He got more than he bargained for.
A Southern Baptist worker in a village in Thailand decided to rent an elephant for a day to promote the annual Christmas pageant held in his yard. But he soon discovered he was in over his head.
After feasting on trees it uprooted from the worker’s yard, the elephant needed a drink of water. So he turned on the hose, but it wasn’t enough for the elephant, which wrapped its trunk around the hose and gave it a tug — ripping the faucet, pump and water tank out of the ground.
“This didn’t help the water come any faster so he gave another tug,” the worker said.
“With a groan, the pipes that ran up the side of our house came off, pulling retaining brackets, spackle and bricks with them.”
The story of the Christmas elephant — and its God-glorifying ending — is only a small part of the 2010 International Mission Study (IMS) and its focus on the country of Thailand.
The IMS, which is produced by national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), is an annual study designed to give churches greater exposure to a certain area of international missions work.
“We hope to better educate people on the lostness of an area coupled with what God is doing there through His people,” said Janet Erwin, editor of the WMU magazine Missions Mosaic.
Erwin said this year’s study reports on how gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Cooperative Program support missions in Thailand, where less than 1 percent of the population is Christian. But the IMS is not a book of statistics; it is a collection of interactive resources designed to familiarize Southern Baptists of all ages with not only the country’s lostness but also its culture, people and traditions.
“You can’t know a people without knowing their culture,” Erwin said. “It is all wrapped up together.”
The study includes things like news articles about Southern Baptist work in Thailand, prayer letters and stories from Southern Baptist workers, games, recipes and facts about Thai culture. For example, no movie theater will show a film until everyone stands for the playing of the Thai royal anthem in honor of the country’s revered king.
Also included is basic information about Buddhism, the dominant religion of Thailand professed by more than 90 percent of its people.
“We as people want to know about a country — the things that are unique to it,” Erwin said. “Then we can picture the people and [Southern Baptist workers] in that setting.”
Jack and Lynn Kinnison were Southern Baptist representatives to Thailand for more than 30 years.
Jack Kinnison is excited that the IMS is focusing on the country and hopes the increased prayer it will generate will bring a spiritual harvest.
“The people of Thailand, as wonderful as they are, are deep in the darkness and empty way of life handed down from their forefathers for 700 years,” he said.
“Only the moving of God’s Spirit amongst those precious people is going to bring them around the corner so they will see the Light.”
Erwin said the study is an excellent opportunity for churches to involve everyone in their congregations in learning about missions; people who may never leave American soil can learn a great deal about Thailand and the ways Southern Baptist representatives are working there.
“It can be the next best thing to actually being there,” she said.
For churches that want to use the IMS this year, Erwin has some tips to make the experience even better:
- Invite other churches to join in.
- Schedule the study on a Sunday or Wednesday night; the IMS has materials for all ages so everyone can be involved.
- Conduct the study in the fellowship hall or another open place where the included activities can be done.
- If a church member has traveled to Thailand or lived there, then allow him or her to make a brief presentation followed by a question-answer time.
- Most importantly, get the participants involved in the study; it is not intended to be a lecture.
Erwin believes that through learning about Thailand and its culture, Southern Baptists will come away from the IMS with a fresh desire to aid the progress of the gospel there.
“It gives us a heart for the Thai people to know the Truth that will set them free.”
For more information, visit www.wmu.com/thailand.
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