History
Brief History of Kham Siri through the eyes of Stefan and Tina
Ever since I became a Christian, I felt the call to the poor. Therefore we had a wonderful ministry with the homeless and drug addicts in London. But after 10 years God stirred our hearts to go oversees and to live in a poorer country, where there is no help from the government or social services. So, through a contact we, that is myself, Tina, my wife and son, Tobias, were guided by God to Chiang Mai.
God opened a door into a poor community. Tina had seen in a particular house in a vision and God said “This is where my heart is.” We rented and moved into the house as soon as we found it. For the first year we befriended and loved our neighbors. We had birthday parties, went for outings and used any opportunity to bless them with food, fruits, birthday presents etc. But very often our neighbors, which are really poor blessed us with things first; it became a “fun competition”
At that time we also learnt the Thai language. We studied for one year with a professional teacher, but mainly we learned Thai from our neighbors. They were our teachers and we were the learners.
After one year we asked God how we could bless this community. We felt that teaching English would be the right way forward. We rented a place which was called already “Kham Siri”, which means “Word of Glory”. From then onward the ministry was called Kham Siri.
We taught English and always had a CD with worship music in the background. Soon after that many kids and youth showed interest in knowing more about Jesus. On Saturdays we introduced worship songs with action where the kids could participate and told them Bible stories, which they really enjoy listening to.
Through these activities many kids and youth gave their lives to Jesus. At the same time God moved among the adults within the community. Some adults came to know Jesus after having visions of heaven and seeing several substantial healings amongst the people there. Some of the healings were healing from tuberculosis, rheumatism, a serious accident and many more. Many of those who received healings gave their lives to Jesus. We continue to visit, pray and encourage them.
I also started more in-depth Bible study on Sunday afternoons specifically for those with leadership potential. We studied the bible, shared about our lives and prayed together. It really has all the characteristics of a home church. In the beginning it was just one young 18 year old man named Anusha. He is my now assistant. This group steadily grew and now has its own identity. Quite a few of the participants gave their lives to Jesus as a result of being part of this group; this is just the beginning of planting a church in this community. We also had some youth and adults baptized which was wonderful to see. These new believers had never heard the name of Jesus before.
At that time we felt the need to move on from our old facility. It was a great place for the first 3 years… transparent, cozy, but rather on the small side. We felt that God wanted to give us some more influence in a wider area. The old place was confined to just that one specific community.
We found a much bigger venue on the edge of our old community, but allowing us to reach out to other areas within the city of Chiang Mai. We could see God at work at our opening day for our new building. We had many people come and enjoy the day with us.
We continue to teach English, German and the Bible. We plan to open the centre most mornings for two hours as a drop-in centre where people can come chat and pray. I can see another bible study / home church being started there in the near future.
It looks as if God is building his church here and we are very exited that God is extending his kingdom to the Thais in the city of Chiang Mai.
Stefan, Tina & Tobias
Kham Siri Timeline
Phase 1: 2004
Stefan and Tina’s first year in Chiang Mai. They moved into the neighborhood; built relationships with the residents of that area; learned the language from them; and served and loved their neighbors.
Phase 2: 2005
Started the language school for one year.
Phase 3: 2006-2007
Stefan and Tina developed the language school into a youth club. In addition to teaching language they put more emphasis on teaching the Bible; doing crafts with Christian content; and building a Christian community.
They initiated separate bible teaching for those with leadership potential.
Phase 4: 2008
Moved to the new, larger location thus expanding Kham Siri’s geographical area of influence. The new facility has the potential to fulfill the vision God gave us – to plant a church in the community.
Phase 5: 2008
Continue to develop the Kham Siri outreach and begin active leadership sharing.
Phase 6: 2008-2009
Continue to develop the ministry while changing over to a focus of mentoring national Thai leadership.
Phase 7: 2012
Completely hand leadership over to Thais resulting in a new self-sufficient Thai church in Chiang Mai.