The First Visible Church in Baan Bo, Thailand

Today’s post is written by Ed and Sue Danneker, Alliance international workers.

Our hearts dropped when the local Alliance pastor at our mother church announced "Baan Bo" as the location for their next church plant.

We were in the middle of planting their first daughter church in Thailand, which we were part of from 2015-2022. Yes, there was a need in Baan Bo. The area has around 20 to 30,000 people with no visible church—yet. But when we had driven through the area, all we saw were roads that often flooded and no obvious community center other than a very large, intimidating temple with a daily market in its parking lot.

Though we were half-hearted, God wasn't. COVID hit, forcing a key member of the first church plant to move to Baan Bo to wait out the pandemic at her sister's home. The neighborhood she moved into did not flood and had nicer two-story townhomes. We told her, if at all possible, we'd like to live in this neighborhood if we were to plant a church. So, she began to pray that something would open for us. She also started praying for her neighbors, especially Ah-ma's family.

When we returned to Thailand from our home assignment in July 2023, our hearts and minds were ready to move to Baan Bo. Almost immediately after landing in Thailand, our prayer warrior informed us that there was a house waiting for us in her sister's neighborhood, where Ah-ma's daughter was the landlord. We loved the house, signed the lease, and moved in.

Then we got serious about seeing what Jesus was doing in the area. Alongside our Thai church planting pastor, we spent three months of prayer walking, talking with anyone who would talk to us, and revisiting anyone who welcomed us. We often visited Ah-ma and talked to her about the Lord. She was set in her old beliefs that she had followed faithfully for more than 30 years, but still, she had questions for us.

In October 2023, just a few months after we moved in, our landlord sought us out for counsel with some issues on her heart. She wanted to know more about the Lord and started her faith journey with Jesus that month. Her life began to change for the better. Our landlord's oldest daughter, who is in college, also noticed the changes in her mom. By January 2024, we started a Friday night fellowship group in our living room, with Ah-ma and her daughter joining in. Praise God this group continued to grow with people mostly right from our neighborhood. It became the base for the church plant.

In the last year, six new believers have followed the Lord in baptism. Three more new believers are preparing to, as well.

We then faced a good problem. Our living room was getting too small for the growing group. As everyone looked around Baan Bo in January 2025, we set our eyes on a row of three-story storefront buildings on the main road through town just over a large bridge that crosses the main canal. Only three units were being used.

It was quite an adventure trying to find the owner, but finally, after two months and several dead ends, a member found a small store proprietor who knew the daughter-in-law of the building owner. It turns out the owner is a believer in Jesus and lives an hour away in Bangkok. With Thailand still less than 1% Christian, this is amazing that we would find a Christian landlord!

When he bought the unit 7-8 years ago, he told us he hoped it could one day be used for Christian fellowship or even for a church plant! As he observed, "There are no churches in Baan Bo." He kindly agreed to let us have the building for half the typical rental price for that area, which is within the ability of our small group of believers to pay each month. After several more months of renovations, we began Sunday worship on June 1, 2025.

And that huge temple in the middle of Baan Bo? It has become a focus of outreach for our team, and two Thai people have embraced Jesus who live near it.

Baan Bo still floods occasionally, but we continue to pray that God will flood the area with his love and bring many more to saving faith. God is planting his church in an area we have now grown to love.