Alot of my observations so far amongst the Tai Yuan Church life revolves around the key word ‘relationship’. I am living in a Tai Yuan Christian village where most of the Christians come from the few main family lines in the village. Generations with surnames known for their early Christian roots. We have also learned that almost all the members in Church find their relations back to these few key family names through birth or marriages.
This is something worth noting when we endeavour to see church planting movements amongst unreached Tai Yuan villages.
Observing the social / family construct of the community helps in identifying the core influencers. They may be families with respected reputations or with long history in the community. They may be the ‘middle class’ educated ones where people look up to. Their decisions and approval usually turn the tide in the community’s perspective on things and issues. Thus building good relationships with these core influencers may well be helpful towards a missionary or evangelist working and starting ministry amongst the community.
Too often we feel comfortable reaching out to the poor, the needy or the uneducated in the community. It seems like a good starting point for the Gospel to be shared with community development efforts among these people. It is sometimes easier to speak to a group from a ‘patron – client’ context. With the missionary / evangelist ‘giving’ and a particular group ‘receiving’.
BUT. How do we reach out to the core influencers? What can we ‘give’ to a group that may not necessarily ‘need’ anything from us. If we do not start with a ‘patron – client’ context in dialogue, how do we present ourselves as equals or at least worth listening to?
Community development efforts as a tool to reach out to this context, may not see the core influencers as ‘direct receivers’. But can we help give to a community or group under their care with their permission and credit them with being a part of the help given? Can we be of help to their children / business / social network? This is an area that needs consideration, in view of the highly structured social hierarchy of the worldview of the Tai Yuan.
Reading from Herbert Swanson’s “Khrischak Muang Nua – A Study in Northern Thai Church History”, it seems that the strategy then (knowingly or unknowingly) was to build good relationships with core influencers. And that the first few converts were core influencers led to a considerable positive movement of converts to the Gospel in the beginning. Are there points worth learning as we look at church planting efforts among Tai Yuan communities in our day and age? Yes.
First convert was a core influencer in the community…
“Nan Inta spent many hours in conversation with the McGilvarys about both religion and the wider world. The things he heard were attractive to him, but what most impressed him was when McGilvary correctly predicted an eclipse in August 1868. That prediction called into question all of his own beliefs about the world, and after much personal struggle and serious thought Nan Inta became a Christian. Since he was a well-known and widely respected man with a reputation for sincerity in searching for truth, popular interest in the new religion redoubled with his conversion, especially as he was also a relative of the royal family.” (pg.10-11)
When a core influencer received Christ, other core influencers start believing…
“The new year, 1869, opened with great hope for the mission. The history of the church in northern Siam began on the first Sunday of 1869, January third, when Nan Inta received baptism. At that time, at least two members of the royal family also showed serious interest in Christianity, and other converts were on the way. (pg.12)
“Four of the first seven converts to Christianity were men who already had a secure place in their society. Others of equal status showed serious interest. McGilvary and Wilson started preparations for much larger numbers of conversions because of relatively important members of Chiang Mai society having already joined the new faith.” (pg.18)
What must we do to effectively reach out to these group of core influencers? We have to pray for the work of the Holy Spirit to prepare and bring to us core influencers in the like of Cornelius in Acts 10, who was able to have such influence over his ‘relatives and close friends’ (Acts 10:24).
We have to pray for God to open opportunities for us to be in places where core influencers are. We need to pray for boldness and wisdom to effectively interact with core influencers in the like of Lydia of Acts 16, through her own baptism was also able to instantly influence the baptism of her household as well.
Pray that the Lord will bring in the ‘Cornelius’ and ‘Lydia’ type converts among the Tai Yuan.
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