The Birds of Chiang Mai
The Bird family: Simon, Jill, Andrew (12), Joanna (12) and Matthew (10)
We trained with YWAM and came to Thailand for one year about six years ago to support work into China, but we quickly felt that the Thai church needed more support than the Chinese church, so we focused more on Thailand.
We returned to Thailand 18 months ago and work on the staff of City Gate Church, which is a Thai church in the city outskirts. Our work includes teaching in meetings, cell groups, marriage preparation classes, children’s Sunday school and a holiday club. Although we are gradually learning Thai, we currently still teach in English, with a translator. We also help with English classes as an outreach activity and have a group of about 30 youth who descend on our house twice a week for food and bible study. Our own children really enjoy this.
The church has six daughter churches in the surrounding hill-tribe mountain areas. We make many visits to these with teams from the church. We usually help with some teaching input (translated twice!). We also use our professional skills: Jill holds a clinic and gives health teaching, Simon helps with water supply and other engineering issues.
Settling the children has been our biggest challenge. They missed friends in England, and struggled to make new ones. They attend Grace International School. We struggled with some of the differences between English schools and the essentially US ethos of Grace, but we are pleased there are some teachers from the UK to restore the ‘balance’! We find the school refreshingly open and spirit-led and a great place for them to develop a ministry of their own as well as receive a good education.
