Getting to know GPC’s Missionary (Part 2)

BY MICHELLE GOH

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give His life as a ransom to many.” - MARK 10:45

WHERE ARE YOU MOVING TO AND WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MOVE?

Since 2011, I’d been involved in Thai student (university) ministry. It was a good fit since I’d been trained as a school teacher and I’ve always enjoyed discipling and journeying with young people. It has been a wonderful and exciting 9 years of hanging out with Thai students, sharing the gospel with them, discipling them and seeing the Lord do amazing things in their lives, although I also had my fair share of disappointments and struggles when students stray off or disappear, or when I found myself serving alone without a coworker.

So two years ago, when I was asked to take on a new role as language advisor in Daniel Training Team, my first reaction was to turn down the role because I was really happy and comfortable with my ministry, the ministry staff team I was in and my living arrangement where I had a really good housemate (a fellow Singaporean missionary who was also my student ministry co-worker). I was asked to reconsider as they really needed someone for that role and the leaders thought that I was well-suited for it. Since I thought it would be rude to say no so soon again, I told them to give me some time to pray about it.

I realized that when I turned them down the first time, I’d responded without praying, and based my decision on my own interest (I was comfortable where I was and I generally dislike major changes). Accepting this role would mean I would have to leave my current ministry, team and house, move away from Bangkok to a more laidback town setting, and learn new skills for a new ministry, work with a new team and start ALL over again in terms of settling into a new house, church and community, all on my own.

I sat on the decision for a few weeks, fearing what God would say if I asked Him what He wanted me to do. And sure enough, during my Bible reading one day, the verse in Mark 10:45 hit me like a brick, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give His life as a ransom to many.”  God didn’t say, “GO!” But He showed me clearly how the root of my fear was self-centeredness. With that verse, He reminded me that my life belongs to Him and that He’d called me to Thailand to serve others, and to give up my self-centered ways. So I said yes, but that I could only take up the role in late 2020, after running the big student conference as part of the organizing committee and after my home assignment. And so this October, when I go back to Thailand, I will have to make that big move.

WHAT IS THIS NEW ROLE?

When new missionaries join our organization, one of the first things they have to go through when they arrive in Thailand (after a 3-week orientation course in the OMF International Centre in Singapore) is Daniel Training*. They will have to live in Lopburi (located 140km north of Bangkok, this is a town similar to a town in Ipoh, Malaysia) for a period of time (most will stay for about a year) where they will be trained in Thai language and culture, learning to live among Thai people before they start any kind of ministry. My new role is to work at the centre’s Thai language school, where I will help guide the new missionaries in their language learning, track their progress, supervise their language tests and exams and help arrange their lessons with the Thai language teachers. My work is to help equip missionaries so they can minister to the Thai people in a culturally appropriate way using the Thai language. So instead of discipling students, I will be coaching missionaries.

(*Daniel Training is an integrated approach to language and culture learning, including worldview, for incarnational ministry.)

“GOD’S WORK DONE IN GOD'S WAY WILL NEVER LACK GOD'S SUPPLY.”

WHO PAYS YOU?

When I interact with people, both in Thailand and in Singapore, many are often curious about how I get ‘paid’ but are sometimes too shy to ask. Some assume that OMF is a company or an NGO that has donors like a charity and pays the missionaries monthly salaries. Hudson Taylor, the founder and former leader of OMF believed that “God’s work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”  As a result, OMF’s philosophy is dependence on God for the ministry’s provision through the reliance of a free will offering of God’s people. Every missionary unit (single or family) has to raise their own financial support, trusting that God will provide churches and individuals who want to partner them in God’s work. OMF missionaries are not on a payroll and do not actively solicit funds.

Since I quit my job in 2004 to go on this journey, I’ve always felt insecure financially. After all, being a full-time missionary means fully depending on God for everything. In the eyes of the world, we are financially unstable and insecure because we are not guaranteed that our needs will be provided since we don’t know when churches or people will start or stop giving, especially when budgets get cut and economic crisis or downturn takes place. However, I testify to God’s goodness in how Hudson Taylor’s statement has stayed through in my life so far in that I have never lacked God’s supply. And I have learnt through the years that God’s work done in God’s way is often done on our knees.

Michelle is a missionary with OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and has served in Thailand, first as an associate (2006-2008), and as a full member since 2011. She has been mostly involved in student work, discipling students and training them to be future leaders of the Thai church. Right now, she is back in Singapore on home assignment (until end of September), which is a time when missionaries go back to their home country to reconnect with their family, friends, church and supporters. She loves being with people so she really misses being able to meet everyone in church on Sundays. She would like to get to know those of you who are not so familiar with her and connect with as many people as possible. Please contact her if you would like to find out more about her or missions in Thailand, receive her prayer newsletter regularly, meet up with her in person, have a chat with her online or even have her join one of your CG meetings.