Cell Groups
A cell group is a cluster of children and teenagers that we pour into. It's made up of mostly immigrants who don't have the privileges that the local Thai people have access to. We share the love of the Father and the Word of God with the kids in these weekly cell groups.
These are the People Groups we work with:
MAE MUEANG NOI VILLAGE
PEOPLE GROUP – KAREN E SHAN
This Cell group is not limited to one people group since it is at the local school. This in fact was our first Cell group that sparked all of the rest. It started with teaching soccer after school and as we grew relationships with the families we began to branch out into the villages.
HUAI WAI LANG VILLAGE
PEOPLE GROUP - PALAUNG
The Palaung people are originally from Myanmar but because of conflict between different ethnic groups they immigrated to Thailand. Around 2 years ago we approached them with the idea to start a cell group since we had one just up the road, and this led to our 4th weekly cell group. This village has around 500 people and approximately 100 families. Our prayer request is to plant seeds of Life into the hearts of the children and families.
PONG POM VILLAGE
PEOPLE GROUP - AKHA
The Pong Pom Village (โป่งป้อม ) is located 22 kilometers from Mae Ai, Chiang Mai, on top of a small hill, and its residents belong to the Akha Ethnic group. There are approximately 50 families, and around 250 people total living in this village.
The Akha people group is originally from the south of China, and they began their pilgrimage toward Laos and Myanmar in the beginning of the 20th century, but due to Civil War in these countries they migrated again toward the mountains in Northern Thailand. They basically live off of Agriculture and handicraft.
In the Pong Pom village there is a small Presbyterian Church which is led by a lovely couple that is from Myanmar. After many years of work and investment, this couple has begun to reap the results and many families have been attending the church. They asked for our help, and it’s been a few years that we have been pouring into the teenagers and young adults of the church. However, we noticed that the kids cannot attend the services because there is no space for them, and so we saw an opportunity to begin a work with the children of the families who already attend the church and of those who do not yet attend. The cell group happens once a week and we’ve had a frequent number of about 60 kids and pre-teens come each week. We invited a few young women from the church to help us with the cell group, and so we’ve been training them in practical ways every week.
Prayer requests: Even though many people are attending the church, many still have not let go of their tribal beliefs, smoking addiction, alcohol, and even drugs. Pray for these brothers and sisters that they would understand the Gospel and renounce all these things.