Where there were once five established Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Bangkok, which has a population of about 15 million, there are now 14 such groups meeting on the Sabbath, or Saturday. Church officials say the nine new groups have been added since March of 2006.

This growth spurt “has increased overall attendance by about 150 to 200 people in Bangkok,” said Rick McEdward, Adventist Mission director for the church’s Southern Asia-Pacific region. At the end of 2004, the Seventh-day Adventist Church counted approximately 9,900 members in all of Thailand; of that number, about 900 were in Bangkok.

“We are thankful for these nine new worship groups,” said Michael L. Ryan, a general vice president of the Adventist world church. “We’re also grateful for the work of the pioneers who labored there for more than 100 years.”

Several factors are contributing to the new growth, but the greatest appears to be the dedicated planning of Adventist Mission staff who work with local pastors and believers. Beginning with a desired community service—free English language classes—the language groups are introduced to a Thai Adventist pastor who offers Bible studies. Students are not obligated to participate, but many are expressing an interest in the Bible studies, and some are then attending weekly worship.

Another group of newcomers to Adventist worship in Bangkok—an area that has approximately 49 times the population of the second-largest Thai city, Chiang Mai—are already familiar with the church. They’re members from rural areas who moved to Bangkok but weren’t able to find a nearby congregation; these “renewed” members are also important additions to the local church family.

“We are very excited about Thai people in Bangkok accepting Christ’s gift of salvation and choosing to join the church and becoming part of the proclamation process,” McEdward told ANN in a telephone interview.

“The ‘Hope for Bangkok’ church-planting projects are sponsored and supported by the Adventist Church in Thailand, local institutions and by some lay-operated schools in the area. There are several of them that are involved with either funding or hiring a church planter,” McEdward said.

He added, “One [worship group] is operated in the building of Mission Health Foods and has ... 32 people coming.”

The outreach in Bangkok, one of 54 cities targeted in the Adventist world church’s “Hope for Big Cities” campaign, is soon to be augmented by the arrival of Adventist pastor Doug Venn, whom McEdward described as “a church planter [who will] come and oversee and coach the groups in Bangkok. He’s not so much an evangelist as someone who will empower and train the leaders and groups and laypeople involved so they can be more effective.”

It is believed that, during the next 15 years, two-thirds of the world’s total population will reside in large cities. The Hope for Big Cities outreach is designed to bring the gospel to these individuals.