Changes: Middle East & North Africa

Thank you for your partnership with Cathy and me as we advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the world through His servants. From day one of this New Year we have been on the run. On a recent trip through the South Eastern United States (3000 miles in seven days) I met with twenty six churches, twelve individuals and shared with several hundred interested in missions. Last night I just returned from another trip through Texas connecting to people and churches focused on the Middle East/North Africa... read on.

UPDATE - NORTH AFRICA MIDDLE EAST: You can’t turn on the news without hearing about the protests across North Africa and other Middle East nations. These events remind me of what took place in Eastern Europe in 1989 and the years following. Yes, there are differences but as a collogue remarked, “regime change, even if for the better, is traumatic.” So we need to praying for God's grace and will to be done, especially that good leaders will step into the power vacuum, not merely those desiring power and personal gain.

As I mentioned I just stepped in the door from a trip through Texas where I met with a church helping them develop a coaching process for people interested in relocating overseas. We discussed their deploying three young women who have stepped on a plane today headed for Libya.

As you know this entire region seems to be on fire today. Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and last month I gave you an update on Sudan. Here is where the referendum ended up on Sudan… (Thank you Stan Smith for your information)

The residents of South Sudan have voted almost unanimously in favor of secession. President Omar Bashir has said that he would react to the new country’s creation by modifying Sudan’s constitution so that Sharia is the only law of the land and Arabic the only language. With this rejection of these Sharia additions Southern Sudan will succeed from the north… civil war now becomes a reality.

Faith McDonnell, the Director of Religious Liberty Programs and Church Alliance for a New Sudan at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, told FrontPage that South Sudan will be a pro-Western secular democracy with religious freedom.

“South Sudan’s independence means that a people who fought against jihad and forced Islamization/Arabization have won. They have rolled back the plan to impose Sharia, they have refused to be dhimmis, at great coast,” McDonnell said.

Al-Qaeda and other radical Islamic terrorists should also be expected to attack South Sudan as its independence is seen as a theft of Muslim land by the West. It is not inconceivable that the Bashir regime will ally with these terrorists as it has done so in the past to undermine South Sudan and please al-Turabi and the like. In fact, an intelligence report from 2006 claimed that about 15 members of Al-Qaeda were training the regime-sponsored Janjaweed militia in Darfur.

Bashir’s Sudan will also become even closer to Iran, which is eager to extend its reach into East Africa. The Iranian regime opposed the referendum and said it would help Sudan ensure its territorial integrity. Bashir can count on Iran to help him undermine South Sudan as it stands in the way of the Islamic Revolution.

The Iranians have grown closer to Eritrea and an expanded presence in Sudan would allow Iran to threaten the Red Sea shipping lanes and the Arabian Peninsula from the west side. Egypt could also be pressured from the south. In April 2009, the Mubarak regime arrested about 50 Hezbollah operatives planning to attack an Israeli site in the country. The interrogations revealed that they planned to send other members to Sudan for training in suicide bombing and other terrorist tactics.

Sudan is also sponsoring Hamas. In January 2009, the regime admitted that a truck convoy that was bombed by the Israelis was transporting Iranian arms to Hamas. The Revolutionary Guards had been managing the supply line from Port Sudan. An opposition newspaper has reported that the Revolutionary Guards is running a factory in Khartoum that is making weapons for Hamas, the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, and unidentified militants in Somalia. The deputy-editor of the newspaper was arrested after the story broke.

The Bashir regime may also be trying to build nuclear weapons or at least assist Iran in doing so. Since at least 1998, it has been known that an Iranian-owned company in Khartoum was acquiring nuclear technology. It is no coincidence that Ayatollah Khamenei was in Sudan when he stated in 2006 that Iran would share nuclear technology with Islamic countries. Khartoum has since officially told the IAEA that it is beginning a nuclear energy program and would build its first reactor by 2020. Agents of the regime have reportedly tried to make contact with the remnants of the A.Q. Khan network over the past year. This is made all the more dangerous by Bashir’s decision to make Sudan a state based solely on Sharia law.

The new country of South Sudan offers the West an opportunity to have an ally to counter Iran’s bloc in East Africa. It will come under attack from a Bashir regime that must not allow it to succeed and terrorists that see its creation as part of a Zionist plot against Islam. The largely Christian and African state of South Sudan will need the West’s help in defending itself against the Islamists, but how far the U.S. is willing to go to provide it remains to be seen.

Let us pray!

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski

www.mszymanski.com

mski1957@gmail.com

Please consider joining our financial support team. You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM. We are in need of another $1850 per month in regular support to continue our work in the many nations where we are building national workers. THANKS!

Storm Clouds Looming – Darfur, Sudan

DATELINE: January 2005: Nairobi, Kenya: Peace Brokered in Sudan… These headlines signaled an end to a twenty year civil war between the Muslim north and the Christians and animists in the south. All told more than 2 million people died and 5 million were driven from their homes. The key issue which permitted the success of the peace accord was a referendum, scheduled for this coming January 2011, in which the people of southern Sudan will have the option of secession. The past election, which did not meet international standards, sanctioned President al-Bashir, as a legitimate leader in the face of widely held opinions that the process was rigged and viewed as a sham.

At the heart of this conflict is revenue from oil. Sudan started exporting oil in 1999 with recent exports reaching more than 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Khartoum’s readiness to increase production to more than 600,000 bpd by the end of this year. The pipeline that transports the oil to the Port of Sudan runs along what is the disputed border between the north and south. In addition there is several more oil field just waiting to be tapped. Under the peace deal, the south gets half the revenue from oil extracted in the south and Khartoum (the north) gets the remainder, plus all of the oil revenues from what it declares to be the north. If the south votes to succeed then Khartoum may wind up the loser in this arrangement, which it looks like it will. The only solution is if these two factions can come to an agreement on oil wealth-sharing and boundary determinations. But with a history of election fraud, religious differences, and genocide war is likely.

The western region of Sudan known as Western Darfur or what is called Darfur is about the Texas with its population made up of racially mixed tribes the majority of which are Muslim. Early in 2003 two rebel groups rose up and launched attacks against the Khartoum government. Khartoum responded with a genocidal cleansing using a scorched-earth policy which led to casualties reaching nearly 500,000 dead and more than two million displaced by the government supported Janjaweed militia. Even today violence, disease, and displacement continue to kill thousands of innocent Darfurians every month.

All this seems like to be renewed as the referendum nears and the vote for succession takes place.
Americans and Christians have a particularly important role to play in supporting peace in Darfur. The US government has been proactive in speaking out in support of the people of Darfur, Christian aid groups are attending to the vast numbers of innocent casualties but there is still much work that needs to be done. Christians need to speak out with their voice and giving so that international governments take the actions needed to end this genocide.

Long-term peace in Darfur requires that the government of Sudan, the Janjaweed militia forces and the rebel groups of Darfur find a way to resolve their political and economic disputes. The international community managed to broker a peace deal in May 2006, but violence in Darfur actually increased in the wake of this deal. Thousands of innocent civilians continue to die from murder, disease and starvation every month. Today, millions of displaced civilians living in refugee camps are in dire need of international support as the violence continues.

So as this referendum vote draws near take time to pray, give to aid Christian aid groups and get involved in activities that heighten the pressure on our government to keep involved in negotiations that will lead to what will be an obvious outcome, a peaceful dissolution of a nation.

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski
www.mszymanski.com
mski1957@gmail.com

Please consider joining our financial support team. You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

The Pink Bag

The Pittman's and I have worked together for more than ten years across several countries in Latin American like Bolivia, Cuba, Costa Rica and others. We recently talked about a story which moves us so I thought I would share it with you.

It was chaotic at the airport in Sucre, as usual, on departure day. Paul and Dori Pittman, were leaving for the states for home ministry. Paul felt the tug on his arm and heard a timid voice that said “Hermano Pablo, necesito hablar con ustedes - Brother Paul, I need to talk to you all.” Turning in the direction of the voice, he hardly recognized Elizabeth, the confident young adult from the El Rollo Quechua church who had matured from the adolescent they remembered from several years earlier. In her hand was a small woven pink bag. Elizabeth is one of the three young Quechua youth their team had sponsored in Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) training, with the hopes that they could advance ministry to children in their community.

Elizabeth and her fellow children's workers completed their CEF training several years ago and since then, have started neighborhood Kids Clubs in two different barrios (villages). They have been faithful to the training they had received. For the past several months, they have been teaching on missions in their little neighborhood kids club meetings every Saturday morning.

As it turns out, Elizabeth’s students in her kids club had been taking up offerings to support a missionary so they can share with people about Christ. It seems that they remembered the Pittman family, as the only missionaries they knew. The small pink bag contained 47 bolivianos, about $7.00. This was a true sacrifice for these children to give and it was given with great love to support the Pittman family mission ministry!

This incredibly unique gift is much more than a monetary gift to the Pittmans. It’s a practical example of how national workers are being equipped and transforming their communities all around the world. It represents the heart and commitment of the Quechua church to share Jesus with the world. Praise God with us for the faith and dedication of Elizabeth and all the CEF workers who are raising up "little" missionaries in Bolivia.

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski
www.mszymanski.com
mski@earthlink.net

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

Numbers

The name of a popular TV series where scientists use calculations to solve crimes, the fourth book of the Old Testament, containing the census of the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt, the sum, total, count, or aggregate of a collection of units, or the like: The number of students who now attend the Christian college group called Lucas, on the campus of Lulea Technical University, TWELVE!

That’s right; we have grown by three people since last year when we started with nine students. This partnership is one I am working on with a church from South Carolina and two churches in Lulea Sweden. After several pre-partnership surveys we found that with five thousand students there were only seven Christians attending this university. The partnership’s goal is to develop new believers that will fuel new churches throughout the country of Sweden.

By now you are wondering, Sweden? You might have thought that this nation is a Christian nation but this is far from the facts. The truth is that less than one percent of the nation calls themselves evangelical. That’s right, less than one percent. “Though Sweden has a deep historical Christian experience the last several generations have lost the story and today’s population know virtually nothing about the living God,” says Richard Hultmar, church planter in northern Sweden.

With some of the highest suicide, abortion and singleness rates relationships are hard. People tend to congregate in pubs and clubs from Friday evening to Sunday. This is an enlightened population who pride themselves in knowledge and independence. “Life is good here so why would any intelligent person believe in or need something called God,” said Lars. I had a long conversation with him in a bar one night and found he never heard of the Christmas story or Easter. He knew of St. Nicholas and heard of Jesus but didn’t know what He was all about.

These last two years this North American partnership church sent teams to Lulea to perform research, encourage believers in two local churches, gave confidence to this fledgling campus ministry and their leaders, as well as helped with outreach activities. Our prayer is that we can double the size of the group this year.

Please pray with us and maybe your church would consider this partnership.

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski
mski1957@gmail.com
www.mszymanski.com

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

Building a Missionary Work Force...

I’m sitting here at a retreat center in South Carolina with twelve people who will shortly head out to various countries of the world, new missionaries! I have spent hundreds of hours prior to them being with me listening, coaching, discussing, envisioning and talking through the practical realities of working as missionaries. It is such an honor to Build a Missionary Work Force who will bring lost people to Jesus.

What brought me to this work was as a believer I began to understand that so much of the world didn't have the opportunity that I had to respond to the gospel. In fact many could not even hear just because they lived in a place where it was illegal to tell them. This broke my heart. I was challenged to discover what my role was in the great commission.

As I thought about what God wanted I discovered there are four shapes that our involvement could take. I came to believe that each of us must wrestle with and incorporate these aspects into our lives if we want to be obedient and receive joy as we walk with God sharing His passion. The four are: being a sender (those who actually supply the need of those who go), welcomer (a person who receives those who come from another culture to our own), prayer (those who lift up lost people asking God to send people to reach them), and Mobilizer (those who search out people who will go, preparing, training, coaching, envisioning, and providing oversight and help. Everyone can encourage people to go!) But for Cathy and I we knew we could build teams of people who could flood places around the world sharing God's love and desire to redeem His creation.

I meditated on scriptures like Romans 10:14: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And Acts 13 where we see the first missionaries sent in the New Testament.

This is what Jesus wanted… GO, and make disciples of all nations (ethnic groups). Each of you who pray and give to Cathy and I have a hand in this fruit. As these couples and singles go they will be part of a global movement bringing broken and lost people to knowledge of God. We are honored that you are part of our team. Thank You, thank you, thank you.

Today we have nearly 160 missionaries serving on foreign soil. It is great to be part of so many lives. Once again God, The Lord of the Harvest has shown Himself faithful calling people to Himself. Thank you for being part of His great cause and our lives. Here are the new missionaries I just finished working with:

Keith & Rachel Keller - Czech Republic, Phillip & Autumn Wilkins – Czech Republic, Megan & Ben Naylor - Hungry, Pierre Aragon - Tajikistan, Matthew & Gayle Boyd – Senegal, Megan Kibbey – Scotland, Scott & Jennifer Stadalsky - Scotland

Would you take a moment to pray for them now?

Just for your information I have created a Partnership/Church Resource page on which are some great MP3s and eBooks and a lot of other resources. Check it out. Click this link and select the folder, “MP3s and eBooks” or any other folder and download what you want. There are some great missionary stories.

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski

Mski1957@gmail.com

www.mszymanski.com

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

In the eastern city of the Democratic of Congo, Beni is a free standing home not more than 20 by 12. Dirt floor, mud walls, tin roof, windows with no glass, home to more than a dozen homeless children taken care of by a selfless woman, lovingly named Momma Noel. Having traveled extensively throughout the world I have often found myself in these types of situations… servants of God doing the right thing without experiencing the obvious outward provision of God which western culture uses to gauge God’s approval, but in spite of what they get, have or don’t have they continue to do good.

People like Momma Noel, who do good in spite of the odds, are one third of an eternal equation with the other two being people who do evil and people who do nothing. Edmund Burke, an Irish philosopher living in the mid 1700’s and often called the father of modern conservatism, said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men (women) to do nothing.” I added the women part and I believe this with all my heart.

It seems today that it is not politically correct to go against the grain and speak your mind when it comes to religious views. You don’t have to be in an Islamic nation to feel the ill effects of being a true believer. In England and other places in Europe there is an assault on believers talking about their faith in public. In fact people are calling this act “religious terrorism.” Bill Muehlenberg, of Christian Today Australia, shares; “This is a war of worldviews. Just as the early Christians clashed head-on with the ruling powers of the day, proclaiming Christ - not Caesar - as Lord, so to today we have a full-on battle taking place. The secularists want us to be a silent, obedient and docile bunch who do not ruffle any feathers or make any waves.” Muehlenberg goes onto to say that, “that the whole point of such laws is “to forever rid Christianity from the public square.”

If we think this is only happening half a world away we are asleep. Christianity Today’s online version has an article about the recent 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision which upholds the decision of Hastings Law School to ban the Christian Legal Society from campus because of its “discriminatory policies” of only allowing members that share its statement of faith. In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito castigated the majority opinion as political correctness run amok.

Moving into the future I am sure we’ll all face decisions that will make us unpopular or even cause us to have to choose between what is the good and the right thing to do, shrinking back doing nothing, or even allowing evil to triumph in order to be accepted or not loose what have. I pray that with God’s grace we will, like Momma Noel, do what is right and good in spite of having, obtaining things, not having things or even gaining outward acceptance.

As I left her home I allow her face to be imprinted on my mind while I pray; God, with all the busyness and distractions in my culture never let me fail to hear the small voice and do the right thing… no matter how hard it is.

Have a comment, please share it.

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski

www.mszymanski.com

mski1957@gmail.com

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving click here: United World Mission.

As Cathy and I look back over the last twelve years all we can say it that it has been awesome. We never could imagine when we left Allison Park Church that God would expand our ministry into thirty plus nations of the world and allow us to be a part of so many lives. By coaching and mentoring we have seen thousands of individuals mobilized to work not only overseas but in the United States too. Many churches are involved and God has used us to connect them to significant relationships that have envisioned their people and expanded the glory of God among lost and broken people both home and abroad. Because of you, I can honestly say there are hundreds and hundreds of new churches filled with multitudes of people, children, families in India, Vietnam, across Africa and Europe, China, Cuba and many more nations!

Once a month I send out an electronic newsletter and post it on our blog: www.mszymanski.com. If you do have an email address and want to receive updates more frequently please send me an email at: mski1957@gmail.com. Electronic correspondence is inexpensive but I know some of you are not connected to the internet so I remain committed to update you via US Mail as Cathy and I value you! These monthly stories are the results of the opportunities that we are involved in. Month in and month out we help more than 150 missionaries in 35 Nations of the world advance the gospel. This is impossible without you!

Though we have tried to keep our needs to a minimum over the years our support has slowly eroded to the place where we sense God telling us to be humble and ask. It is hard to ask but we need to make it known. Our work causes us to stand in a place, halfway between the harvest force (a place where individuals and churches respond to God’s voice, get involved and go) and the harvest field (a place where lost and broken people that need to hear the story of a loving God live). We focus resources, coach, train, and care for those who go, envision churches, and help national leaders in Asia, Africa, South America, and Eurasia. All this allows the Kingdom of God to come to people just like you and those featured in our stories.

So, for the many of you that support our work we say THANK YOU! If you don’t support us could I be so bold as to ask you to consider making a monthly gift? If you think someone needs to hear about our work would you connect us to them? Over the next six months we are asking God to help us rebuild our monthly support back to what UWM needs us to raise. Our goal is to develop another $24,000 per year. We are working hard to keep our costs down and living expenses low. There are several ways to give. Electronic giving can be made by visiting the UWM web site or you can send a check to the address below. A receipt will be sent to you for any additional monthly or special gifts.

United World Mission • ACCT#11013 • PO BOX 602002 • Charlotte, NC • 28260-2002

We will always keep working but we would love to have you share in this labor. It truly takes a team and we need you.

Many blessings and thanks,

Mark & Cathy Szymanski

Cell: 704.517.0255

www.mszymanski.com

The Ring – For The Romantics Out There

“I am discovering many things as we emerge from Soviet dominance,” said Jan Lacho, who runs a church in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, as well as leading the Pentecostal Movement. During Soviet times leaders were isolated by choice to protect the church. If one person was arrested and tortured they could not divulge any secrets which would expose the movement to more harassment, by design, no one person new everything.

During this time of emergence and growth I had the privilege to lead our church into a partnership which would help establish a foundation for the future of a church planting movement. By working with key missionaries, Jerry and Faith McCollough, Allison Park Church would identify and join in with the Pentecostal church to develop churches that doubled as training centers. We started in Seneca and continued to work in Humenne, Vranov, and Kosice.

It was during these travels that I roomed again and again with a couple young men, Stano and Miro. Both men continue to this day to be involved in the church in great ways. As friendships developed I found out that Stano wanted to get married to a young lady, Vera. Stano was in a two year mandatory state service and was assigned to the Pentecostal Church. While rooming together on one trip I decided that perhaps Cathy and I could help him get a ring for Vera. I understood that it was difficult to get a diamond during this time in Slovakia and couples settled for cubic zirconium rings.

Upon returning to the states Cathy and I collected some magazine flyers advertizing rings so when returned I could show Stano so I placed them into my suitcase. Here is where God began to move…

A few days before I was to leave for Slovakia and with no one else knowing what Cathy and I were planning to do, I sat in my office completing a few last minute items when I heard a knock at the door. Agnes Sapp stood looking at me with a box in her hand. She said, “You might think I am crazy but God told me to give you this wedding ring set for Slovakia.” My jaw dropped to the ground as I asked her to come in and sit. I had a story to tell her. I explained what I had experienced over the last few trips into the country, who Stano and Vera were, and what Cathy and I were planning to do. She cried and handed me the ring.

Within a few days I was on my way back to the country I learned to love, its people, scenery, warmth and of course the men and women who I considered heroes, willing to give all to reach the nation. Again I roomed with Stano and Miro.

A few days into the trip I sensed the time was right. I asked Stano a few times about Vera. His eyes lit up each time. I wanted to know if he was serious. “Would you propose now if you had a ring,” I asked? “Yes,” was the immediate reply. I told him to sit down; I had a story to tell him.

I recounted the story of my last trip and the feelings that Cathy and I had and how we wanted to help him with a ring. I explained that I was prepared to show him some advertisements of places in the United States that we could look for a ring. All he had to do was pick out something we could afford. I told him how just before I was to get on the plane God sent Agnes with an amazing gift. I slowly pulled out of my pocket the little black box and opened it setting it on the table in front of Stano and Miro. Both men’s jaws dropped gapping open for several minutes.

Miro commented, “Stano, this is a miracle, you got to do this!” Stano could not believe his eyes. There sat a real diamond ring for his acceptance. He decided that this was from God and he accepted the ring. About a year later they were married. On another trip I asked if the ring fit. Stano said, “It was the right size, no adjustment needed!”

Don’t you just love how God works?

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski

www.mszymanski.com

mski1957@gmail.com

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

Risking It All!

“Down on the floor, get down on the floor, now,” yelled the leader of the police unit. Surprised and scared everyone else backed up against the sides of the simple house made of bamboo and palm leaves. As the police grabbed the two training pastors dragging them into the village common area the other pastors were rounded up and made to sit and watch as the interrogation began.

Materials are burned in plain sight of the evangelists and pastors, each are kicked and beaten with pieces of bamboo. This intimidation is meant to gather as much information as possible about the two training pastors. Their ethnic look gives away the fact that they are obviously not from the local area. The pastors remain silent which only inflames more beatings and intimidation. As the torture continues they find that the men are from a neighboring country and have come in response to the new churches that are being planted and the need for training new leaders.

The police now turn their attention toward the two training pastors…

Shrieks are heard as the bamboo hits the soles of the two men’s feet. This painful torture causes the flesh to be bruised and flayed resulting in extreme pain and the inability to walk. They are kicked and punched repeatedly until police get what they want.

The men are dragged off to jail and their motorbikes are confiscated. These jails are horrid places and having to remain in jail for nearly six months the men are confined to a small cell with a ragged blanket and two small bowls of porridge (rice and water) a day. In addition to being confined they are regularly exposed to ridicule and beatings and the only comfort they get is when they turn to prayer and worship. Soon word of their arrest reaches their leaders and the church is moved to pray for their release as the leadership of this movement begins a dialogue with the government authorities to secure their release.

Fines are negotiated and paid, men are released and medically treated, and after being welcomed back they are nursed back to health. Within a matter of months they will start making regular return trips back to the same region to continue their training. This is just one story of our partnership between a North American Church and a movement which is planting churches in twenty of this nation’s fifty minority groups that populate this restricted Asian country. In the last five years this group has established more than 300 churches in their country and nearly 35 in a neighboring country. Pray for those who risk it all.

This is your investment. This is your joy.
Mark Szymanski
www.mszymanski.com
mski1957@gmail.com

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

Special Report: Understanding Thailand's Violence

The smell of burning tires clogs your nose as you hear sickening cries of people shot and maimed in the normally peaceful streets of Bangkok Thailand. In the past months hundreds have been killed and wounded as protesters fight for their right as Thailand moves from a constitutional monarchy to a representative democracy. There is no doubt that this is also a war of cultural and class change.

Thailand’s history begins when Tai-Lao people migrated from China around the 10^th century. Soon the Thais established their own states however internal and external warring was common over the next four centuries. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya emerged to solidify the people ruling for three centuries and eventually being toppled in the late 1700’s by Burmese armies. Shortly after Thailand was liberated and a new capital city called Bangkok was established. Many European colonial powers threatened in the region in the 19^th and 20^th centuries but Thailand survived as the only nation to never to have colonial rule.

The “Revolution of 1932” transformed the Government of Thailand from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. The cabinet was presided over by the prime minister and in 1946 Bhumibol Adulyadej succeeded his brother as king and continues to reign until this day. He is the longest reigning king and very popular with the poor and rural peoples due to his many social improvements.

In 2001 Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power and though he was popular with the rural poor for his social programs, his rule came under attack due to several charges of human right abuse, suppression of a free press, conflict of interest, anti- monarchy, and corruption. While out of the country in September 2006 parliament dissolved government and as General Boonvaratglin led a military coup.

A general election on December 23^rd, 2007 followed restoring a civilian government which had close ties to Thaksin. In June of 2008, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protested against the government by occupying government ministries and disrupting air service at Suvarnabhumi Airport. This protest ended when the courts dissolved the government because of reported election fraud. These protesters are known as Yellow Shirts. If you watched the news during that time many of the protestors wore yellow shits to show their allegiance to the king. Many Thais wear yellow shirts on Monday because this is the King’s special color due to the date of his birth. Another notable fact; this group is made up largely of Bangkok’s upper class and elites.

The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the "Red Shirts" are those who are supporters of Thaksin and his policies and include a large proportion of working-class and rural-based Thais. When the elected government of December 23^rd, 2007 was dissolved the Red Shirt movements formed to protest this action. The Red Shirts are angry that the former government that they supported was forced to dissolve. They call this a “judicial coup” because it appears that the elite powers including important army figures manipulated the government for political purposes.

With growing tension between the established government and those representing the poor and disenfranchised protests continue to turn bloody. To add to this complicated situation King Bhumibol Adulyadej who has been the stabilizing force in Thailand since the 1940s is now very old and in failing health. His heir apparent to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has not inherited his father's popularity and is seen as a spoiled playboy who does not carry the same concern of his father.

The UDD say they will disperse if the deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban turn himself in and face criminal charges over a clash with troops in April that killed 25 people. The UDD has already accepted a date for new elections to be held on November 14^th, 2010.

Please continue to pray for this nation and people. With nearing sixty-eight million people their hope lay in the fledgling evangelical church. Great gains have been made flowing out of the tragedy of the 2005 tsunami. Pray that these present struggles will cause Thais to rethink their present and eternal future. Things learned from the tsunami caused the formation of a national strategy called, “National Plan 2010.” Three Thai Christian denominations, TEC, EFT and TCB, have yoke together to implement evangelical strategies in 76 provinces and church planting in 927 districts. The four aspects of the “National Plan 2010” are creating a prayer network, training and encouraging evangelism & church planting, community social welfare or service mission, and leadership development. There is great opportunity to develop partnerships between North American churches and the denominations of the national Plan.

LAST MINUTE UPDATE: “Though we know the problems here are not over, and this has caused a deep divide among the Thai people, God is at work in this city. Last night a Thai friend said she saw the CEO of a Thai company on T.V. sharing about God’s love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. She said that he boldly shared about Jesus. God is using this situation for His glory and He is giving His church an opportunity to be a bright light to many who are longing for change.” – Gregg Nicholson, UWM Missionary

This is your investment. This is your joy.

Mark Szymanski

www.mszymanski.com

mski@earthlink.net

If you would like to join our financial support team you can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11013 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see UWM.

* The picture is from the Daily Mail, United Kingdom office.