Displaying items by tag: Thailand

Efforts continue to extract a Thai youth football team (aged 11-16) and their 25-year-old coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.  Water is being pumped out and officials hope the lowered water levels  will mean the boys could keep their heads above water and not rely on scuba apparatus to escape the cave in which they have been trapped for 12 days. Rescuers are battling against the clock to beat monsoon rains expected on 7 July. At the time of writing (5 July) the water levels have reduced by around 40% but parts of the passageway leading to where the boys and coach were found are still flooded all the way to the ceiling - leaving diving out of the cave the only option for survival if the water levels are not reduced quickly. They want to reduce the water enough for them to scramble out, walk and perhaps do a little diving.

Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world. The industry relies heavily on trafficked and forced labour on unlicensed vessels. Many victims are from Cambodia, Laos and Burma. Beatings and starvation are commonplace. The Thai government claims it is regulating the fishing industry more tightly, yet slavery persists. The International Justice Mission (IJM) works with other bodies to rescue victims trafficked into Thailand’s fishing industry, and creates individualised care plans to meet survivors’ physical, psychological and emotional needs so that they can thrive in freedom. IJM requests prayer for favour and wisdom as the team builds relationships with police and prosecutors in both Thailand and Cambodia (where many of the traffickers target victims).

“If you are a Christian leader, you would undoubtedly be blessed at this conference!

The deepening of the spiritual life, and it’s resulting vitality, is a keynote message that the Holy Spirit is trumpeting throughout the earth today.” - Edmund Chan Leadership Mentor, Covenant EFC, Singapore/Founder, Global Alliance of IDMC

Focus areas include:

* Abandoned Devotion to Jesus - The Key To Fulfilling The Great Commission

* Being Saturated with the Powerful Presence of God

* Pursuing the fullness of the Spirit: The Divine Factor in Mission

* The Surrendered Life: The Indispensable Factor in Mission

* Enjoyable Prayer To Fuel Mission

* Becoming Bible-Centered Leaders in The Great Commission

Speakers include:

Dr. ThuoMburu (Kenya)
Remo Paul (India)
Graham Wells (USA)
Joel Iyorwa (Nigeria)
Kelly Shaw (Thailand)
Ryan Shaw (Thailand)

Worship by Julio & Noemi Vallejos (Argentina)

Find all Conference info and register at www.svm2.net

Or contact Rita Chiu +66-99-371-5531 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Greetings to you from Chiang Mai, Thailand! We trust you are doing well and enjoying the presence of God in life and ministry.

The Organizing Committee of the upcoming Abandoned Devotion Conference in Chiang Mai is looking forward to a powerful time together from January 15-19, 2018.

More information and register here: https://www.svm2.net/special-events/adconference/

There are great shifts taking place globally in the mission movement. One of these is the priority of the Holy Spirit that effective ministry flows out of who we are becoming spiritually. We will consider together some of the important dynamics and implications of this important truth in cross-cultural mission.

We invite you to help advocate for this timely and important conference in your networks and spheres of influence. There are several ways to do so:

1. Plan to personally join the conference and bring a group from your organization/ church/ local ministry
2. Send the attached conference flyer to your organization/ association/ network constituencies
3. Make Facebook posts on your organization/ church/ local ministry page linking to the conference webpage here.

Join us in praying for all the preparations of the conference and those participating. May this conference be used of the Lord to take His church further in effectively partnering with Jesus in His Great Commission.

Thank you for spreading the word about this conference…

Ryan Shaw
SVM2 International Lead Facilitator

A 34-year-old Christian, Ijaz, who had fled Pakistan for fear of persecution, received news on 26 May that his application for refugee status had been refused. The next day he died at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok. Some months earlier he complained of chest pains and was hospitalised, but doctors could not diagnose his problem. At the IDC, he was put in the punishment room because he could not pay his hospital bill. Eventually his local church in Bangkok paid the bill, with help from Barnabas Fund. The IDC doctor refused to allow his pastor to bring him medicine. Around 4,000 Pakistani Christians have fled persecution and made their way to Thailand, only to find that they are treated as criminals there. Immigration police carry out arbitrary mass arrests, even raiding worship services, searching for people without valid visas. Detainees are held in such harsh and horrifically overcrowded conditions that some have chosen to go back to Pakistan and face persecution. One source said that this desperate decision is often made because they are not receiving treatment for life-threatening medical conditions. ‘It is a 21st century concentration camp, without the gas chambers’, he said.