas gifts

We were excited that five of the people that we invited to the Christmas outreach actually came. We were disappointed that they all left before Pastor Jarun gave the evangelistic message. We were told that the service/outreach began at 5 pm so we showed up at 5 and our guests shortly thereafter. However, since this is Thailand, we should have known that the program wouldn't really get started in earnest until 6:30 or so. Our guests left shortly before Pastor Jarun got up to give his evangelistic message a bit after 7 o'clock. We'll know for next year, I guess.

Christmas in the Family
In the U.S., Christmas is in large part a family holiday and many families exchange gifts, sing carols together, have a Christmas meal, read the nativity story together, or whatever else it is that their family does together. Not so here. From what we can gather, Thai Christians don't celebrate Christmas at home with their families. No tree. No gifts. No nativity. No special family get togethers. No carols. Maybe there are some families who do celebrate Christmas at home but I can't think of any except for the one family that sent us a Christmas card once. We asked Muay, who helps us with housework a few days a week, "So, how does your family celebrate Christmas at home?" She answered bluntly, "We don't. We just go to church." I suppose there is nothing Scripturally that says a family has to have Christmas traditions but I would think that if a Christian family were reading Scripture and praying together regularly, they would have at least some kind of Christmas devotions/reflections together as a family. But that brings up the issue that many Christian families don't read and pray together, the husband and wife don't pray together, and nobody is taking much responsibility for the children's spiritual nurture. I think that is probably true for the West just as much as it is for Thailand, unfortunately. Our own family is still relatively young, but this year we've started to take some baby steps in establishing some Christmas traditions that will help us focus upon Christ as the Christmas season approaches. It is much harder to do this in Thailand, however, because (with the exceptions of the big shopping centers), the culture ignores Christmas and thus there are none of the cultural signposts and reminders that Christmas is coming.

Christmas in Thailand

There's a classic song that says "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" but almost nothing here in Thailand signals the coming of Christmas. A few stores have tinsel and santa hats but there is no snow, no commercial push for gift buying, no Christmas carols playing at the mall, no Christmas vacation for school kids, and no day off on December 25th. Any why should it look like Christmas is coming in a nation where over ninety percent of the population is Buddhist?

With this said, there is a significant amount of curiousity about Christmas since it is, popularly, a Western cultural holiday that shows up in a lot of movies and English language learning materials that make into Thailand. Of course, movies mostly show the side of Christmas that has to do with Santa, Christmas trees, and gifts but here in Thailand, many Thai churches and missionaries seize upon people's curiousity about Christmas to share about the true meaning of Christmas. Schools and colleges are open to having Christians come and do Christmas activies (in Thai and English) as part of the school's English curriculum. Many churches (which there aren't too many of, to begin with) do special Christmas outreaches and evangelist meetings to present the true meaning of Christmas to those people brought to church by their friends.

This past Sunday night, we took part in a Christmas dinner/gathering/evening put on by our fellow missionaries, Rob & Judy, who live a few houses down from us. They have been in the neighborhood longer than us and have built some friendships with neighbors despite limited Thai (they are new missionaries attending the language school as well). They had gathered about ten people for a buffet type meal and we all chatted, sung "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and did a few games. I had prepared a true/false "Christmas Quiz" to play with people as a way to get them thinking about the meaning of Christmas. The quiz was a mix of cultural Christmas questions (i.e. about Santa, reindeer, etc) and Biblical Christmas questions (i.e. about Christ, the wise men, etc.). The quiz (click here to see) was fun for our Thai neighbors but also revealed their lack of knowledge about Christmas. One fellow was rather stumped by whether Santa Claus was Jesus' father or not. However, when we reviewed the results and I gave the correct answers to everyone, I was able to explain the truth about Christmas and to tell some of the Christmas story. I gave out some Christmas themed tracts for them to take home to stimulate thought. One astute fellow looked at the tract and then said, "Now we can ask our questions about Jesus. So, why did Jesus die on the cross?" Isn't that a great question? I had a chance to explain briefly Christ's work on the cross but time and the informal group setting limited how much I was able to share before conversation went on to other things. In God's sovereignty however, God will change people's hearts in his timing and will use the Gospel truth that they hear over the course of months or years to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. It is always exciting for me to answer questions like "Why did Jesus die on the cross?" because it gives me the opportunity to make the Gospel known. And we know that God's word will accomplish what He sends it for and will not return to him void (Is. 55:10-11) but will find's it's place in the hearts of some who will believe unto eternal life.

As to our own Christmas celebration, we went to a local OMF-associated church in Lopburi on Sunday morning and then on Christmas evening (the 25th), some of the missionaries in Lopburi gathered to have a meal together, to sing carols, and to pray. It was excellent to share some fellowship together (not to mention roast beef and spring rolls), and to sing (in English) some classic Christmas carols with brothers and sisters in Christ.

The next couple of weeks the language school is closed for Christmas and New Year's and then we will start up with classes again on January 10th. So, we'll take a rest, try to get over our colds, do a bit of reading, start looking for a car, go to Bangkok for a couple days, and maybe some Thai study even while school's out.