herbswanson.com

As mentioned in the Lead Essay, Red Flower Theologies, the Suwanduangrit Church, Ban Dok Dang (District One, CCT), has been engaged in a process of reconciliation with its Buddhist neighbors for some seven years now. Sunday evening, 16 March 2003, marked another small step forward in that process, a step that suggests that the process itself has become a normal, accepted part of the life of the church and community, rather than something innovative and unusual. At about 7:30 pm on that evening, roughly 30 members of the church joined in a procession with its Buddhist neighbors, who were carrying traditional money trees to the local temple to make merit to support the temple's buying a new piece of property. This is the second time the church has participated in a community-wide Buddhist procession, the first time being in March 1996. On two other occasions, in addition, the church has participated in "mini-processions," once to the temple and once into the church compound.

On this occasion, as in 1996, the church found itself at the end of a long procession that slowly wound its way through the narrow streets of Ban Dok Daeng to the sounds of drums, gongs, and flutes and the shouts and laughter of the participants. The church has its own money tree, and made a substantial contribution to the temple's fund raising campaign. The procession ended in the temple's phra viharn (main ceremonial hall), where there was a brief blessing ceremony led by the abbot. In the course of things, he twice thanked the church for its participation.

Christians processing with Buddhists has become an increasingly unremarkable event in Ban Dok Daeng, and this time it was generally greeted with a marked absence of fanfare. That is good—and a little sad. Because such things have become thoroughly accepted in the church, members treated this event with less enthusiasm than previously. Most of the congregation stayed home or otherwise did whatever else they were doing. The community, in the meantime, paid scant attention to Christian participation, the Christians being so small a presence in the crowd. Interfaith reconciliation in Ban Dok Daeng, that is, implies a normalization of community relations that had been "abnormal" since its first citizens converted to Christianity in the late 1870s through the mid-1990s. Normalization, in turn, means that what was startling and unheard of in 1996 has become, by 2003, commonplace.

Although not a new site, the Thailand Covenant Church's website, at www.thaicov.org, only recently came to my attention; and its contents make it worth the attention of those who are interested in resources related to the contextualization of the Christian faith in Thailand. In addition to featuring the ongoing work of the Evangelical Covenant Church of America mission in Thailand and the Thailand Covenant Church, this website contains a selection of articles on the history and underlying philosophy of the Covenant mission and church, which goes back to the 1970s. Covenant work in Thailand was initiated by the Rev. Jim Gustafson and became well known in evangelical and international missions circles for its innovative approach to contextualizing the Christian message in northeast Thailand.

The articles on this site include substantial contributions by the Rev. Tongpan Prometta on the theme "Jesus must be Reborn," and by Paul DeNeui, entitled, "Voices from Asia: Communicating Contextualization Through Story." Of particular further note is the section, "Historical & Reference Documents," which lists the following articles (quoting directly from the website):

"The Making of a Sodality in Northeastern Thailand --A paper written by Gretchen DeNeui in 1991 which traces the history of the Thailand Covenant Church (then known as the Center for Church Planting and Church Growth) and its related organizations from their beginnings until that time.

"Integration of Development and Evangelism --A paper presented in Bangkok in 1990, revised and updated in 1997, arguing for a needed link between world evangelism and development, with illustrations from the integrated holistic ministry in N.E. Thailand.

"Agrarian and Environmental Change and Increasing Poverty in Northeast Thailand - 1950s-1990s --A paper written by Jim Gustafson in 1995 which presents the environmental and agricultural factors which have contributed to the pervasive poverty in Issaan.

"Northeast Thailand: The Underdevelopment of a Marginalized Periphery --A technical paper written by Jim Gustafson in 1994 which analyzes the historical, geographical, and cultural background for the lack of development in NE Thailand.

"Issaan Development Foundation - A Rural Development Approach --A paper written by Jim Gustafson in 1989 which details the origin, objectives, methods, and operations (at that time) of the IDF, including the social and economic conditions in Issaan (N.E. Thailand) which influenced its creation.

"Integrated Holistic Development & the World Mission of the Church --A paper from 1985 that explains the theory and application of integrated holistic development as practiced by the IDF and the CCPCG (predecessor to the ISD and TCC) and how they fit into the overall mission of the church. "

"Values of Thai Society --A list of 25 commonly held elements of the Thai value system that have an impact on efforts to reach Thai people with the Gospel, which has its own, often contradictory, value system.

"... To Serve the World --An article written by Jim Gustafson for the book "Bound to be Free", published in connection with the 90th Anniversary of the Evangelical Covenant Church in 1975. This is an old article, but it contains his comments on the characteristics of the Covenant and its work, as well as outlining the early experiences and thoughts that influenced the nature of his work among the Issaan people."

Earlier this year, David Filbeck stopped by the Office of History with copies of his recently published autobiographical sketch of the work he and his wife, Deloris, have carried out in northern Thailand since the early 1960s as Christian Church missionaries. The book, entitled Called! To Preach Where Christ was not Known, is privately published and dated 2002. It is not intended to be a critical or scholarly work but, rather, a personal celebration of and a book of stories about the Filbeck's life and ministry. A copy has been deposited at the Payap University Archives.

We learned last March, just after HeRB 5 "went to press" that Ach. Prasit Pongudom, Office of History staff researcher, has been accepted into the doctoral program in Thai history at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Of the seven applicants this year, he was one of only two accepted. We are both pleased and proud of Prasit's accomplishment—and of the fact that he has chosen to pursue his doctoral studies in Thailand, rather than overseas. After one academic year of class work in Bangkok, he will return to Chiang Mai and carry out his doctoral research and write his dissertation as a part (a huge part!) of his regular duties.

This news item comes somewhat late in the year, but a copy of the Thailand Christian Directory 2003 didn't come into my hands until after the last HeRB went on line. The TCD is an annual publication that is full of information on how to communicate with a huge number of Protestant churches, organizations, agencies, and institutions in Thailand. It even contains a yellow pages section for Protestant businesses. This year's edition runs to over 450 pages and attempts to list every Protestant congregation in the country by both geographical location and denomination. For those doing research on subjects related to Protestantism in Thailand, this is an indispensable reference tool. Although most of the listings are in Thai, the section on missionaries and other overseas personnel is in English.

For those who are interested in obtaining a copy, the publishers may be contacted through the Udomkarn Church, 1618 Chun Rd, Soi 31, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120. Telephone: 02-674-8455 and -8456; Fax: 02-267-7837; email address: tcd92@hotmail.com.

The first issue of Quest: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Asian Christian Scholars has come to hand recently. This new journal is published by the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA) and the United Board of Christian Higher Education in Asia. The mission of the journal "is to help create and develop a university-based community of Christian scholars through interdisciplinary dialogue and reflection on areas such as Asian religious and socio-political issues, Asian theological discourse, Asian Christian higher education and intellectual life.".

Quest is published through the Chinese University Press, and first bi-annual issue came out in November 2002. The Chief Editor is David K. S. SUH and the managing editor is Wendy CHAN. You may contact Quest at: wendy@hkbu.edu.hk