Where smiles meet brokenness: reaching the urban middle class in Thailand

By Tohru Inoue

Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. People are warm, welcoming and hospitable. It makes you naturally want to smile back. But a smile doesn’t necessarily equate to a heart at peace or full of joy. Under some of those same welcoming smiles, there is sometimes deep brokenness. B and his team have seen this.

B and his family are committed to sharing good news where Christ was least known. Originally, he thought this might be in the remote interior of Thailand, but it’s not true. Many romanticise the idea of unreached people groups residing in remote villages deep in the jungle or high in the mountains.

It’s a vestige of our missions thinking from the turn of the 20th century. At that time, mission workers found that the unreached were living in the remote interior far from the easily accessible coastal regions. They were living in the vast uncharted areas far from the urban ports. But in Thailand today, there are more followers of Jesus in the villages in the North, no doubt due to those early efforts. With growing migration to urban settings, more and more of the cities are becoming the least reached places.

It was a revelation and challenge for B and his family when they considered where to serve with SIM. So, he moved to a bustling Ayutthaya with his wife and two young daughters. The country is dominated by Buddhism and only a tiny fraction of the population is Christian. And after doing a bit of research, B realized that among the urban population, the middle class, in particular, had no witness.

…he wants people to also have true joy in their hearts.

With their skill sets, they decided to open an after-school language enrichment centre for children. That’s how the Joyful Heart Bilingual House started. The name is inspired by the hospitable nature of the Thai people. “Always smiling,” B says, but he wants people to also have true joy in their hearts.

The centre is tuition-based that intended to attract middle and upper-class families. They offered quality English and Mandarin language classes for children aged 4-9 years old. With today’s globalised world, many who can afford it want their children to learn a second language. It’s a way parents hope to ensure their children have the best chance at good employment in the future. It increases their children’s eventual access to work in the capital or in an international corporation.

Since its opening in March this year, business owners and government officials in the city have started enrolling their children.

It’s in interacting with both children and parents that B has come to see the brokenness. As December approaches, the Joyful Heart’s team is preparing a Christmas program and inviting students and their families to attend. Some of the children will be performing songs they have been learning in their new language. A pastor of a nearby church has been invited to share the meaning of Christmas; the message that Jesus came to a broken world and offers his peace. He is God with us.

B was telling the children that their dads and moms will be so happy to see them perform at the program. Then, a boy spoke up saying, “I don’t have a father.”

“Oh, it’s OK. Your mom will be very happy,” B replied.

Many children are growing up in broken homes. It’s prevalent and it doesn’t seem to discriminate between poor or rich families. The reasons are as varied as the circumstances.

The staff spend time with the parents who sit and wait while their child attend class. It’s an opportunity to strike up a conversation and say a few words of encouragement.

There was a time a mother came in with a heavy heart. While waiting for her child, she talked with the team and started tearing up. The team listened, offered words of comfort and prayed for her.

These are the kinds of conversations where B and his team are sowing seeds. Opportunities to share about God who loves us and cares for our families.

B knows this ministry through their missional business is a long-term process. It will take time to see people embrace joy in Christ. It takes the average Thai man seven years to come to faith.

But B and his family are committed. In fact, when he thinks about it, being able to serve with his whole family brings him joy. So, they will keep sowing and watering and sharing the hope of the gospel.

We hope these children succeed in life. We hope that an additional language might help them in life. But, more than that, we hope that the seeds planted and watered here will give them that true joy even with whatever life throws their way.

Though brokenness may not easily be mended, seeds are being sown so that the Land of Smiles may also be accompanied by joyful hearts.