| As the Church of Jesus Christ develops strategies to reach the continent of Asia with the gospel, we cannot ignore the Buddhist bloc, which forms a major portion of the Asian population. In that light, Thailand is probably the most strategic country in Buddhist Asia. The World Fellowship of Buddhism and its president are found in Thailand, where ninety-four percent of the population confess Buddhism. Many believe that "to be a Thai means to be a Buddhist." Consider further the fact that Protestant missionaries first entered Thailand in 1816, and by 1978, 162 years later (according to Alex Smith's doctoral dissertation in missiology with Fuller Theological Seminary), there were only 58,953 Protestant Christians in Thailand (Barrett 1982:664). Today, an estimate of the Protestant population is probably around 80,000 at the most, an insignificant number compared to the bulging population of fifty-six million. With its population of over six million people, over 1,020 slums and a population growth of over 750,000 per annum (Bakke, Hart 1987:35), Bangkok makes an ideal site in which to test and apply strategies for urban mission in a highly resistant area. The Hope of Bangkok Church is the largest and fastest-growing single Christian church in the history of Thailand. It was born out of a God-given vision. It was started in September 1981 with five members, and in December 1988 had over 4,500 members in Bangkok alone. It has become a church planting movement within the past three years, and has planted over twenty daughter churches in Thailand and overseas. Being a Thai indigenous church and not a branch of any foreign denomination, the Hope of Bangkok seeks to be a biblically and culturally relevant, contextualized Thai church. In so doing, it has challenged many traditional Thai concepts. One of these is that Christianity is Western-owned. The walls of prejudice are slowly breaking down, and people have become more open to the gospel. Moreover, programs and activities catering to the needs and spiritual development of the members have been carefully designed to be culturally sensitive right from the start. This has enabled members to grow spiritually and to be equipped for ministry in our unique cultural setting. Our efforts have been at times misunderstood by conventional Christian onlookers. It has not been easy to pursue this path in evangelizing this nation. The challenge is enormous and without God's help, the task of reaching this city and country would be a mere dream. Our Vision In all church activities, the Hope of Bangkok Church has carefully defined goals and utilizes strategic, administrative planning to monitor them. The God-given vision for the church is to plant a church in every district of Thailand (approximately 685). Even before the church began, our vision has been to saturate this country with churches by the year 2000. The history of missions in Thailand makes it clear that without God's help, this is an impossible task. With our goals and vision clear, we have gone on to share the value and urgency in serving Christ and in accomplishing this vision with church members from the outset of congregational life. Our church-planting vision has been shared clearly and constantly with the members at every practical opportunity, such as corporate prayer meetings, small gatherings, celebration worship services, etc. This has encouraged active participation and made the vision a part of individual lives. The level of involvement and participation of different church members varies with the depth of their maturity and commitment. But constant prayer and encouragement has allowed the church to work corporately in great unity, pressing ahead tirelessly. Church Growth The rapid membership growth of the Hope of Bangkok Church can be seen in our need to move several times to accommodate the expanding congregation. We rented a hospital room for our first meeting in September 1981 with five members and a few onlookers. About six months later, the room became too small and the meeting was then moved to the hospital's chapel. Fourteen months later, this too became overcrowded and we moved to the Crystal Ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel. Growth continued and in November 1984 we signed the lease on the Oscar Theatre, the largest available auditorium in town. In December 1988, our membership was 4,500. This kind of growth is unprecedented in Thailand. Obviously, it is God who gave the increase. We believe he blessed our corporate and personal prayer, along with an appropriate application of biblical principles and strategies for church expansion. One principle that has been important in the growth of our church has been our emphasis on local church-centered evangelism. This approach enabled us to enfold new converts into church life. As a local church, we can integrate evangelism, follow-up, and nurturing with sensitivity to personal and community needs. The Thai concept that "to be a Thai is to be a Buddhist" is steadily being eroded as the community is slowly sensing that a visible, strong, and thriving Christian church is here for good. The sincerity of the movement to live and bring Christ's love to the Thai people has also helped to shift people's attitudes toward Christianity to a more favorable perspective. Strategies Donald McGavran summed up the difficulty of urban mission by saying, "No one yet knows what modes of mission promise most for communicating Christian faith to urban man" (Bakke, Hart 1987:35). Solutions can only come about by applying Spirit-led, biblical insights into a variety of mission circumstances. The principles described below have proved effective in our urban situation. It is hoped that they can be helpful in urban mission elsewhere. Urban Church Planting: A Bridge to Rural Areas Because cities are the centers of complex social interaction, they are home to the nation's social, commercial, political, military, artistic, entertainment, educational, and mass media life. To evangelize a whole nation requires us to use these resources and concentrate on the cities first. Targeting for a Larger Urban Church Thais by nature enjoy big, exciting, festival events. They call this sanuk, which means "fun." In this culture, a church must be perceived as being big enough to warrant their interest. A big urban church is necessary to work in Bangkok successfully. We need to make the church visible so that it can attract people's interest and confidence. There are many benefits in having a large church. For instance, people can be ministered to in a holistic manner. The church needs to be large enough to cater to felt and real needs. Also, the membership can function in the specialization of their gifts and talents when the church is of a sufficient size. The Hope of Bangkok Church has been able to win a large number of converts into it. Its membership is drawn from around every sub-district in Bangkok. The larger the church, the more spiritual impact it can assert on society. Mass Evangelism The purpose of mass evangelism is not solely to incorporate people into the church. At the Hope of Bangkok, it is used primarily as a tool to stimulate personal evangelism. It also serves as a means of secular public relations for the church, and creates a "dynamic equivalent" festivity for members to enjoy. These serve to replace Thai celebrations which are thoroughly Buddhist and animistic in origin, content, philosophy, and practice. The Hope of Bangkok uses every possible opportunity for mass evangelism. Special occasions draw people best, therefore the church often holds mass meetings on Valentine's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Day, and Christmas. One recent event, Miracle Christmas '88, illustrates our method.
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