Statistics on Christianity in Saraburi
A lot of people have asked us how big is our town in Thailand and we finally have the answer. We recently received a CD with a ton of maps and statistics on Christianity in Thailand and we are including below a map of the province of Saraburi.
We live in the district of PhraBaht in Saraburi province, about two hours north of Bangkok. PhraBaht has 72,000 people and 75 reported Christians. The church that we work with in PhraBaht is the only one in the district and there are only 20-30 people in attendance at the Sunday worship service at that church. I know that there are some Christians in PhraBaht who go over the border to nearby Lopburi province to worship but that is still a lot of people unaccounted for. However, I will save for another time my comments on the necessity of cleansing the church roles and making a reasonable judgment about the credibility of a person's profession of faith.
For those of you who pray for us and our work in Thailand, I share these statistics to inform your prayers and to give you a visual idea of the geography of where we are. If you'd like to share this map with others or print it out for use in a prayer meeting, you can download the PDF version by clicking here. Thanks for praying.
We live in the district of PhraBaht in Saraburi province, about two hours north of Bangkok. PhraBaht has 72,000 people and 75 reported Christians. The church that we work with in PhraBaht is the only one in the district and there are only 20-30 people in attendance at the Sunday worship service at that church. I know that there are some Christians in PhraBaht who go over the border to nearby Lopburi province to worship but that is still a lot of people unaccounted for. However, I will save for another time my comments on the necessity of cleansing the church roles and making a reasonable judgment about the credibility of a person's profession of faith.
The focus of our church planting work at this time is focused on nearby Nong Doan district, a lower class farming community. Nong Doan has 14,000 people and according the the statistical figures that I received, no Christians. However, I know of two Christian couples in Nong Doan. One travels to Bangkok to worship each week and the other comes to the church in PhraBaht. And then there is another single man who also comes to PhraBaht church each week. I don't know how much he really understands the Gospel but he has made a profession of faith, and he rides his old bicycle in the hot sun two hours each way to come to worship each Sunday. That last fact alone inclines me to think that there may be some genuine spiritual interest there.
For those of you who pray for us and our work in Thailand, I share these statistics to inform your prayers and to give you a visual idea of the geography of where we are. If you'd like to share this map with others or print it out for use in a prayer meeting, you can download the PDF version by clicking here. Thanks for praying.
Click on the map for a larger view