A bit about me.
Shalom! I’m Rick Tan Teng Kim. I’m a Malaysian from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Professionally, I studied hospitality after finishing school. My goal was to be the world’s greatest chef. I’m also a keen computer enthusiast. Mostly about videogames but this interest this propel me to learn some programming and I even earned a Business IT diploma on the side!
Currently based in Chiang Mai, the wonderful city in the north of Thailand. Although I didn’t intentionally migrate to Thailand as a missionary, I’ve been a full time pastor in Malaysia from 2005 – 2015 when I made my move to settle down in Thailand. While, again, I didn’t intentionally move to Thailand as a missionary, I hope we all can agree that every Christian is, in fact, a missionary of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
My conversion experience.
As with all young people, other than ambitions and flights of fancy, I’m was pretty content with life thankfully coming from a loving family. I grew up comfortably “middle class” where we had more than we need. Like all young people, I wondered about life. In 2003, I finished college and after a short working spell, I headed over to the UK as a working holidaymaker, a scheme for young people of the Commonwealth to visit and stay on a holiday in England with the opportunity to work and sustain themselves.
It should’ve been the experience of my life… and I made an utter waste of it! I was too socially anxious, I had too many hang-ups that didn’t manifest themselves while I was in the comfort of home. I was always socially anxious. I had low self esteem issues. Annoyingly, I went to an all boys school so I have never spoken to another female before who weren’t my mom, sister or teacher, so that impacted my social life as well as a coming of age adult.
Job interviews were frightening and I would only show up maybe for every 1 out of 3. And so on, and so forth.
Anyway, the long and short of it was I wasted my time and my parents resources in my short time there, and I found myself on a miserable flight back to Malaysia. Not sure of how to proceed, not sure if there’s any meaning to life at all. It was at that moment, something strange happened – I called out in the name of Jesus!
Of course, in this age and time, everybody “knows” Jesus. He’s that Christian God! Or something like that… Somewhere up there in a pantheon of gods.
But it was at that moment when I called out to Him, more than just a thought in mind but to actually call out to Him driven by something I don’t know at that time and that I wanted to have a personal relationship with Him. Yes, the Holy Spirit of God came upon me and for the first time, He made Himself known and that I would submit to Him and He’ll take care of everything.
From then on, it was just an amazing ride with Him as I quickly recovered, got a job, got a few jobs in fact! I found the time to attend church, got baptised, talked to my pastor about serving full time, went to seminary and became a full time servant of God.
Wow! Thank you LORD, amen!
2005 – 2015: 10 blessed years with Trinity Methodist Church, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
First thing I will admit is that I’m not someone who considers myself very smart. I love to read but I guess I’m, perhaps and how shall I put it, more of a participant than a critic?
Seminary was a struggle just like in school. I would put heart and soul into my work, submit my papers and they would come back with a big fat zero… But what is life unless you persevere? Besides, God made us all different. Some are blest with brains, some are blest with physique, some with talents.
I like to think of myself as the quiet guy who gets things done. So, into the Methodist Church and I eventually found my calling in the area of Social Outreach. Kuala Lumpur is a big city with a long history. Like all big cities of its kind, there are riches and there are the those who are left behind.
It was a absolute privilege to be able to be apart of something God did to reach out to those who are lost. I can tell you how He magnificently put together a team to make it work.
You had the sort of character who are prime movers, people who gets things done, the people other people listen to when they speak but are generally inept administration, so you had the administrators. You had nurses, doctors. You had former addict and prostitutes.
Never one would’ve thought a nice, suburban church will have a thriving street ministry with a street church, free clinics and so much more.
Life in Chiang Mai.
During my bachelor days, I always had the feeling that when the LORD decides it’s time for me to settle down, she will be someone from another country. I met my wife in 2013 during a holiday and I shared the Gospel with her. Quietly, she got baptised and we then began our courtship. We married in 2014. By prayers, we decided to make Chiang Mai our home.
My plan was to assist my wife with her business while building one of my own i.e. “tent making” as the Apostle Paul did. During my time doing social outreaches, it bothered me that while we could share the good news and save someone, and we could offer to rehabilitate those who are caught in vices, there still is very little opportunity for them to move on with life. Due to that, many would fall again! Also, maybe I overthink things, but I always wondered how Christians in countries that are poor sustain themselves and their church? So I became interested in being self-sufficient. Also, I’m of Chinese descent, so somewhere in me there must be some latent trait that made my race millionaires whenever my ancestors went!
At that time, I knew very little about Thailand back then other than the general understanding that they need the Gospel. Christianity comprises a very insignificant number (1%) amongst the mainstream Thais although many tribes and Thai ethnic villages consider themselves Christian.
As a new kid on the block, my first priority was finding a home church for fellowship, eventually finding a home with the House of Praise, a church under the Christian Outreach Centre Foundation (COC), an Australian organisation. At the same time, I reached out to other ministries including a few run by my fellow Malaysians. Shoutout to Living Waters Foundation, Chiang Mai.
The early days in Chiang Mai.
By mid-2015, I had a small cafe running. Ministry wise, I helped the church on Sundays particularly in the area of worship as a sound and IT person. During this time, I studied Thai by attending classes but I’ll admit, it’s not a language that comes easily to me and I still struggle with it.
Things changed significantly when my first child came along in 2016, followed by my second in 2017. I took on the role of a house husband seeing my wife had a more stable job and income. This period saw me spending most of my time at home with limited engagement outside. I did manage to start a few online ventures as well as a part time job that took me to Bangkok every fortnight.
In 2019 another change happened as we moved to Udon Thani, on the eastern side of Thailand in a region commonly called Isaan. This is the major agricultural and economic centre of Thailand and the people there are a hardy, hardworking bunch.
Christians have an even more insignificant presence there and I’m led to help out the one and only “international” church there called, at that time, the Udon Thani International Christian Fellowship. It has been renamed the Isaan Community Challenge Udon Thani (Facebook link) as a way to truly drive home the goal that the Gospel must be taken to the people of this region.
This is also where I truly experience the contrast of what I had experienced in Malaysia versus in Thailand. For one, resources were extremely limited and most of the time, you have to do a lot with very little. For example, we might not always have the air-conditioning on every Sunday afternoon for service! In near 40 celsius Isaan afternoons!
I supported myself with a humble income from online businesses and a part time engagement that had me travelling to Bangkok every other week. Not much, just treat it as extra “pocket money”. But I still spent most of my time raising my children while my wife provided for the family as the main breadwinner during this period of our lives. I’m forever thankful for her and I know God truly does bless with a great wife!
If I have one regret, that would be that I couldn’t do more in Udon Thani. The church there really needed help however, there’s a bit of irony in the Christian mindset: Udon Thani has a small Christian base, so presumably it should attract missionaries from the world over to it but the issue seems be because it has a small Christian base, not many missionaries want to venture here because of either a fear of failure or not being seen as “impressive” (thousands coming to Christ!) or, even more strangely, being questioned by their supporters why they want to serve somewhere where, get this, there aren’t any Christians!
Nonetheless, this was actually the first moment that I felt so desperate and helpless that I couldn’t do anything for God. Still, I must be calmed because, again, it’s not my will but His. For me, being here opened my eyes and I sought to return to full time ministry, and get myself into organisations that will help support this cause.
COC Foundation – back to full time ministry, back to Chiang Mai.
In late 2019, a position became available at the House of Praise church back in Chiang Mai and it was offered to me. It’ll be something more stable than what I currently have. More importantly, it will give me a solid foothold back into a Christian organisation.
At this point, Covid 2019 was rapidly gaining attention worldwide.
In February of 2020, I started my role as the Legal Administrator with COC primarily as a liaison between the foundation, missionaries and future missionaries. It’s primarily an administrative role but a useful one in the sense of making connections. It was always understood that every genuine Christian here sought to be on the move as the LORD leads.
As the lockdowns began, I took on the additional role of being the COC International School main (and only) administrator; the current administrator had decided to return home rather than get stuck. The school was established by the foundation as an affordable option for missionary families but Christians everywhere are welcomed to enrol their children as well.
Post pandemic Chiang Mai and the challenge for the church.
Mid 2022 and things have almost returned to “normal”. Group gatherings were allowed again and people went about their business as they used to. The church struggled to pick up the pieces as everyone else.
Attendance is down, monetary blessings are down due to low to no attendance coupled with the post pandemic economic crunch.
The foundation struggled. The school is currently suspended pending a new registration..
Missionaries find it a challenge coming to Thailand.. As a foundation for missionaries wanting to serve in Thailand, missionaries and their organisations pay for a nominal fee to cover the visa and administrative costs as well as acting as a small donation towards the work of the foundation.
Lastly, the foundation receives tithes and offerings as a church but numbers are low currently.
Karen Baptist City Church – Truly the priesthood of all believers
As of late 2022, thanks to coming from a Methodist background along with a seminary education, I took on the role of an associate pastor with the Karen Baptist City Church having been invited by a brother in Christ to assist in their Sunday evening service, started as an effort to establish an international service serving both locals and foreign visitors.
Along with that, the church is keen on establishing student fellowships at the various universities around Chiang Mai namely the Chiang Mai University (CMU), the Chiang Mai Maejo University (just called Maejo) and the Chiang Mai Rajabhat University (Rajabhat).
Kids of Destiny – Contextualised Sunday School Lessons.
I’m blessed to be a part of Kids of Destiny, an effort by missionaries who have spent years in Asia who saw the need to reach Asian children using fully contextualised lessons.
Ever heard the expression that Christianity is a western religion? Kids of Destiny sought to correct this misconception!
Note baby Jesus in a manger… that is a cowshed with a buffalo and a cow of the Asian variety. Goliath has taken on South East Asian features as well.
This is their ministry. My part in it is that I help them design their website and maintain it by no other means than a “can do” attitude when it comes to all things IT (I had some IT training in my younger days as well. Thank you LORD!).
If time permits, God willing I would love to help them translate and disseminate their work to Malaysia and Indonesia in the local languages.
What does the future hold?
Like all Christians, the only thing I pray for is revival and an outpouring of faith through the entire world. Seeing that I’ve been placed here in Thailand, my prayer is localised and I pray to God to “use me, here I am O LORD, use me”.
Along with developing the English service at the Karen church, we want to establish a firm hold for Christ in Thai society.
As a family man, of course, there’s also my wife and kids. It’s a strange culture for me, so I pray for patience and wisdom on how to handle the day to day.