Vision Fellowship Church Mae Tuet

Ban Mae Tuet, Phrae

Location

Located off the 1124 highway in rural Phrae province, the church gathers in a home just outside the village. Mae Tuet is our southernmost church and only church located in Phrae province.

The Mae Tuet church has an opportunity to bring the message of Christ into the village of Mae Teut. The small group of families that believe are representing Christ to their community whom they live within and near.

Pastor- Sutham Tiangkham

Sutham was born in Mae Tuet and grew up in this village. As an adult, he came to believe in Christ and was swiftly persecuted for his faith. The men in the community pressured him to leave because his faith was upsetting the spirits. Sutham stayed, and so the men surrounded his house and shot through the walls. Sutham then moved to another province to live in peace in his newfound faith.

Many years later he felt compelled to bring the message of Christ back to his family and the people of Mae Teut. In the midst of Covid, he began the work of planting the seeds of the gospel in this place.

Sutham is of the Kharen tribe, which the entire village of Mae Tuet is as well.

The "Church"

Mae Tuet is a Kharen church as it is located in a Kharen village. The members worship in Kharen when alone, and will worship in Thai when hosting guests.

Many of the original members are part of one extended family, but the church has been growing further beyond this family as they have faithfully loved their neighbours and evangelized consistently.

The members of this church are eager to start studying bible school courses with a yearning to know scripture better for the sake of their faith and ministry in their village.

History

Context

Worship Services

In early 2020 our group met Sutham when he joined a team heading to Nan province for evangelism. Returning from the trip he was eager for us to create a similar team to return to his home village that he fled from for evangelism.

The group began sending teams to do initial evangelism and this began the foundation of what God would do amongst the people of Mae Tuet.

Since then the believers of Mae Tuet have faced consistent persecution and pushback from those around them, but they cling to their faith continuing on.

The village has strong ties to animistic beliefs and this is where the beginnings of this church is coming out of. Similar to the beginnings of the Mae Phrao church, the believers of Mae Tuet have experienced intense pressure to give up their faith and to not speak of their faith with others. The first believers had to move outside of the village boundaries because their newfound faith was angering the spirits. Years later the initial move wasn't enough and again they were pressured to completely leave the region. This time they were protected from losing their land from government authorities.

Their context is tense, but God keeps protecting and guiding them.

Due to the intense pressure from the animists of the village, some of the new believers that live inside the village can feel intimidated to join worship services. Therefore not all of the believers in the village will gather for worship on a Sunday morning together.

As this group gathers under a stilted home for worship together they keep a very simple service. The teachings are simple and often focusing on the life of Christ as these believers grow in their newfound faith and reflect Jesus more and more each day.