March 2016 Prayer Letter
Dear Friends & Family,
Thanks for continuing to pray for us. I want to update you briefly on Grace City Bangkok church and Kanok Bannasan, and then share a bit of what is ahead for us.
Growth for New Believers and Church Re-Planting
In the past 6 months or so, we have had 3-4 people profess faith in Christ at Grace City but it seems that 2 or 3 of them are rather shaky in their faith, wavering between Christ and the world. Please pray for them to become firmly grounded in Christ, and for wisdom for church leadership and members in following up with them, encouraging them in the right way.
Our church plant has also undertaken a bit of an experiment in church planting. Another church in the city, Covenant Church, has been struggling for quite some time, unsure of how to go forward as it has been dealing with multiple issues and challenges. After consultation between our 2 churches, Covenant Church has come to worship with Grace City church for year as a “sabbatical year” when they can rest, and learn how to grow into a Gospel-centered congregation, with better structures in place for membership and leadership. In a year’s time, we hope to spin this group from Covenant Church out again into a church re-plant. Pray that the group from Covenant Church will be firmed up in their faith and learn more about what it means to be a church during this year.
Kanok Bannasan
Please pray for Kanok Bannasan (OMF Publishers Thailand) where I work one day per week, assisting with translation, correspondence, and anything else they need me to do. We have a backlog of book titles to publish and few editors to work on them, with people suggesting new books to us all the time. Pray for wisdom, focus, endurance, and a positive bottom line. It is hard to stay in the black when your target audience (Thai Christians) are only 0.7% of the country’s whole population.
Ph.D Plans
I am now in my 4th year of teaching at Bangkok Bible Seminary and I could easily see myself doing this for many years to come. It sometimes takes missionaries a number of years to find a ministry that really fits them and I think I have found my niche(s): teaching, preaching, and writing. But even as I enjoy teaching church history, missions, and research skills at Bangkok Bible Seminary, I am aware of my weaknesses and limitations too. In order to equip myself for greater long-term effectiveness in teaching and writing, I am looking into starting a Ph.D program on the British system (3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, dissertation only, no classes). I want to research a topic in Thai church history in order to improve my teaching at the seminary, and be more knowledgable for writing on theology, history and missions. I have not yet made applications to any programs but am actively researching options and trying to hone in on a specific topic in order to write a research proposal. My goal is to determine the right program and apply this year, then begin studies after our home assignment in the States (Dec 2016 to June 2017). I am not sure if I would do a full-time or part-time program but ideally we would not be away from ministry in Bangkok any longer than necessary.
Please pray that we would see God’s guidance clearly as I search out the right Ph.D program, and that God would provide the funds needed (Ph.Ds are not cheap!)
by Christ’s grace,
Karl & Sun Dahlfred
PRAYER POINTS
- Growth in faith for new believers at Grace City Church
- God’s guidance for Ph.D plans
- Book publishing at Kanok
PRAISES
- Higher financial support level (91%) at start of 2016
- John (2 y.o.) now potty-trained. No more diapers!
CALENDAR
2/21 preach at Grace City
3/8-12 Homeschool Week
3/15 preach at BBS Chapel
4/10 preach at Grace City
4/25-27 BBS Camp
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