September 20, 2012
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Olivet Theological College & Seminary’s Doctoral Advisor Dr. Chansamone Saiyasak, Ph.D. M.Div, was among the list of international professors presenting at this year's Olivet University Annual Doctoral Colloquium.
The presentation of his latest paper "Understanding and Strategizing Christian Leadership Development for the Thai Buddhist Context," encourages deeper understanding of the dynamics in Thai leadership concepts in order to structure stronger Christian leadership in the Thai Buddhist context. Dr. Saiyasak's paper will be included in the book called "Developing Indigenous Leaders for Mission in the Buddhist World and Beyond," which will be published by the end of 2012 by William Carey Library.
Dr. Saiyasak hails from Thailand and presented insightful context about culturally different perception of leadership and roles of leaders in the Southeast Asian context. The concepts apply to a specific method of discipleship and outreach. His paper entitled "Understanding and Strategizing Christian Leadership Development for the Thai Buddhist Context" explored subjects such as Thai Christian leadership development, applying those Thai concepts to ministry, Thai Christina and Non-Christina perception towards leadership, and selection approaches for the Thai Buddhist context.
Within the subjects, Dr. Saiyasak educates readers on the leadership relationship, and behavior of Northeaster Thai Buddhists and its value system. The paper then continues on to a comparison analysis of the attributes of a Buddhist and Christian leader in the categories of character, knowledge, ability to lead, zeal, maturity, and more. One of the observations made on Christian leadership is the lack of deep understanding of leadership structure and decision making in the Thai Buddhist context. Dr. Saiyasak further looks into the importance of character and its qualification as a leader in the Thai concepts.
"The goal of Christian missions in Thailand is to develop Christian leaders so as to bring Christ's redemption and kingdom reign to the people living in the Thai Buddhist context. The successful outcome of these evangelization efforts depends significantly on the development of indigenous leaders who are the most effective agents of religious change in their local contexts. Because of the observable direct correlation between leadership development and effective Christian evangelization, the importance of indigenous leadership development cannot be overestimated. It is therefore imperative to precisely determine the perceptions of good and acceptable leadership according to the local context where evangelization is to take place," stated Dr. Saiyasak.
Dr. Chansamone Saiyasak serves as President of Mekong Evangelical Mission, President of Asian Society of Missiology, and President of Mekong Bible Seminary in Thailand.
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