96% of Thailand is considered unreached. Only 0.5% of the people are evangelical Christian.
Thailand means “land of the free”, but though politically free, the people are in bondage to a complex web of spirit appeasement, occult practices and Buddhism. They are in need of the freedom that Jesus Christ offers. Radio is bringing them the Good News.
Some years ago, eight Thai businessmen developed a real burden for reaching their country for Christ. They decided it was time for the Thai church to take responsibility and no longer be so dependent on the West for evangelistic outreach.
They developed a cooperative church organization and set a goal to reach all 80,000 villages in Thailand with the gospel by 2020 by:
Planting 80,000 churches/house groups
Launching 100 community radio stations – at least one in every province
They invited HCJB Global to become a part of the outreach by helping develop their radio ministries, and we are committed to cooperating with the local believers in this initiative by providing necessary equipment, technical assistance and installation, and training in radio production, broadcasting and programming, and administration and ongoing mentoring.
More than 4,000 cell churches have already been planted by these Thai church planters.
Twelve new FM radio stations, operated by Christians, are on the air already, several near borders with other countries that share a common language. Our goal is to have 20 new stations on the air by the end of 2012.
HCJB Global has also helped a number of other stations already on air but in dire need of equipment repairs, upgrades or additional training.
We have held 15 radio-training workshops in the past two years. More than half of those attending have been young people who have a heart to use radio to reach their own generation for Christ.
The impact of our radio partnership in Thailand is growing...
When listeners call the stations, DJs are there to pray with them and connect them with a Biblical counseling program. At one station, all of the listeners who have become involved with the counseling program have accepted Jesus as Savior.
To reach out to their community, one station hosted a Christmas party in 2011, and 2,000 people attended! They set up a big stage where people shared their testimonies, children sang and put on a play about the Christmas story and life of Christ. Everyone who attended had the opportunity to hear the gospel and connect with followers of Christ as well as be encouraged to begin listening to the Christian community radio station.
5 Thai churches teamed up, and with the assistance of HCJB Global began a station in their large city. One listener said, “I love hearing your station in the market. It is different from all the others and encourages me!”
A 13-year-old Thai listener found our local partner’s station and loved it so much that she began going to church so that she could learn more. She gave her life to Christ and now wants to give back so that more people can hear about Jesus like she did. She is now in training to become one of the on-air announcers for HCJB Global’s partner station.
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