THE FIRST SESSION OF THE MISSION CONFERENCE OF METTAKIJ CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

Jeremy Choo, Country Coordinating Officer of Thailand. He is also the Personnel & Missionary Care Executive. He worships at Hope Church Singapore. He has a twin brother that he sometimes switches places with.

The work in Thailand began in December 1992 with a visit by the then Council on Missions Chairman, Rev Dr Clarence Lim, Rev Khoo Cheng Hoot, Mr Lim Chong Heng, and Mrs Pearlie Lim. This is recorded in the Thai Provisional Book of Discipline.

In March 2005, the Wesley Methodist Church in Thailand (WMCT) was formally instituted by the Methodist Church in Singapore, the founding Conference and Bishop Dr Robert Solomon was its presiding Bishop. WMCT was later renamed as the Mettakij Christian Association (MCA).

On 15 March 2022, after enduring two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, MCA pastors, leaders, and members gathered together physically at Shineforth Methodist Church, Chiang Mai, for the First Session of the Mission Conference. By God’s grace, the restrictions were also relaxed and a delegation from Singapore was also present at the meeting.

The first session of the Mission Conference.

The day began with a service, where Bishop Dr Gordon Wong shared a message on Contentment from Philippian 4:11-13 and encouraged the church to continue to rejoice in the Lord whether in lack or in abundance. A time for Holy Communion followed after and the service was concluded with a declaration of the opening of the 1st Session of the Mission Conference.

“On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them…” Acts 14:27a (NIV)

Various reports were made by the ministries.

Various reports were given. We were very much encouraged by the good news of their faith and love, by the perseverance of the church despite unprecedented challenges from the pandemic, and by the growth and even new preaching points being planted and new leaders being raised up. Prayer and thanksgiving were made after each report. Indeed, it was also an opportunity for the churches to be involved with one another, through prayer, and the sharing of burdens and resources. MCA now has a total of 17 churches, 10 preaching points, 2 schools, 2 nurseries, and 2 hostels.

At the closing service, we, together with various partner churches online and onsite, witnessed the ordination of new Deacons, Deacons-elect, new Elders, and Elders-elect. There are now 19 Elders and 4 Deacons in MCA.

MCA appointment holders.

We also saw the retirement of three of our pastors as well as Sungwan Yeo Tuk, the principal of Vineyard Methodist School (VMS). We give thanks to God for their long years of faithful service to the church and school.

We returned from the conference with much joy and thanksgiving, with a renewed hope and focus to see MCA progress to becoming a Provisional Annual Conference (PAC). The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the workers are few.

We returned from the conference with much joy and thanksgiving, with a renewed hope and focus to see MCA progress to becoming a Provisional Annual Conference.

We are grateful for the faithful and longstanding support of our partner churches, and we continue to welcome more churches to partner with us in this work.

To God be the Glory!

Pray for Mettakij Christian Association

- Pray for MCA as we move toward PAC in 2025. We need all our churches to have fully functioning LCEC and a team of lay leaders.

- Pray for all our churches to be able to cover at least 60% of their yearly budget for programmes and operating costs (excluding salaries).

- Pray that we will be able to plant three urban churches by 2025.

- Pray for Nantika Makmai, the new Principal of VMS, to be able to lead the school well.