Shalom All,
Greetings in the Lord!
In the Gospel of Mathew 25 verses 35 - 40 are the
following words from Jesus:
“....
I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a
stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me
clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me”. Then the righteous replied, ‘Lord, when did
we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to
drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?
When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King
replied, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my
brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
These indeed are touching words
from Jesus, reminding us to extend a helping
hand to those that need our help that they may be led to the Kingdom of God.
Some Christian refugees from a
neighboring country have come to our Church since July 2013, We empathized with
the suffering they have gone through in their homeland the past few years,
Unfortunately, it is quite a sensitive issue for us to share about their plight
here but if you want to know more, please drop
me an email at faithwithyou@gmail.com.
In my previous reports, I did
mention that we have offered them, as well as the local Thais, free language courses in English and Thai. This is a small step to begin with.
Our Church has been approved by
an Evangelical Seminary from Canada to conduct a Diploma certificate course in Theological Studies. We plan
to start this course in mid January or early February 2014. The Seminary
will provide the materials for teaching and
the marking of examination papers and the awarding of certificates.
However,
there will be some conditions for those wishing to take up the course.
They need to attend our Church for more than 3 months, have volunteered to
serve in our Church in an area of work and are
aged 21 years or older. If they don't meet these conditions, they
need to pay a minimum fee for the course. With this training, we hope the
trained can use the qualification to find a job or serve the Lord. This is one
way to build and equip them with the Word of God.
This course will be conducted in
English. We hope the Thai Christians will also
avail themselves of this opportunity to take up the course to learn
English, as well as the Word of God.
We now have two volunteer
teachers and would like to invite more volunteer teachers to come and
teach the course.
Next, we plan in a limited way to
employ a few refugees ... hiring a lady to
clean up the Church twice a week and pay her THB 200/per day (RM 20/USD 6.30)
and also some men to help with painting the 3 - 5 floors of the Church, as well
as doing some minor repairing jobs. If they do well in the job, we will
recommend them to other people who need cleaning or painting. This is one
little way to help them.
Thirdly, we plan to teach some of
them to do handicraft work, such as cross stitches, souvenir items made from beads and beans, plastic flowers,
paintings and etc . However, we need talented
volunteers to come and teach various types of handicrafts, as well do the
marketing for completed handicrafts.
Lastly, I need to apply for my
Thai Visa extension for one year this December 2013 and I pray that there will
be funds for the Church to support my application for the visa.
Thank you all for your concern
and prayers.
We will have an early Christmas
celebration on 14th December 2013.
If you are in Bangkok, please do come and join us in the celebration.
Below is a slideshow with captions of our Church activities in recent months.
Below is a slideshow with captions of our Church activities in recent months.
Let us know your thoughts if these will help us improve our
work for the Lord.
With blessings and love,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok
