My flesh and my heart may fail,
Psalm 73:26
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
We started this year feeling weary and heavy. There were too many things to attend to, and we felt unqualified for this job. Thoughts of quitting and throwing in the white flag came to us frequently.
Through it all, God showed Himself to be the strength of my heart. There’s no amazing miracle, no sudden turn of events, just a quiet strength that surfaces in my heart, saying that “You are my beloved”. After 2 months of doubt and weariness, His words lifted our spirits. The Lord wants us to serve from a place of being His beloved.
As God calls, we believe that He will provide all that we need. Apart from raising funds for our personal expenses, we are also raising funds for our ministry expressions as they increase in scale. As we stepped out in childlike faith, we see how God has been providing through generous and faithful saints.
As of 24th February 2024, we have already raised 40% of our 2024 faith target (for ministry purposes), with another 32,400 SGD to go! Here’s a breakdown of where these funds will go to:
House Full of Love Community Center (BDR)
Our fundraising target for BDR is 30,000 SGD.
13,650 SGD: Outreach Programmes
16,350 SGD: Operational costs (e.g. salaries, utilities, etc)
BDR exists to broaden education and employment opportunities for the people in our at-risk neighbourhood, help them find God’s purpose for their lives and empower them to achieve it. In 2023, we saw about 50 people coming to Christ especially over the festive Christmas period. As we prayed together to set a direction for 2024, God led us to focus on helping people in our community to “know God and make God known”: we want to see new believers being built up to be true followers of Christ.
Our staff team remains small with 2 Thai staff led by Sheryl. We are serve a community of 5000 people, including 50 kids and their families who participate in our daily programmes regularly. We urgently need more staff, both local and international, to serve with us. Our heart is to have our local staff paid fair wages as they give their lives to serve God in the local mission field. Pray with us to have the funds to do so, but more importantly, for God to send the right people with aligned and willing hearts.
For more details, read our ministry newsletter here.
L-R: adult new believers cell group, English program for kids aged 5-18 years old, regular home visits to the families of the kids
JSCO: Business as Missions
Our fundraising target for JSCO is 12,000 SGD
7,200 SGD: Discipleship program for our youth interns
4,800 SGD: Outreach programs and mission trips in Thailand
This month, our staff team partnered with Boys Brigade in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand to teach digital skills and inspire them to live their faith out wherever they are. Over 4 weeks, we conducted Zoom sessions with their students and built meaningful discipleship relationships with them. We hope for an opportunity to visit them in-person to build deeper connections and relationships (their province is a 10-hour drive away from where we are).
JSCO’s vision is to see a holistic environment built to disciple today’s youths in a relevant way, within the overlapping space of workplace and ministry. JS stands for ‘Jong Sang’, which means ‘To Build’ in Thai. CO stands for ‘Creating Opportunities’. To find out more about what JSCO does, visit their website here.
Boys Brigade kids learning how to design social media posts with bible verses, to be used for their social media evangelism efforts.
Refugee Ministry @ Tak, Thailand
Our fundraising target for the refugee ministry is 12,000 SGD.
This fund will help to pay for their monthly food expenses for 1 year. The ministry runs a school for 160 refugee kids and also houses 70 refugee kids. With these funds, they can be provided with basic nutrition like vegetables, rice, and the occasional meat. This is equivalent to less than 7 SGD a month per child.
These funds will help to stabilize the basic needs of the ministry. The leaders of this ministry also run a church, and we partner with them in reaching out to the school kids and their families to bridge them to the church.
Christmas 2023 was a memorable one, where church members got to eat more meat for their meals.
Join hands with us!
Would you consider giving generously to our ministry projects and be part of this movement? We want to see more kids, youths, families, and communities transformed by God’s love.
Please send us a message on WhatsApp or email us at jasgys@gmail.com if you want to contribute to our ministry projects. Thank you for sowing into God’s kingdom in Thailand.