Monk Chat

(Inside the temple, people are honouring Buddha and chanting.)

I have been here in Thailand for 10 days now visiting one of the AW80 outreach teams. It's always a blessing to join up with a team, hear what God has been doing on outreach & in their lives and help give any support/ insight needed. I also get to join in on the ministry they do, which is a highlight for me. As a school leader, my time is often full of administration and pastoral care- two things that I thankfully happen to love. But I miss meeting the travelers, the locals and the lost.

 

In light of that, I want to share a story about the ministry we worked with in Chinag Mai, Thailand. Many of the Buddhist temples here in Chiang Mai offer a free open chat with the monks. It's mostly set up for tourists to come meet a monk and ask about Buddhism, Thai culture and anything else they want to know. I had never talked a lot with a Buddhist monk, and I assumed that they were very strong in their faith and that it would be hard to strike up a conversation about Jesus. But what I discovered is that many of the monks are studying in the temples because they offer free education, all the way up through University. Many of the monks we talked with knew they didn't want to be monks for their whole lives. They were simply walking out this lifestyle until they finished their education.

(Talking with some monks at "monk chat")

There was one particular monk that I want to share about; I'll call him 'D' since I don't want to use his real name. D comes from Bangladesh and has been studying as a monk for many years. He is a University student and he also strongly believes in Buddhism but he is open to hear about other views. As D shared about his beliefs about karma, the next life and the pursuit to remove suffering from his life, I listened carefully, I asked questions and I wanted to understand who he was. He is a real person, not just a project. I also shared my own beliefs and let him know I am a Christian. He has studied other religions in his University classes and knew a bit about Jesus. A few years ago, someone gave him a Bible and he has read through the whole book. How many Christians out there have even done that?! So when I asked him if there are any questions about Christianity that I could help answer for him, he knew what to ask. He asked the deep hard questions. God really helped me to have answers for him and to explain more about Jesus, the trinity, original sin and even Jesus coming back. There were some questions that I didn't have answers to but hope to pray about and know how to answer him. We exchanged emails and I hope to be able to continue our conversation about Jesus through email.
D has read the Bible, had the gospel shared with him, has thought about the hard questions and he is interested in Jesus. I don't know where he is at on the journey toward receiving Jesus but I was blessed that God used me to continue planting seeds.

Please pray for D & these monks that as they study and seek truth they will find Jesus!