2015 News

Strengthened by God’s Grace

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Prasit Tongtuswattana currently works as a Moderator for Churches of Christ in Thailand (CCT). His passion and life calling is to love the migrants and various tribes living in his country.

GMP has recently begun a partnership with Prasit in the 11th District of the CCT. One of the projects we are working on together is recognition for the Plang people. The Plang came from Myanmar in the 1980s as refugees to work in garden centres, especially orchid gardens. To this day many people continue to migrate and work in the orchid farms. Most migrants that Prasit connects with are looking for a new life, they are poor with no citizenship status in Thailand no work permits or identification papers. ‘Up to three or four families can be found living together while they look for employment in their new city’.

The CCT team supports the Plang people through activities at the local church. It can be difficult to share the gospel within Thailand, as it is a Buddhist country. The power of God’s grace and Holy Spirit’s strength is at work in the Thai church as they share their faith, openly demonstrating a Christian lifestyle of love. Every Sunday is an opportunity for the Plang people to experience some relief from their hardships in sharing a community meal, listening to a message about Jesus, play activities like soccer or ping pong and receive assistance to ‘better their lives’. Prasit gets up very early every Sunday morning to prepare the meal for his church congregation. He is a former chef and thanks God that he can still use this skill to bless his community. ‘We also have a pastors retreat, worship, building recondition project (focusing on the roof and tiling the church floor). Home Cell group is held on a Friday once a month in the Banka chapel’.

Churches of Christ Thailand also provide volunteer opportunities for teaching English through the CVT program. ‘Through the years students have come to know the love of Jesus Christ through the example of a Christian teacher or mission worker in their school’. The CCT also provide opportunities for the Plang to learn English ‘helping them to find scholarships to help their future prospects and helping them to adapt in their new life and living in the country’.

Through the partnership with GMP Prasit shares how he is encouraged to learn more about ‘human life and how to create projects, meet the welfare needs of the community and to better develop evangelism and programs’. Prasit initiated outreach to the Plang people before he connected with GMP and so he is even more passionate now to continue on changing people’s lives ‘working side by side together’. 

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