HOPE BANGKOK IF - FILIPINO MINISTRY
Hope Bangkok International Fellowship
I have been a Christian for 20 years. By God's conviction, my friends and I came to Thailand and was introduced to Hope of Bangkok – International Fellowship. Although I have been a Christian for many years, I must admit that Hope’s teachings have grounded and founded me more in God's word.
Hope IF was very small when I first came four years ago. We only had one care group with one leader. However, God increased us in number through the years. Now, we have seven care groups, eight key leaders and seven interns. When we started years ago, we only had 12 Filipinos attending the church but now we have 60-70 Filipino attendees in the church. Our vision is to have 200 committed Filipinos in IF but Pastor David is challenging us that with the kind of zeal that our members have, we can reach a thousand!
God gave us the burden to reach out to every Filipino person in Bangkok and let them know the great plan of God in their lives. Jeremiah 29:11 is the driving force that's motivating us to share God to every Filipino we encounter.
Mayette
I just want to share with you my joy and praises to the Lord for what He is doing in our Filipino group in Hope-IF Bangkok. The hand of God is moving mightily in our church and our Filipino members cannot deny His power and awesome presence.
We are taking into our hearts the word in John 15 that fruitfulness is God’s will and when we become fruitful He is glorified.
We are growing: God is sending more Filipinos in the church to know Him and to have a personal relationship with Him. New believers have this kind of hunger and desire to know God more. They are experiencing God in a very marvellous way. They can’t contain God’s spirit when it comes and touches them. The more they experience God, the more they want of Him and to know Him more. Most of all, there’s an increase in the fear of the Lord in their hearts.
Testimonies are overflowing and overwhelming. There was one sister who was spared from FMD (foot and mouth disease) when she prayed to God to cover her when their whole household caught the epidemic.
We have many people testifying of financial provisions and promotions. God is convicting their employers to bless them indeed! A number of our members are actually scheduled to go back to the Philippines but they are praying so that they can stay. Nobody wants to leave Thailand because of what the Lord is doing in their lives.
One male care group leader received a negative response when he informed his father about his desire to be a pastor one day. His family is in debt and they were expecting him to support them. However, he prayed in his heart for God to be in control of everything. Praise God that two months ago, his parents were born again in Christ. He rejoiced and added that he recently received a call from his dad and was informed that his dad found a property suitable for mining and the government awarded his dad the license to mine the property. What they will receive is more than enough to pay for all their debts and support their needs. God is really amazing!
Another faithful leader went home for vacation in the Philippines. She asked the pastor of the local church to allow her to gather the youth and hold a care group for another group. Getting the green light, she shared everything she learned in our church’ training, BC and WFL and the people were so amazed and blessed in all the teachings. God used her as she took the opportunity to share God’s words.
This is not the work of any man. We are blessed to have committed leaders, but our blessings come from more than hard work; it is God moving mightily in our church for the glory of His name.
Every little seed planted is growing. Our work is not in vain indeed! We just need to keep on sowing the seed. Praise God for His marvellous works!
