Jamie, SP staff in Bang Rak, Thailand, are joined by a World Race team as they prayer walk and explore the deep heritage of Christian witness in their city.
Praise God, our World Race short-term team has arrived! They are a smiley group of six young American women who are eager to see the world and serve in Jesus’ name. Chai led them last week in a whopping prayer walk/tour of Bang Rak. Yes, it was whopping! With our feet and our prayers, we covered the entire district of Bang Rak. Our bodies and souls may be sore, but it helped us all to see and feel just how much God does love this district.
Chai reminded us of the story of how God called Joshua to lead the people to walk around the walls of Jericho and how they conquered the city by simply walking and believing God would do as He promised. We may have looked silly walking and praying all over Bang Rak, but we trust that praying for this district and for God to move and shake and transform all who inhabit its boundaries for His kingdom is the most powerful thing we can do.
For one of the days of the prayer walk, we went to the Museum of Bang Rak and were fascinated by the history of this old district. I learned that it was home to some old movers and shakers for the kingdom as well! It was missionaries who founded some of the schools and hospitals in Bang Rak that still stand today. It was an American missionary who lived in Bang Rak who created the first printing press with Thai lettering.
It brought me to tears to see that our small little holistic ministry efforts are part of a legacy of God’s people working in this district. They worked to make life better for Thai people through education, health, and literacy. It also was deeply convicting as most of these efforts only reached the rich and wealthy of Bang Rak. Our team's foundation remains the only holistic Christian ministry reaching out to the poor of Bang Rak. We have work to do!