New Creation
Gymea/Miranda Uniting Church Young Adults Group

EVENT REPORT 2005
Date Time Location Event Home
Friday, July 29th 7.30pm - dinner Rabieng Thai  Thai Restaurant in Sylvania Calendar

Friday, July 29th - Rabieng Thai Restaurant
Photography by Andy

Tonight we gathered together at the Rabieng Thai Restaurant which is located at Sylvania Heights. We enjoyed the company of the Donaldsons, the Foxs, the Naylors, the Voss' and the Youngs.

We started with entree which consisted of money bags, spring rolls, curry puffs, and chicken satay sticks. YUM!!!!!

Mains included a variety of Panang Curry (yum), Pad Thai (yum), Siam Cashew Chicken (yum), Rama of Sunset (yum) and a Duck Thai Salad (yum). All of this was coupled with either bioled rice or coconut rice (which is double yum). 
Conversation flowed so well with the food that I didn't manage to get the devotion in, so I will include it here:    

Thailand , formerly Siam , officially Kingdom of Thailand , has few Christians:

  • Buddhist 93.4%
  • Muslim 3.8%
  • Chinese 1.6%
  • Christian 0.5-1%
  • Hindu 0.1
  • Other 0.1-0.6%

There are 18,000 Buddhist temples and 140,000 Buddhist priests in Thailand . Nearly all Buddhist men enter a wat [monastery] for at least a few days or months.

Nearly all Muslims live in South Thailand or metropolitan Bangkok . Islam is the majority religion in Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun provinces.

More than nine out of ten Thai people still do not know about the great love of our Creator God.

The first missionaries came to Bangkok in 1828, but it was 12 years before the first sustained missionary presence was established. After 19 more years, they baptised their first convert. Official antagonism, persecution, and the short life-span of missionaries hampered the growth of the Church. The churches in the north remain the strongest in Thailand , with 75 per cent of the country’s Christians being from this area.

The growth of the Church has been disappointing. Much of the growth has been among the Thai-speaking Chinese in the cities and the marginalised tribal peoples.

Of the 76 provinces, 14 have fewer than 1000 Christians, three have less than 100, and four have no evangelical congregations. 

It is important to be aware of these troubling facts so that we can include them in our daily prayers.

 

----