The desert will bloom
23/06/2009 10:49 am
Ayutthaya Province is normally seen as a fertile "rice basket" of Thailand, but spiritually it is a desert, with very few churches. One small ACT church in Tha Rua has taken up the vision to see churches started in the surrounding districts that have no church. The situations have alternated between encouraging signs and disappointments: one Christian in Phachi offered to host a regular Sunday worship service, but has cancelled several weeks in a row at the last minute. Once Christian couple in Baan Mor with leadership potential was eager to study the Bible together with a missionary, but suddenly had to move to Bangkok to help a relative with her business. The Christians from the church in Tha Rua have themselves faced ups and downs - one family came near to breaking up one Sunday morning, but with gentle counsel from church members and a Christian relative have become even stronger than before. Another believer who was starting to get involved in ministry has starting slipping back into former sins and destructive habits. But despite false starts and set-backs, we believe that God is calling a people for himself in Ayutthaya, and that the "desert will be glad, and the wilderness will rejoice and blossom" (Is. 35:1). (submitted by Tim Noble, church planting Ayutthaya Province)
- Pray for perseverence and spiritual battle-readyness for the Christians in Ayutthaya. Pray they will stand firm against the enemy's attempts to discourage and destroy, and move forward in faith in the Lord's strong hand.
- Pray for spiritual breakthrough in this ancient capital with a history of resistance to the gospel, and that the waters of the Spirit would flow through the desert.
- Pray that biblical, indigenous communities of Christians (churches) would be established in each town as a local witness and fellowship.