Letter from Missionary Paul Kim

10/22/2011 Helping People!

HELPING PEOPLE is what missionaries are called to do, and that includes practical as well as spiritual help. Kilang is one of the two full-time staff at Newsong Bangkok, and he has started a ministry called Help Live, where he networks with the local musicians to help orphans of the Karen Hilltribe group. Dwight is another close friend who uses his free time to help refugees and asylum seekers, as well as children in one of the many slum communities of Thailand. They’ve helped me in my own ministries, and I’ve learned a lot from them about what it takes to help people. Along with missionaries, many of my Thai friends are eager to help the needy; pray with me as I try to help these leaders help people more effectively.

THAILAND IS IN A SPECIAL NEED right now, if you’ve seen the flood news recently. Chonburi Mission Center is fine, and we are fine too. But everybody in Bangkok is stocking up with food and water (and candles and propane gas). Stores and businesses (and some houses) in our own street are building temporary 1-meter cement walls just to tear down after the floods because sand bags are no longer available. So there’s some panicking going on, but we are hopeful that things will become more peaceful and dry over the next few weeks. One of my favorite news photos is of a boy who is trying to keep his two bills (120 baht or $4) dry, and another one of a highway intersection that we had crossed just a week before the photo was taken!

***BESTPIX***Flooding Ravages Provinces Threatening Bangkok

NEWSONG BANGKOK has come to a point after over five years where we’ve decided to restructure. We started out in a decentralized format that I found very attractive and effective, with a loose network of house church groups, but then centralized and regrouped for about three years. We’re now working on January as a target date to separate into five groups or house churches. We’ve already begun sharing with everybody and are still working out the logistics and details as well as financial issues. Our two full time staff, Yo and Kilang, are willing to risk not getting salaries in the long run, and this vision was in fact their initiative. I’m very honored to be helping church leaders who are prioritizing the larger church vision ahead of their livelihoods.

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Please pray that:

God will help Thailand and the Thai people to deal with the heavy flooding.
I can provide greater strategic support for the leaders in Thailand who have a passion for helping people.
Newsong Bangkok Church will walk through their transition with wisdom and faith.

In Christ,

Paul, with Sarah, Lydia and Timothy