Community work in Bangkok has begun!

The River is starting to make a noise and an impact in the great city of Bangkok!

Whilst our Connect gatherings each Tuesday night have been growing and expanding, we have also been hard at work, building relationships and pathways into some inner city communities.

The communities have asked for help with English teaching, and also to assist them in organising after school activities for the kids.

Last Friday we started English teaching in one of the local temple schools - teaching grade 4 with approximately 50 students in attendance!
One of the champion volunteers from The River - BKK, was a part of the teaching team, which is so exciting!

As of last Monday, we kicked off our first kids club program in the same Buddhist school!  Over 100 children turned up and the principal of the school was 100% behind us and what we were there for.

Kenny the Koala came to visit, and the kids had a great time laughing, singing, dancing and learning. This is a great opportunity for us to empower the kids in life and social skills, and incorporate biblical teaching.

This will springboard our work in the community, as we build relationships with children, teachers, and families.

Mother's Day Blessings

The greatly loved "mother of the nation" of Thailand, HRH Queen Sirikit's birthday is celebrated and highly honoured on August the 12th of each year. If fact, the festivities for her extend throughtout the entire month! August the 12th is also the official Mother's Day in Thailand. 

The River honours all women, and especially mothers during this special time.

Preparations begun weeks in advance. On the actual day The River divided into three teams, giving away over 200 lovingly prepared gift bags to the mothers in the communities. Many of these women have children in our Saturday kids club, but this was the first time we had an opportunity to properly meet them.  

Some mothers and grandmothers accepted gifts with tears in their eyes, explaining that they have never before received a gift like this.

It was so great to connect with these beautiful women!  Some we were able to pray with, others we just laughed and got to know each other.  With some families we shared a meal.  One lady had her son pass away just that morning, and it was a true blessing for us to be able to be there for her during this time of grief.   

We are excited to know that we have more friends than ever now!  And we cannot wait to build relationships with each and every one of them!

A new beginning in our nation's capital

WE'VE LAUNCHED IN BANGKOK!

These are exciting days for The River Team, as we enlarge, extend, empower and influence – both our team, and the people of Thailand!

The River Team has officially set up another "room" in the centre of the nations capital!  We now have a base, begun connect groups, and are actively involved in development projects in 2 communities.

We believe that His House needs to have an influence in the community to which it is planted.  

Our connect nights have been fantastic!  The team is doing an incredible job connecting with people who are interested in being a part of our work.  We are building strong relationships and seeing friendships flourish.

With a city of 10million people, we cant wait to see revival!

If you would like to be apart of this new work - either in Bangkok or to support us from afar, please contact us!  We would love to hear from you!

Nan is Prospering!

Our work in Nan province, started in 2001, continues to prosper! 

The commitment of our team to walk the mountain trails by foot, while carrying all their survival gear and supplies for others on their backs... eating and sleeping wherever invited...

Fighting the good battle of faith - both spiritually and physically...

Investing countless hours, which stretched into months and years in training the communities to identify their felt needs, find sustainable solutions and resources....while journeying alongside these precious people to bring transformation to their communities and beyond...

 This is about sharing the message of God's love in action...and when required - also in words

Rejoice with us as you look at these beautiful pictures taken at the Namwa River in the district of Boklua in Nan. Our T'Hin part of the family continues to grow in numbers and here are some special moments we would love to share with you!

Since the beginning of the year 2014, The River Team handed over the leadership of the local c..ch in this area to the mature T'Hin believers. The River continues in its commitment to providing training, empowerment and advise as needed. 

Needless to say, we are exceedingly glad about how the Lord builds His c..ch and how He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things for His purposes to be fulfilled!

THE RIVER LOVES THAILAND = FULL LIFE BEGINS!

River Kids Summer Camp 2014

THE RIVER - FULL LIFE BEGINS! 

KIDS' CLUB CAMP 2014

At least 60 kids between the ages of 6 and 12 participated in the 3-day program, focused on leaving a lasting imprint of the message of VALUE, PURPOSE and the POWER OF CHOICE in these precious young hearts. Fun in the form of dancing, singing, games, dramas, eating and camp-style sleeping made the time together an absolute blast!

 The kids discovered that God is not far away, but right there with them! The amazing stories of the Bible came alive and at times, the squeals and laughter of the kids were the best part of it all!

Treasure hunts, bonfires, drama performances, swimming in the pool were also on the agenda!

The children were split into 4 teams for the duration of the camp - Blue, Orange, Green and Pink.  The teams were awarded points and the final day saw....
 the amazing Green Team win!

Life skills were taught to the boys and girls seperately - by gleaning principles from the Shine and Strength programs. The principles of self worth were impressed upon them - how SPECIAL and IMPORTANT every single humanbeing is!

80% of children that came are not from families that know the Living God.

The seeds planted will bear fruit! 

Check out this awesome video that Tim Perry put together of the week that was!

Easter at The River

Easter 2014 at The River was a true celebration!

The River prepared a beautiful evening service on Good Friday 2014 to remember and honour what the Father gave to us through His Son over 2000 years ago. To a backdrop of a powerful movie clip depicting the Passion story, a freshly translated worship song Calvary was introduced to the tightly packed audience. The solemness of the message of Christ's suffering soon broke out into a triumphant celebration of victory: Our HOPE is in God and His love has been poured out into our hearts....      We are a community, which lives Full Life!



 The conference room was decorated with many creative touches, such as .... the communion table, which adorned fresh flowers and candles, carefully selected and arranged to celebrate the completeness of our Lord's work on our behalf.



 The lighting displays were designed to create a strory of the Calvary and the Empty Tomb...             It was precious to see new believers involved in serving communion....one brother serving another.



After the service, The River Family brought together a feast of drinks, fruits and snacks - so much so that there were lots of left overs for the Resurrection Sunday Celebrations!
Under the starry night, everyone mingled and had no interest in going home!  The atmosphere was warm, joyful and inviting. This is what Full Life is about!



Then came the Resurrecton Easter Sunday - He Is Risen!  Again, a packed house filled the room with  joy and celebration!   Ps Erik brought a message of hope, a visiting team from Centro, Ipswich Australia greeted with a song and a message of encouragement from 1Thess 3.

Our Easter Sunday was a day of particular celebration because one young man was baptised in water as his public declaration to follow the Lord and because a young lady, whom The River has known since her early kids club days - literally ran back to the Father's arms like the prodigal son did in the story found in the gospels.

At The River, no celebration is complete without a feast!

Our River Easter Sunday menu consisted of a delicious noodle soup, Thai-style club sandwiches, water melon and dried sugar-chili tamarind fruit. In addition, we had lots of snacks from the Good Friday feast! As an Eater treat, everyone received a foil-wrapped boiled egg - Thai style!

It was a beautiful, impacting and a forever memorable weekend in the life of The River:

 Full Life Begins!

River Conference 2014 FULL LIFE BEGINS!

The River Conference 2014 - FULL LIFE BEGINS! (April 1-4)

The conference opened with exuberant praise unto God! The room was packed with delegates, some of who had travelled from a restricted country, others from remote areas. FREEDOM and JOY was the resounding theme of the night! Erik Klar delivered a powerful message about the miracle of the "new wine"which we are called to take  into the communities!                                                                                            The new songs of praise and worship lead by The River Worship Band were sung throughout  The River Conference 2014 - FULL LIFE BEGINS!          

 

On the two days that followed, Ps Ross and Di Smith from The Vine in Brisbane taught powerfully about the Grace of God with a special focus on the "Top Button". In Ross' humorous style, the message came through loud and clear: We need to get our "top button" aligned correctly,  i.e. knowing who we are in Christ and who He is in us. We then learn to exercise our spiritual muscles of  ‘Faith’ and ‘No Condemnation’. The seriousness of the message was well received, interspersed with lots of laughter and also tears. Ross and Di are anointed teachers of the Word!

 Ross Smith and translator Suwat

Diane Smith

 For so many, this was a serious time of renewing faith and calling, being equipped, and for some also an opportuntiy to make that first time eternity-changing decision in a safe place....The Lord was present in a tangible way...

As a conference, The River celebrated several "unsung heroes". Words of encouragement...tears... standing ovations from the delegates...."You are valuable and we honour you as a faithful servant of the Lord."

The River did a brilliant job hosting the delegates! The The River Centre looked beautiful. The hospitality team consisted of The River staff and the local believers working together!
 


Each afternoon The River Team facilitated training in Full Life kids, youth, community development, as well as on the culture of our worship team. They did a fantastic job in showcasing their talent and giftings, and even more inportantly in teaching hands-on, how to take these aspects of ministry into the communities.





For some practical conference fun, 2nd-hand clothing stalls offered cheap fashions - one person's trash always someone else's treasure!

We celebrated three decisions at the pool during the conference!  Five more followed on Sunday.

Full Life Begins!

"Thank you for investing in us... Full Life Begins!"

Celebrating the wedding of Funn and Sae!

We would like to introduce you to two lovebirds - two members of our team who have just been married!   This is Funn and Sae, and this is their story so far!

They first met while working in a children's home, not far from Chiang Mai.  Little did they know that they would be married a little over a year later!

Funn’s upbringing is common to girls in the mountains.  She went to school until she was 12 and then stayed at home to help her parents.  When old enough, she moved to the city to get a job as a cook in a restaurant, in order to send money back to her family.

During Funn’s teen years and into her early 20’s, life changed dramatically, which in turn brought terrible injustices into her life.  Injustices which made Funn question her future, and even whether or not she should continue living this life.

Sae made his decision to follow the Lord when he was 13yrs old.  He graduated from high school, and then moved to Chiang Rai where he completed 4yrs of Bible College.

Funn and Sae were friends to begin with, but both individually felt a strong need to pray for one another regularly.   Soon enough, everyone around them were endorsing this relationship – All of their friends and family saw that it was special.  God was in the centre of their budding relationship.

Although only nine days apart in age, Funn and Sae (older) have very different upbringings; yet God works all things for good, and has a great plan for each of their lives!

We have had a special time over the past weeks celebrating their marriage.  First with a pre-wedding photo shoot in the flower gardens of Rajapruek, then the beautiful and unique wedding in the Funn’s village.  Unique because you rarely see such emotion in a Karen wedding!  Marriages are mostly arranged when the couple are quite young.  This wedding was different.  This day was full of joy, hope and love.  Whilst saying their vows, Funn welled up with emotion.  "The old is gone; the new is here" (2Cor 5:17). 

And then came the wedding blessing celebration at The River, where the Hangdong community joined in to witness and celebrate the union of Sae and Funn!

Sae and Funn are much loved members of The River Team and we all look forward to the journey ahead  of serving God together!