South Pacific Division Leaders Build Ties in Thailand

Leaders from the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD), based in the Philippines, expressed heartfelt gratitude for its ongoing partnership with the South Pacific Division (SPD) during the SPD’s Executive Committee year-end meetings held mid-November in Thailand.

Thailand Mission education director Jarun Damrongkiattiyot thanked the SPD for choosing Thailand as the destination for the meetings. He said the mission activities that the committee members participated in during their stay, including visits to local Adventist churches, an orphanage, and the Chiang Mai Adventist Academy, had brought much happiness.

“Your coming makes our church alive,” he said. “When we take you to the school, the students are very happy, the teaching staff are very happy. So again, I would like to say thank you to everyone for coming to our country and supporting different activities.”

Southeastern Asia Union Mission president Somchai Chuenjit said that the union mission is thrilled and grateful for the partnership. “It’s really part of God’s work to share resources with one another, and we are just grateful that some of the SPD leaders have come to visit our territory and they’ve taken up a challenge to help us with the training center in the western part of Thailand,” he said.

The training center project, supported by funding from the SPD and Australian Union Conference, will be a center of influence for training young men and women to teach basic theology and evangelism along with English. The AUC is also helping with sponsorship of students from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam so they can attend Asia-Pacific International University, an Adventist tertiary institution.

Chuenjit said hosting the SPD meetings in that region was special. “I feel very honored to be invited to attend the SPD year-end meetings here in Thailand and to meet up with the leaders here for the Lord’s cause.”

For the visiting SPD Executive Committee members, the experience provided opportunities to learn about the SSD and the challenges the church is facing in that territory while being inspired by the attitude and faith of the local members.

SPD ministry and strategy associate director Nick Kross said, “Coming to Thailand has given us exposure to the leadership of the Thai Adventist church and also an exposure to the culture, the challenges, and just the opportunities that exist for our church to work and network with the local leadership. So that, I think, has been the highlight for me.”

Terry Kessaris, an Executive Committee member from Western Australia, said she appreciated the opportunity to visit the ADRA Keep Girls Safe project, which cares for girls at risk of being trafficked. “That was a massive education for me,” she said. “I was really touched, not only by the girls’ circumstances but also by the love, care, and safety provided for them. This type of work is a specialist work of a high order. May God continue to equip, guide, and richly bless this project as it blesses the most vulnerable.”

North New South Wales Conferences health director Erin Keegan emphasized the value of cross-cultural engagement: “The cross-cultural immersion experience is one that you can’t get virtually. The mission activities have been a real highlight.”

Trans Pacific Union Mission secretary Jane Gibson-Opetaia was inspired by the hospitality and faith of the people. “People were waiting for us [at the Pha Pu Jom village],” she said. “They gave us the warmest reception — as we have experienced everywhere else. We’ve really been inspired by the pastor who travels to one of the churches more than 62 kilometers [38 miles] — so faithful. We sang and prayed over the area where they’d potentially like to build a church. I just want to give thanks for how they practically live out their faith and hospitality.”

The original version of this story was posted on Adventist Record.