Bangkok Factbook
"Bangkok"
or "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon" was established as the capital city of Thailand in 1782, the year King
Rama I ascended the throne. Bangkok, with a population
of almost 10 million Thais and serves as the educational, financial,
commercial, and industrial hub of this Southeast Asian nation.
Thailand is a
constitutional monarchy covers a land area of 250 square miles, which is a bit
smaller than the city of Chicago, and has
roughly the same number of people living in it as
North and South Carolina
have, combined.
While Bangkok's actual name is one of the longest
geographic names in the world,
the shortened version heralds Bangkok as "The City
of Angels." Thailand
is the most thoroughly
Buddhist country in the world and evidence of this religious practice
is
reflected in many aspects of daily life.
In addition to Buddhist beliefs, many
Thais still hold on to the traditional influences of animism, or spirit worship. Shrines, temples, spirit houses, amulets, and
charms
are used to worship, appease, and petition the spirits.
However, these spirits cannot satisfy the
longings and needs of these lost people. To
our
knowledge there is no Reformed Baptist Churches in Bangkok.
Pray the Lord to lift up one with the burden to reach these
people.
A new opportunity announced today
(November 21, 2003) was that the national Government is building a New Bangkok
city, a satellite city, not yet actually named as of the publication of this
mission letter. The opportunity for Church planting in this new city is limitless.
This is a difficult nation to reach with
high heat and humidity and an assortment
of
languages throughout the nation. There
are many tribal groups in Thailand,
including
the Yellow Leaf people where Gene and Mary Long have planted a Church and are
continuing to labor there. There are a
number of Baptist Church in Bangkok,
the number is growing, but the pace is slow.
There are 2 Baptist seminaries which are staffed by
international personnel with the hope that nationals
will
assume more responsibilities as time continues.
Copyright 2006 by Brad Garrison
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