By Sue Danneker, EASTERN PA Alliance INTERNATIONAL WORKER
Ed and I moved to an underreached area of Thailand in 2007 to help plant the Mahapawn Living Water Church. The area we moved into has a population of 300,000 people and less than 0.26 percent know Jesus.
The Common Question
In the early days, we often received the question, “So, where’s your church?” At the time we were meeting in the homes of two families from the mother church, and our perspective that “church is not a building” clashed with common Thai thinking. But through discipleship, the new Christians understood that without Jesus followers there is no church, regardless of where you are meeting. At the same time, we did challenge the group to begin saving for their future building.
A year later, the group was able to rent a small three-story storefront building and begin Sunday worship. But by being a typical building, not set apart like the highly decorated Buddhist temples, we continued to get the question, “So, where’s your church?” Despite the questions, the new meeting space did allow outreach to expand, and the church grew.
In 2015, the pastor of the church asked us to partner with them to plant a church in another district with no visible Christian presence. Ed and I moved to the new area and began outreach to help plant their first daughter church.
A Step In Faith
By 2019, after renting the small storefront building for more than ten years, the Mahapawn Living Water Church was ready to step out in faith and put an anchor in the community. The church had grown to more than 40 members. The congregation reflects the diversity of their community with primarily Thai members and some Burmese, Filipino, and American expatriates.
As Thais highly value places of worship, a permanent physical presence would give Mahapawn Living Water Church greater credibility. A church building would also enable members to reach out creatively and effectively to the community and continue establishing communities of faith through their two new daughter church plants.
Ed and I felt the time was right to begin the process of seeking funds overseas to help the church buy a suitable building. The U.S. Christian and Missionary Alliance graciously featured this project as a 2020-2021 strategic giving opportunity. Praise God those donations came in to make a dream a reality.
A Dream Realized
A three-story building was purchased in May 2021, ideally located 218 yards from where their rental was located and twice the size! Renovations began, and Mahapawn Living Water Church had their first worship service at their new building on November 21, 2021.
The church has proudly set a cross on the top of the building telling the community, “Here is our church building.”
In this resistant but open society, where more than 90 percent of the population is Buddhist, relationships are key to sharing the good news of Jesus. This church has visited and distributed food and supplies to surrounding communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Please pray as the church now builds on these newly formed relationships.
A special gift this Christmas for The Alliance Year-End Offering will continue to help us and other Alliance workers around the world stay on the field to share the life-changing hope of Christ.