Bangkok Alumnus – Lockdown but not lock out from ministry

Simon Chung Yongho, EAST alumnus who graduated with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies in 2011, has started serving in Bangkok, Thailand, with the Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ together with his family since 2012. EAST News caught up with Simon recently and found out how he has been doing in Bangkok. Below is a short write-up that Simon has sent to us.

“Due to Covid-19, Thailand had to be on lockdown for a while. But it was only closed temporarily and I was able to go back to mission on campus. With all the restrictions in Bangkok, I was not able to do all the normal things I did (on the campus) before Covid-19. In addition, we have reduced time spent on the actual campus, and moved a lot of events online. Online Zoom classes and other apps were able to help us become more involved than pre-Covid period. But I cannot say I am totally satisfied with this. We still miss seeing one another in churches and meeting up physically.

Regarding political issues (about the government and the Thai King), many University students are shouting for justice and are against the Prime Minister of Thailand. The government is listening partially to the demands of the students. Our ministries do not participate in political issues, we just pray for blessings for Thailand, pay more attention to the safety of Christian students and staff. Political issues minimally affect actual ministry and the situation of evangelism and church. This is because the proportion of churches and Christians in Thailand is very small.

Our future ministry will be online and face-to-face ministry. We are not expecting the Covid-19 situation to be completely resolved by next year. We will still be careful and proceed with the ministry, but both the online and face-to-face ministry will increase, and there may be new directions and other possibilities. Many CCC student ministries still prefer face-to-face meetings. Meetings with large numbers of people, as in the past, are difficult to organise. However small group meetings mixed with online ministries should be a good possibility. The potential for future ministry is good as quality rather than numbers become the focus.

We walk by faith, not by sight. (2Co 5:7)”

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for my family – healing for my wife’s back pain, progress for my children’s studies, good health for me and all the strength and peace in the Lord for my family.
2. The faith, love and obedience to the word needed to serve as a missionary family in Thailand.
3. Bangkok campus ministry – pray for the weekly meetings to be filled with God’s grace and be of abundant fruit.
4. 100 Christlike Multiplying Disciples – pray for the Lord to raise up the disciples
5. Praise God our campus staff did well on our missions in Bangkok this year. Please pray for wisdom and time as we prepare for next year’s campus ministry.
6. Praise God for the opportunity this year to serve in Chula University. Pray that next year two mission teams will bring what they learn back to campus ministries and share the gospel with others so more students can know Jesus as Saviour.