Peace in Ao Nang

Happy and Merry Christmas! For our Christmas post, we wanted to highlight an amazing ministry we heard about while staying in Krabi. Our time in Krabi fell between a Wednesday and the following Saturday (10 nights), so we had one Sunday there to find a church service. We’ve had trouble in many places finding an English-speaking service to attend, so we were excited this time when Peace Church in Ao Nang, Krabi found us! We were walking back to our apartment on Saturday evening following a sunset ocean dip when we heard some enthusiastic singing up ahead and realized there was a group singing Christmas carols on the sidewalk. As we passed, a couple smiley people engaged us and invited us to their church service the next morning. We were very happy to make the connection!

So, Sunday morning we flagged down a tuk tuk and made our way to Peace Church. We got there a little early and had a nice time chatting with several folks, one of whom turned out to be an American-born guest pastor from Jakarta, Indonesia (Pastor Lew) who gave a great message that day. Early on in his sermon he started talking about advent and actually called on William right there during the sermon to ask if he knew the definition of “advent”. William showed great poise being put on the spot like that and calmly responded that it had to do with Jesus coming.  Pastor Lew seemed excited he got it right. His sermon was on John 7-8, explaining that the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles was an enormous Jewish celebration where water and fire were used symbolically to remember what God had done in their past, and where the Jews were also asking for God’s presence. Jesus shocked them on the final day of this huge festival by explaining how he was the fulfillment of those symbols: he proclaimed that anyone who is thirsty should come to him for living water, that he is the light of the world who provides the light of life, and most scandalous of all, that he is actually God—“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” Pastor Lew concluded by summarizing that God’s provision, guidance, and salvation are all found in Jesus.

Towards the end, the Peace Church pastor got up and talked about a ministry that caught our attention. Thailand is an amazing country, but like anywhere, it has its problems. Peace Church is in the process of trying to open up a house to offer an alternative to girls stuck in the red-light district lifestyle. Their plan is to send volunteers into those areas on Tuesday evenings to talk to the girls and offer them a way out. The church is working on opening a safe house where they will offer room and board, among other things, so that money doesn’t have to be a concern. In talking with the pastor after the service, we found out that due to a lot of bureaucracy, they’ve already been trying to open the house for two years. He thinks they are finally entering the final stages. It’s so inspiring seeing a small group of people doing something that could make such a difference in people’s lives. On this Christmas, if you feel moved to do so, please offer up a prayer for Peace Church in Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand—that they would be successful in opening up the doors of their safe house and be able to bring their message to those who need it.