One of the largest barriers to the Gospel in Thailand is the nearly indiscernible difference between being Thai and being Buddhist. For Thai people, they are the same thing: if you are Thai, you are Buddhist. Thai Christians are faced with the challenge of defining themselves within their culture and their families while first identifying themselves as a child of God.
Am attends G and T's after-school program and became a Christian through their ministry. Now, Am is learning about how Christianity fits within his culture, his community, and the sin and pain he sees every day.
Read part one, part two, part three, and part four here.
There’s a glimmer in his eye that tells anyone who knows how to look that he’s a mischievous child, but also that he’s kind. He squirms in his chair during English class but always answers the questions.
“What is your favorite food?” I ask.
“Pizza.”
I prompt him to say the whole sentence: “My favorite food is pizza.”
He rolls his eyes but says it anyway.
“My fav-o-ite food is… pizza,” he says with an emphasis on the “a” of “pizza.”
“Geng mak!” I congratulate him in Thai. “I like pizza too.”
He frowns. My response isn’t on the whiteboard with all the questions and answers.
I smile and sigh and ask him another question.
On Friday night, we do a skit about the creation of the world. God creates everything, Eve eats the forbidden apple, Adam follows her, and the world is plunged into sin and darkness. But God has a plan to send his son Jesus!
I wonder how much they really understand.
After the skit, we ask if anyone has questions.
The kids sit in their chairs, silent.
Then Am raises his hand and asks a question in Thai.
People murmur until someone translates.
He asked, “Why did God create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the first place?”
Good question, Am.
These kids understand evil and pain more than any kid should.
We try to answer his question with our Sunday School theology and Christian answers, but the truth is, we can't really give an answer to the kids that experience the results of sin every day in ways no kid should.
So we tell him, “to give people the ability to choose to follow God or not.”
But that doesn’t answer the question I think he was really asking.
He keeps searching for God in the midst of his circumstances, trying to discern how this God that is so different from his culture fits into his life and family.
Please pray for kids like Am who want to learn more about God and find their identity as a Thai Christian. Pray that God would use Thai Christians in mighty ways in their communities and the world.