Over the nearly 200 years of Protestant work in Thailand, there has been one unanswerable question that every missionary has asked: “After all these years, why aren’t there more Christians?”¹ 

I was recently reading “Siam: Its Government, Manners, Customs, &c.” by Rev. N.A. McDonald, and was struck by the fact that he was asking the same question more than 140 years ago.  McDonald was a member of the American Presbyterian Mission in Siam (now Thailand) from 1860-1870, after which time he returned to the United States.  At the time of writing, Protestant missionaries had been working in Siam for a bit over 40 years.  

I have included below the full text of McDonald’s brief answer to this question that appeared in his 1871 book (minus one phrase that might be objectionable in the current political climate in Thailand). I have left his spelling as-is, but have added headings for his various points to make for easier reading.  Those who are familiar with Christianity in Thailand today will note that many of the points he raises are still applicable today (although the modern reader may not agree with, nor express, all of the points in the same way).

Also take note, that he ends his answer with a desire to see more missional business people in Siam. In this regard, he seems a bit ahead of his time.

A while back I wrote an article on “How to Protect Yourself from Moral Failure on the Mission Field”, but I failed to include something important.  After reading my post, a missionary colleague many years my senior wrote to point out that my “how-to list” should have included “nurturing your marital relationship”.  He was right.  And in light of recent news of Tullian Tchividjian’s resignation due to infidelity, I thought it might be a good time to make a few observations on missionary marriages and longevity on the mission field.  I don’t want to comment on Tchividjian’s case in particular, but rather the broader issue of protecting your marriage, as it relates to missionaries.

As with anyone in full-time ministry, there are lots of stresses and demands upon missionaries, including language and culture stresses that are a much smaller factor when you are working in your home country.  And in the midst of various pressures, the marriage relationship is easily neglected.   And if the marriage is neglected, that relationship is no longer the joyful, life-giving fount that God intended it to be.  A good marital relationship can be a shelter and refuge from the stresses and demands of the outside world.  It can be a place to laugh, to cry, to rant, to debrief, and to share all those things that would cause you to be virtually tarred-and-feathered if you shared them on social media.  

Some people might think that missionaries don’t have problems with materialism.  After all, these are the people who have “given up everything” to move to a foreign country in order to preach the Gospel.  Or, at least, that is the traditional way that missionaries have been viewed.  In the age of globalization, however, the division between “home” and “field” is not so simple and the ease of communication and transportation can lead to heightened expectations for being able to maintain a lifestyle and standard of living similar to what you enjoyed in your home country.  And that is a problem because it leads to disappointment, bitterness, frustration, a lack of satisfaction in one’s life and ministry, and in some cases attrition.

What is the root of this materialism?  And how can we address this issue and keep missionaries on the field longer?  I believe that the core issues are expectations and attitudes of the heart.  

Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit, A History of Thailand, third ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), Kindle Edition.

Years ago, I read David Wyatt's "Thailand: A Short History" but it was a bit too dry and not too short. I nearly gave up as he went on and on reconstructing the pre-history of Thailand. But Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit's “A History of Thailand” has been a completely different experience. The authors have written a briskly moving narrative that gives you the big picture, highlighting the important people and events in the development of the country without getting bogged down in the details. The first chapter (Before Bangkok) takes you through early history to the founding of Bangkok in 1782. In not too many pages, the authors give a helpful picture of the 15-18th century, the empires of Southeast Asia, the old Thai feudal system, and the steps leading up the founding of the Chakri dynasty. And it is the Chakri dynasty and the last 200 years of Thai history that form the bulk of this book.

As the book unfolds however, tracing the political, cultural, and economic development of the country from Rama 1 (1782) to the pre-coup political climate of March 2014, it becomes obviously that writing a history of “Thailand” is problematic. As it were, there was no “Thailand” per se, until the colonial powers forced the kingdom of Siam to define it borders in response to French and British colonial acquisitions in Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia. In the late 19^th century, the kingdom of Siam spread across what is now Central Thailand into Western Cambodia, while the Lao kingdoms and Shan States functioned rather independent of Siam to the north, albeit many of them in a tributary relationship to Siam. The region that constitutes modern day Southern Thailand was also only loosely connected to Bangkok. But as the colonial powers claimed some of these territories and agreed that others belonged to Siam, the government of Siam felt that it was necessary create a sense of unity and nationhood among these different territories and peoples in order to consolidate power and ward off interference from foreign aggression. These reasons, along with the belief that the majority of “Thai” people are passive peasants, led to justifications for a strong state with Bangkok as the center. The strong state was first embodied in the absolute monarchy, but after the revolution of 1932, the strong state re-emerged on-and-off in the form of military dictatorships up through the 1970s and beyond.

I can identify with a number of these indications that you you are pioneer missionary from Forrest McPhail’s book, “Pioneer Missions: Meet the Challenges, Share the Blessings” (read my review here).  Perhaps some of my fellow missionaries can as well.  Forrest writes…

You know you're a pioneer missionary when:

• Your neighbor thinks that you have magical powers as a holy man
• You suddenly come across a little girl in the countryside and, screaming, she runs away from the foreigner
• You apply passages of the Bible referring to food offered to idols to actual food-offered-to-idols scenarios
• Almost every believer you know is a first-generation Christian
• You wonder whether a bag of rice given to someone in compassion might obscure the Gospel
• Many of the new believers confess to having seen demons, even after conversion
• You can quote Genesis 1:1 in a foreign language before you can remember how to quote John 3:16 in English
• When you present the Gospel, you have to address the issue of persecution

Source: Forrest McPhail. Pioneer Missions: Meet the Challenges, Share the Blessings (Kindle Locations 165-171).

When Western Christians hear about the persecution of believers in other parts of the world, their response sometimes comes from behind rose colored glasses that diminish the depth of the tragedy that is playing out on the other side of the globe.

1) The first misperception that occurs is the assumption that those believers who are being persecuted are heroic, and must have much stronger faith than the well-off person reading about their plight on the newest model iPhone.  I suspect that there is an semi-unconscious train of thought that goes something like, “Oh, they are so brave to face this persecution.  I could never face that.  But since they are so brave and spiritual, they’ll be fine despite the persecution.”  Of course, there are brave and heroic believers who stand up for Christ and the Gospel in many parts of the world.  Praise God for their bold testimony!  But there are also many normal believers, immature Christians, and nominal church goers who bear the brunt of anti-Christian violence.  They don't all stand up to the threats very well.  Their story flashes across global media like a shooting star and then disappears, but they still struggle and live in fear and anxiety long after you’ve clicked “Share.”  And sometimes the intimidation works.  They stay silent about their faith, compromise, or flee.   And that brings me to my second point.