Karl and Sun Dahlfred

Church planting in Thailand

Karl and Sun Dahlfred have a passion to share the gospel with those who have never heard, and are eagerly preparing for long-term church planting ministry in Thailand. The gospel has been in Thailand for over a hundred years, but less than one percent of the Thai are Christians. Yet, there are encouraging signs of new openness to the gospel among Thai Buddhists, and Karl and Sun are excited to be a part of God’s work there.

Sun and her family fled from the killing fields of Cambodia and arrived as refugees in California in 1980. Sun heard the gospel in Sunday school and later prayed to receive Christ. Sun sensed the Lord calling her into missions after high school. After graduating from Biola University with a B.A. in Biblical Studies, Sun went on a short-term mission trip to Cambodia. Then, after teaching elementary school for 3 1/2 years in California, she returned to the mission field to teach English and to share the gospel in Southeast Asia. Sun earned an M.A. in TESOL through Azusa Pacific University during her four years in Southeast Asia. In 2002, God dramatically called her to East Asia where she served on an OMF team for two years. Sun and her team shared the gospel with students from top universities and partnered with local churches.

Karl grew up in New Hampshire and became a Christian in high school when a friend invited him to a church youth group. Karl prayed to receive Christ during a youth bicycle trip in 1991. He became interested in missions through a short-term mission trip to Poland with InterVarsity. By college graduation, he was convinced that the Lord was calling him to be a long-term missionary. After working to pay off school loans, Karl went to Thailand for 21/2 years where he taught English and helped with evangelism and discipleship as part of an OMF church-planting team. Karl returned to the U.S. in 2002 to study for a Masters of Divinity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.

Karl and Sun met at OMF’s candidate course for new missionaries and were married a year later on June 11, 2005. They are currently living in Anaheim, California, as they prepare to return to the Thailand to plant churches.