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Volume. XXIV, No. 20 The Missions Field in Laos
The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Laos is located in the centre of Indochina, sharing borders with China to the North, Myanmar to Northwest, Thailand to the West, Cambodia to the South and Vietnam to the East. The country has a total area of 236,800 square kilometres, out of which around 70% of Laos\' terrain is mountainous. The Mekong River is the main geographical feature in the west and it forms a natural border with Thailand in some areas. Laos is a relatively late comer in development as compared with other South East Asian countries. My initial plan when I contacted brother Surish about visiting him was to cover the 2 cities that he is involved in, Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos, and Siem Pang in Northern Cambodia which borders Laos. However with the 5 days I had planned this proved to be insufficient as we would be spending about 2 to 3 days just in travelling. A decision was made to focus on Vientiane, leaving Siem Pang for a future trip. The following is a summary of my observations in Vientiane with regards to the Church in Laos. There are several churches in Laos. Some such as the Anglican church are allowed to operate but only for the expatriate community. No local Lao citizen is allowed to worship in these expatriate churches. The only church group that has a license to conduct church worship services is the LEC (Laos Evangelical Church). There are 3 main LEC churches in Vientiane with several more LEC churches scattered throughout Laos in smaller provinces.
There is a Lao Bible available. The Lao language is not very rich in expression and they have some issues in proper translation. The pastors have to sometimes refer to English bibles to help in their preaching. I understand that they refer to the KJV for clarification. The LEC pastors are trained in Thailand. They do not report to any external or mother church overseas. Some of their training is between 6 to 12 months. They have a system of elders and deacons. With the situation of Christian worship under state control, it has given rise to many house churches operating but under some fear of persecution. It is not possible even to evangelise on the streets of Vientiane. However there is a church that works with the LEC so that they are legitimate but they operate away from Vientiane and do not seem to demand much control over their activities. During my trip to Vientiane I have come across some locals who speak English very well. These are people who studied in America or other countries. I attended and spoke at a Sunday evening gathering of about 25 people, mainly ladies, at the home of a kind lady named Mina, who opened up her home for the meeting and provided dinner for all who attended. Though I was looking forward to trying out some Laotian food, she cooked spaghetti because she heard that I was from Australia and she wanted to serve food that I would be familiar with.
During my trip in Laos I met up with brother Surish who lives in Vientiane. Although Brother Surish is not a missionary adopted or supported by Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church, he was gracious in showing me the city and spending time with me. During my visit, I requested Brother Surish to share with the Hopefuls, some of his experiences in Laos and Cambodia, and the reason that brother Surish has been living in Vientiane for about 6 years and more recently, staring to commute to Siem Pang. The following is what he would like to share with us.
Ministry in Siem Pang – Cambodia
Praise God for the ministry in Siem Pang through a brother in Christ by the name called (Raa) with his family. This brother came to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through a friend living in Stung Treng. Ever since then, he has this burden to share the Word of God to the people living in Siem Pang village. Though his knowledge about the Bible is very shallow, nothing can stop him from sharing the Word of God.
By the grace of God he was brought to meet up with me while I was helping the ministry at Stung Treng. He saw the urgent need of the souls perishing without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ at Siem Pang and their spiritual condition was so poor. Thus, he invited me to go over and share the Word of God to them at first in his home.
Through much prayer our Lord Jesus Christ paved the way for me to travel there on a motor-bike 5 hours journey or 8 hours journey on a boat along the river. Praise God that 8 families with their children and 7 youth were able to come together and praise and worship the Lord Jesus Christ on Sunday morning. Most of the families are farmers, mainly growing rice and vegetables. Some of them walk to church (about 1 hour or so) since there are no public transport services at Siem Pang.
There are two more villages away from Siem Pang, one is 7 km and the other is 10 km away. The Lord enabled our brother (Raa) together with me to visit these families living in these villages to evangelize to them. Indeed, through evangelism 5 families were saved at the 7 km village, and 4 families at the 10 km village also accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Saviour. We truly rejoice to see souls being saved and brought to the Lord.
These 2 villages comprised of 9 families and some teenagers, and a couple of youths gather in the afternoon at 4 pm for praise and worship service in a wooden house.
Due to financial constraints, I’m only able to visit them once or twice a month and conduct prayer meeting and worship service. May I urge the Hopeful brethren to pray for them that God will provide the means to have worship service every Lord’s Day and to conduct Sunday school for the children and adults. Please do remember to uphold them in your personal prayer that they will continue to grow in the faith and remain steadfast and grounded in the most Holy faith to the end.
Ministry in Vientiane – Laos
The country Laos is still very much under communist rule, even though their constitution states democracy and freedom of religion. Sad to say, that the government of Laos only recognises the 3 churches namely (Nakham, Anou and Nasai) which are registered under the Lao Evangelical Church. Foreigners are allowed to worship together in these 3 churches. There is also a Catholic church and an Inter-denomination church under the premises of an English Centre called (ARDA) mainly for expatriates. Laotians are not allowed to worship with the foreigners at ARDA. This centre is managed by the Anglican denomination from Singapore.
Moreover, there are numerous underground churches being operated throughout the whole country by different denominations under the pretext as NGO’s. The law strongly prohibits evangelism or distribution of tracts. Praise God that through these 3 churches many more are coming to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There are many Christians in Savannakhet province and other provinces down south of Laos.
We gather among ourselves in a house now and then to worship God.
We understand recently that the Lao governments are opening the door of the country slowly and gradually to the world for economic advancement. The reason for this is because Laos was closed for many years and it is very backward in comparison to neighbouring countries. In addition to that, Laos’ infra-structure is so poor and under developed in many areas and aspects of economic development.
There are several ways in reaching out to the Lao people. May I beg you brethren to pray fervently for an open door and the freedom of religion in Laos to be practiced freely just like other countries. Pray too that God will grant us the burden to do something for the Lao people before His 2nd coming soon. Finally, brethren do remember my family that we may always be found faithful in doing His work for His glory. All praise and glory to Him.
In Christ
Surish, Phengvanh & Elishama
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