We will join together again
in-person again & on Zoom
this Sunday!!
ADVENT SUNDAY
28th November 2021
at 10 am.
Simultaneously In-Person and
on Zoom
at Bangkok Christian College (BCC)
In-person worship at BCC
Our regular meeting place, Bangkok Christian College in Sathorn Nua Road (next to Surasak BTS station) has just reopened which enables us to meet and worship in-person again for the first time in 7 months.
Please read our attendance rules set out below
For those not able to attend worship in person, ICB will also live relay our service
via Zoom (see details below)
Please note that for now there will not be an ICB evening service
November’s Outreach Partner
is the Thai Tai Church
also known as the
Thai Faith and Music Foundation To find out more and how you can help, please go to our Outreach section towards the end of this newsletter This Sunday, we welcome Revd. Dr. Ruth Srisuwan who will join us during our Advent service
Ten Attendance Procedures at ICB services
For your own safety and the safety of all others.
1. ICB and BCC expects that all attending will have already been vaccinated against Covid19. Please stay at home if you develop any flu-like symptoms
2. Everyone must wear a mask at all times (unless while drinking water). Wearing 2 masks is encouraged for extra safety. Please keep masks on while singing.
3. All attending are asked to sign the entrance register with names and contact details
4. On entering the sanctuary, please allow us to check your body temperature.
5. Seating will be arranged 1.5 metres apart. Parents and their children may be allowed to sit closer to each other but please understand if you are asked to sit differently.
6. Offerings will be collected in a bag. Please wait for usher to pass this around and do not pass it on to others.
7. In offering greetings and the peace to one another, please do not touch others in any way. Instead, you may wave or “wai” to everyone.
8. We regret that we cannot offer any refreshments other than plain water in plastic packs or bottles. No food will be provided.
9. If the sanctuary becomes full, ICB may regretfully need to prohibit more persons from entering.
10. During the current period, the ICB choir will not be performing. Other usual service activities may also be curtailed.
Most people will be familiar with these procedures which are both expected and well known. We thank you for strictly conforming to them all as they are fundamental for safety and enable us to to meet and Praise God together in person once more.
On-line Relay
If you are unable to attend in person or prefer to stay at home, you may still Join us on ZOOM!
(computer, tablet or smartphone)
Wherever you are in the world, you are welcome to join us online using the Zoom application in the same way as we have been doing during the lockdown period
About ICB worship on Zoom:
Please log-in on time and allow a minute or two to connect.
You will be “muted” upon entering the zoom room.
Please stay muted during the service.
Please be patient as we try to overcome any glitches with a new technical set-up at BCC.
This Sunday’s Sermon
is delivered live on Zoom by our minister, Revd. Chee Keong Yong
Revd. Chee’s sermon theme is entitled: “The Real Advent”
Our Scripture Readings are: Gospel: Luke 21:25-36*(*click for online Bible)
Pastor Chee’s brief & notes:
What are our images for this season that has dawned on us? We know that it is Advent and Christmas is not too far away. So when we think of Advent, what images do we see?
I was rather bemused when I had a walk between Asok and Phrom Phong and also at Siam Paragon and Siam Centre lately. Here in sunny Bangkok, we are being bombarded with images of the northern hemisphere. We are reminded that winter is upon us – really? I have spent much of my last thirty years or so in the southern hemisphere and it is rather weird to see the sights at shopping malls. Up north, people are putting on their woollies whereas Aussies and Kiwis are fighting bushfires and having BBQ’s in the open in summer.
This reminds me of all the “fake” images for this season. It is as if in humanity’s dire need of “escape” we put on a “winter’s wonderland” in every corner of the world. We have Santa Claus with his jingle bells spinning out merriment. The world seeks to entice us to a virtual reality that does not remotely resemble what this season meant. How did we get to this point?
Less we put the blame solely on commercialism, perhaps the church is partly to blame too. In our excitement to get to Christmas, we celebrate well in advance of the big day. Office workers celebrate their end-of-year parties with a Christmas theme.
Advent was meant to be a penitential season (similar to Lent). Both Advent and Lent allow Christ-followers to prepare for the celebration of Christmas and Easter respectively. However, this is now lost to most of us as we have allowed earthly pursuits and concerns to get the better of us.
Give me the good old religion where Christ is at the centre of our lives and the focus of our missional journey.
Please note that we are having a hybrid service on Sunday at 10.00 am – in-person at Bangkok Christian Centre and on Zoom.
Have a blessed Advent
Blessings
Chee
Please scroll down below for notices about Sunday school in November, Covenants for 2022, our weekly on-line prayer meeting on Thursday evenings, as well as this month’s Outreach Partner: Thai Tai Church.
We are also continuing our Tree Angel Appeal; this year it’s for Rahab Ministries who offer a new future and hope for former sex workers in the Patpong area.
ICB is a fully self-supported congregation.
We gladly receive your donations. KBank a/c 003-1-09408-9
More information on the ICB Website
Thank you!
Making a Covenant
with God and His Church
2022
Advancing the Work of Jesus!
Covenant Sunday is Dec. 5. Please return the form shown below either by placing in the offering bag or sending to the church office:
61/2 Soi Saen Sabai 3; Sukhumvit 36 Road; Bangkok; 10110
Or you can scan and email to office@icbangkok.org.
International Church of Bangkok is a fully self-supporting church. We are not sponsored by any foreign church body and thus receive no outside financial assistance. In fact, we take joy to be a congregation who supports ministries all over Thailand!
We need over 5 million baht each year to cover expenses and keep our
ministry and the ICB community sustainable.
Your contributions to ICB may be tax-deductible under Thai tax rules.
For more information or to donate in US tax-deductible dollars, please contact the church office: office@icbangkok.org
Covenant Form
After prayerful consideration for the year 2022,
I/We enter into covenant with God and His Church to:
Pray for my Church_______times per week.
Attend Worship_______times per month.
Give back to God the following in God’s tithe (10%) & offerings
Baht_______per week/month/year (please circle one)
Other Currency_______per week/month/year (please circle)
Serve God in ministry. I’m interested in (please circle):
Christian Education
Outreach
Worship Prayer
Personnel & Property
Evangelism/Membership
Finance/Stewardship
Fellowship
Other ……….
In-person services have resumed as Bangkok Christian College reopens…….We are delighted that Sunday morning in-person worship services are resuming earlier than expected.Please keep a lookout on email, ICB website, Facebook or Line (morning service group) for further announcements about in-person and Zoom arrangements. We will continue to live-stream services on Zoom….
even now when we can meet in-person again.
Please pray and bear with us as we put the technical system into place for relaying our services. We are not professionals and we could expect some initial glitches!
Weekly Prayer Meeting –
Thursdays from 7:00 to 7:30pm (pls join before 7:05)
This is a wonderful opportunity to pause for a few moments, however busy we are, and join together to reflect and pray forour Church, Bangkok, the World and for ourselves. You will feel better for it – and so will God!
Outreach Tree Angels 2021
This week, we continue our annual collection to support one of our Outreach Partners during the season of Advent and Christmas. This year, we focus on Rahab Ministries.
The Tree Angels are made by former bar workers who, thanks to Rahab with God’s grace, now earn their income producing and selling crochet products, soft toys and other similar items locally and overseas.
These Tree Angels are being handmade exclusively for ICB. Please purchase or order yours very soon as we may run out of our limited supplies!
Thank you for your support in donations. Every time you look at the angel on your Christmas tree you will know you have taken a small but important step in fulfilling the work of Jesus Christ!
CHRISTIAN OUTREACH The International Church of Bangkok
partners with Christian ministries throughout Thailand to advance the work of Jesus.
5% of ICB’s yearly total income goes directly to the outreach partners. Members and friends are also encouraged to give directly.
Bank transfers are easy to do and very welcome Please Donate NOW when it’s Most Needed!! KasikornBank (KBank): 003-1-09408-9
Transfer your donation to the ICB Bank account above and please email your transfer confirmation with the message:
“For Outreach: month/year (or name of O/R partner)” office@icbangkok.org
ICB’s Outreach Partner
for November 2021
Thai Tai Church in Bangkok and
Maha Sarakham (in NE Thailand)
A church serving all regardless of background
The Story behind the Thai Tai Church
After 4 years of Christian mission work in low-income neighborhoods of central Bangkok’s Huai Khwang District (เขตห้วยขวาง), Pastor Revd. Ruth and Director Revd. Inchai Srisuwan soon discovered the spiritual needs of the community had “no soil to grow in”. Churches in the area did not welcome slum dwellers.
As the children and young people had no church to call “home”, they founded the Thai Faith and Music Foundation in 1998, setting up the Thai Tai Church the following year to provide open worship space for all regardless of background. The words Thai (ไทย) & Tai (ไท) mean freedom and independence – “free from slavery and sin”.
Church Planting in Isaan (NE region)
In 2015, Revd. Ruth and Revd. Inchai moved to become full time ministers in Huai Ang in Maha Sarakham Province, where their their son, Pastor Atiraat, had before introduced music and sport activities to reach local villagers. This small church sanctuary, built using Korean missionary funds, was dedicated in March of the same year.
Bangkok Ministry Continues to Expand
Pastor Atiraat and his family moved back to continue his parents’ Thai Tai Church ministry in Bangkok at a new location in Ramkhamhaeng Soi 190. This low-income community houses 2000 families, giving ample opportunity to mingle with locals and spread the Good News.
“What an opportunity to attract passers-by!”
Bible study classes for children are conducted on the sidewalk where street vendors sell their wares. This way, more people are interested to hear the Good News.
ICB’s funding contributes to school scholarships for the youth both in the Capital and Isaan. The students are always very grateful for the continuing partnership with ICB.
Revd. Dr Ruth Srisuwan asks us to pray:
For God to take away Covid 19 from us so we can gather together again in worship. Also, that we will soon be able to resume teaching the children.
For all our Thai Tai Church family: Ruth, Inchai and Pastor Atiraat, his family and our church members who also contracted Covid 19 of whom 9 are still in recuperation. Although we still worship on line, may God strengthen us soon to meet in person.
For ICB Church, may God’s blessing be on all ICB church members to remain far from Covid 19.
Revd. Dr Ruth Srisuwan will join us this Sunday, 28th November, to tell us more about the work of the Thai Tai Church.
If you missed any of the recent sermons or would like to hear one or more again, recordings are available from Rev. Chee himself. Please let him know which Sunday(s) you are interested in and he will send you the link.
Send an email to: minister@icbangkok.org
International Church of Bangkok (ICB)
Advancing the Work of Jesus!
ICB is an English language congregation, composed of native and non-native speakers. We are committed to welcoming people of all backgrounds to Christian worship for a diverse, inclusive and unifying faith experience.
We seek to advance the work of Jesus Christ by promoting and supporting spiritual growth, community and service to others.
Scan these QR Codes to
find out more about
International Church of Bangkok
This upper link will guide you to our
ICB Website
This lower link will guide you to our
ICB Facebook page
For personal inquiries, more information and
church membership, please email
Rev. Chee Keong Yong: minister@icbangkok.org
