October 10, 2006
Dear Friends,
It is often said that change happens slowly, just beyond the
range of our perceptions of each moment, until we realize one
morning that things have changed. It is also said that change
happens suddenly and unexpectedly. The latter is like tanks rolling
into a city announcing a new government while you’re trying
to watch television. The former is like the slip of paper you
receive from an ATM telling you your bank account balance. You
never perceive that balance is changing until one day the ATM
gives you neither slip nor money because your balance is negative.
But there are times when change is anticipated, like in autumn
when leaves change colors and fire our world with a welcomed beauty
reminding us we are part of God’s grandeur, as a poet once
told us. So whenever we come to those moments when we know that
change is about to take place, we are filled with a kind of Christmas
morning excitement.
A General Assembly can, from time to time, produce a kind of
Christmas morning excitement, especially when great changes are
about to take place. Every two years our ecumenical partner, the
Church of Christ in Thailand holds a General Assembly. Representatives
from churches, presbyteries (called phaks), and the various
national church committees gather. Renewing friendships, worshiping,
singing, discussing important issues facing the church and, of
course, arguing are what make this event so much fun. Every four
years, the CCT elects new officers at its GA. This coming GA,
starting on October 16, will conclude on the 20th with the election
of new officers—from moderator, vice-moderator, and general
secretary down to the heads of committees. Many have reached retirement;
others have reached the end of their term limitation and can’t
run again for office. So younger people will very likely move
into positions of church authority, and we will have two kinds
of change. One is a changing of the guard and the other is a generational
change.
It is appropriate that the theme for this GA is “Go and
bear fruit” (John 15:16). The hope for the church with its
new leaders is to be like trees moving from autumn into winter
and finally into spring, when they begin to blossom and bear fruit.
There is much that needs to be done in the church for this to
happen. Banchong Chompoowong, a friend who will be nominated for
vice-moderator, tells me that the CCT faces a challenge in the
relationship between the congregations and the national church.
In one of those slow kinds of changes, congregations have come
to feel distant from and forgotten by the national church and
even by congregations in another town. Perhaps it is normal for
congregations to feel this way. After all, the national church
has its seat in a distant town and seems powerful and vested,
with its money, institutions, programs, and way of thinking that
seem so different from the work of a local congregation.
Yet, as Banchong said, we are one church, the church of
Christ in Thailand, and we belong to each other. It is
natural to think locally since that’s where you live. But
it is also natural to think nationally because we are all brothers
and sisters within the body of Christ and thus share each other’s
burden. We are charged with the same Holy Ghost to minister, to
love, and to participate in mission. These congregations have
many needs. The CCT knows this and with the shared resources of
the church is helping to bring change. It provides pastors to
churches that can’t afford one. Though the rural population
of Thailand is still mired in poverty, congregations still must
work toward self-sufficiency.
Whoever is elected into the leadership of the CCT knows they
must continue to be relevant to and felt by congregations. They
also know they must nurture the spiritual life of those strong
congregations that also need leadership. The national church cannot
be distant and concerned only with its own programs and institutions
and theology. As Banchong said, the new leaders must go to see
and understand and bring about understanding within the church
body. Only then will the programs to build up the church have
any meaning and begin to bear fruit. It is not a change of course
as much as change found and accepted. Like the change found in
your heart when you wake up on Christmas morning.
One of the more remarkable things about being Presbyterian is
our mission work around the world. It makes us brothers and sisters
with churches like the CCT. Presbyterians have been a part of
Thailand’s church for over 150 years. It is a legacy of
your faith and participation in the Holy Spirit that moves across
the earth with God’s love and grace; and it is not something
we should change so lightly. We ask for your prayers for the CCT,
that the leadership coming out of its GA will be charged with
the Holy Spirit and respond to the needs of the church body. As
always, we thank you for your prayers and support on our behalf
as we serve together in His Name. And remember change is in the
air. Sometimes it might be wise to duck.
Scott and Khanita Satterfield
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 122
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