Missionaries in Thailand
Thailand prides
itself in the fact that it is the only country in Southeast Asia
that has never been a colony of another country. It also prides
itself in its strong Buddhist tradition. Although Christianity
was introduced to Thailand by European missionaries in the 16th
century, Christians constituted only 0.7 percent (438,600) of
the population by the year 2001.
Portugal was the first country to send Christian missionaries to
Thailand, in 1554. The French followed in 1660. Most of the
early missionaries were Catholic, and by 1908, Thailand had
approximately 50 Catholic schools with nearly 4,000 pupils.
Today, approximately 25 percent of the Christian population is
Roman Catholic. Almost half of the Christian population lives in
Chiang Mai province. Most of the remainder lives in the Bangkok
area and in the northeastern provinces.
Christian missionaries have made substantial contributions to
Thailand's development. They introduced the printing press and
Western surgery, made the first smallpox vaccinations, and wrote
the first Thai-English dictionaries. King Mongkut (Rama IV)
learned English and Latin from Christian missionaries, although
he reportedly told one of his missionary friends, "What you
teach us to do is admirable, but what you teach us to believe is
foolish."
Most of the early converts to Christianity in Thailand were
ethnic minorities such as the Chinese immigrants. Today, the
majority of Christians are Thai, but missionaries are also
actively working with many of the country's more than 30 ethnic
tribal groups, which range in size from the Yellow Leaf with
just a few hundred members to the Pwo Karen with almost half a
million members. Most of these ethnic groups live in northern or
northeastern Thailand. They are primarily animistic, and are
constantly making offerings to the myriad spirits that they
believe inhabit just about everything from their village and
their house to the trees and the mountain paths.
Several evangelical agencies such as the New Tribes Mission
(NTM) and Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) have been working
with the tribal groups for 20 years or more. Because many of the
tribes don't speak Thai, the missionaries have found that they
must learn to speak not only Thai, but also the indigenous
languages of the tribes. For the same reason, they are finding
that it is critical to translate the Bible into the tribe's own
language.
In Thailand, foreign missionaries of all faiths are required to
register with the government. In May 2001, approximately 2,000
foreign missionaries were reportedly registered legally,
including 418 Roman Catholic, 996 Protestant, 150 Mormon, and 6
Muslim missionaries.
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