Good News Team September Prayer News

It has been said that the gospel remains the same always, but the methods of presenting it need to change to suit the hearers. Here at the Good News Team, we are still working hard with the same gospel message and the same vision that we have always had. We want to bring the good news of Jesus to children who otherwise may never hear it. We do this by presenting the gospel story clearly in Thai primary schools through partnerships with local churches. In this age of technology, the beautiful puppet shows that we use still work very well, as do the comic books and bible study lessons. However, we do need to update them to keep them relevant to each generation and to supplement them with online resources, including video content and online chats…. And that is exactly what we are working on.

Team members are working on producing relevant bible centred video content, updating the bible correspondence lessons and producing a new comic book!

Recent Events

News from the Office

So far this year we have sent information and some of our comic books to 17,000 schools across Thailand. 500 are sent out each week. Our new comic book is continuing to progress well, and we really appreciate your prayers as we continue to work on it. We have now completed about 60% of the pages and are aiming to get the rest completed before the end of the year. Some of the completed pages are displayed below. 

August Outreach to Phuket

Thank you all for praying during our outreach to schools in the southern province of Phuket last month. Five of the team members drove over twelve hours there and twelve hours back. I (Val) was already in Phuket for another conference, so I joined them for one and a half days of the 3 days of ministry there. Over the 3 days we ministered in 6 schools with 1,639 children hearing a clear gospel presentation.

On Wednesday morning in Phuket, we all spent time together in fervent prayer and then went to the first school where we were warmly greeted by the head teacher. We then had to set up quite quickly as the children were excited and arriving early. During the program both the children and the teachers were enthusiastic and very responsive. At the end of the program, we handed out our comic books as we usually do and then had some photos taken with some of the students and staff. At the end of the Wednesday morning program, the head teacher told all of the children to sit down and spend 15 minutes reading through the comics that we had just given to them. There is so much favour on what we do when it is bathed in prayer! This is another clear picture to remind us of the power of prayer.

Personal Stories

One woman I met was Suriwan. She told me, “I was 10 when you came to our school. My brothers and sisters and I started doing your lessons. This was okay for a while but then our father got angry about this. Gradually my brothers and sisters stopped, but I kept doing them because I wanted to know Jesus more. Then our village leaders got angry about this and told me I must say nothing about Jesus to anyone in our village. So I didn’t. But what I saw was that after I’d been doing the lessons for about a year people started to ask me a question. They asked me why I wasn’t afraid of evil spirits anymore. I had said nothing about that, but they saw a change in me. In Thailand we are taught from babies to fear evil spirits, and make offerings to them, and not make them angry. But as I had been learning about Jesus, I was asking Him for help with many things. And I knew Jesus was with me and He was giving me peace and confidence.”

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Pray for our outreach in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (Northeastern Region) on September 2-6. We will be visiting 6 schools over these 3 days in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Also pray for the churches that connected us to the schools here that they will be actively and effectively following up on the relationships established with the school community and in particular that they will be able to effectively connect with the children.
2) Pray for the children’s hearts to be prepared and open to receive the good news and that the teachers would also be open to encourage the children to follow up with the correspondence course.
3) Pray for children right across Thailand (and their families) who have still never heard the gospel. Pray that every child will at least have the opportunity to know Jesus.
4) Pray for our team as we continue to work on content for our new comic book. Pray for wisdom and creativity. Pray that we will be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He shows us new ways of approaching things
5) Pray for all of the children currently enrolled in our bible correspondence lessons. Pray that they will truly encounter Jesus as they learn about Him.
6) Pray for Win and Kanchana as they begin to plan and prepare our 2025 programs. Pray in particular that they would not only have Godly wisdom, but also great creativity to see new ways that they could continue to lead the Good News Team forward.
7) Pray for us as we update bible lessons so that they will be even more engaging for the children and pray for the children that they will really engage in and commit to the correspondence lessons.
8) Pray for the churches across Thailand, that they will have both the heart to reach out to children and the workers to do so.
9) Pray for Jean and her family as she prepares for an operation next month
10) Pray for Nut who has been struggling with his health recently

Comments

Thanks again for the way you partner with us through prayer, which has been so vital for us. We’ve seen your prayers answered in many ways. A big answer has been in school outreaches. Over the years I (Val) have had the privilege of meeting many Thai Christians who first heard of Jesus when we went to their school. Many of them say the same thing - “When you came to my school and told us about Jesus it really went deep into my heart. I didn’t understand it all, but deep down I knew this message was the truth. And I knew that one day I would follow Jesus.” I realised this is God answering your prayers as He makes Himself real to so many Thai young people.