My wife Esther and I arrived in Thailand as missionaries in 2000. After about one
year my curiosity got the better of me. I found out that nobody had compiled statistics
on Thai Protestant Christians since 1978. In my innocence I decided to start
counting. Had I known what an enormous task it was I probably never would have
started. And, but for the interest that the Thai churches and the missionary community
showed in the initial results, I would soon have given up.
Because I was working as a church planter the next set of questions popped up.
What kind of people become Christians? How? What kind of churches grow? I decided
to do some surveys to get answers to these questions.
During our first home assignment, in 2002, I met up with my mentor, professor
Jongeneel. I had enjoyed being his research assistant during my student years, but
had continuously turned down his recurring suggestion to write a dissertation: “I’m
going to be a missionary, not a scientist.” But now he prevailed. He convinced me
that it would be beneficial to the church in Thailand, and to me, to answer my questions
with academic rigour.