New churches have a honeymoon phase, but growing beyond the Honeymoon stage is important. That is where we are & there is a lot to rejoice in & pray for!
Growing pains
The ministry is going through its first transition time, so there are growing pains as we try to figure out how to work the next stage of growth, but working through those transitions is tough. The church is about 1.5 years old now, full of new Christians, and up to this point, though people have been doing a lot of learning and serving, they haven’t been ready to really Teach and Lead, themselves. But now there are several that are, and I need wisdom to guide and equip them to do it well. This is a big step toward handing off some of the work currently on my shoulders and preparing guys to do more pastoral work.
Warts
What does it mean to be out of the Honeymoon stage? You start to see each other’s warts. But that is also where true love starts to mature. A real church is deep relationships of discipleship and training, and everyone is getting to know each other better and better and see each other’s warts. This is a good thing. This is one of the good things about a church, and what helps us all grow together as a family and in our understanding and application of the Gospel with one another.
Striving
Over the last couple of months, I have been working through creating a framework that we can use to help explain the Gospel here more clearly as well as how it is connected to our growth and maturity as Christians. There is a lot of misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian, what we do, and why we do it, so I am working on something to simplify, clarify, and visualize faith and the steps of growth.
Video Bible Project we made for YouTube
We have also recently finished a Video Bible Project to make the Bible more accessible in Thai. We broke up the New Testament, put it on a video background, added the audio, and uploaded it to YouTube. I think it will be a nice tool for people to use, send to their friends, and also hopefully draw people to our YouTube channel, and therefore see our sermons and come to church.
Foundation Update Praise
The work on setting up a foundation hit a snag when our lawyers that we initially planned to work with didn’t work out. They turned out to be expensive and not all that helpful. So, we begin to pray that the Lord would lead us to one that would be helpful and affordable.
That He did. Initially the lawyers fees were going to be around $3k, but it was inconvenient. Then we found one that would be around $2000, but not very helpful. Then finally, we found one that has been very helpful to us, and more than that — FREE. We didn’t ask for any handouts, and due to the complications of being connected with Christianity, didn’t expect any ease, but the Lord just dropped someone in our lap who is going to help us more than all the others, more convenient, closer, and free also. We praise the Lord for answered prayers!
That being said, it is not going as fast as we would like. So, pray it will be completed soon!
Yours for the Gospel in Thailand,
Philip & Lori Bassham
(Claire, Grace, and Emma)
New Pulpit a church member donated!
Glad to have my mom visiting for a few weeks!
Sounds like awesome challenges and God is supplying answers. We love you and are praying for these challenges.
I am enjoying it. Love you too!
So wonderful to see how the place is filling up with more and new friends! Praying that these challenges are just blessings in disguise! May God continue to guide and supply. Love to you all!
Thanks!
This blog is so awesome! I will start esoteric churches with this information!