The Laos Mission (also, North Laos Mission, North Siam Mission) was founded in

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

, northern

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

by the Rev.

Daniel McGilvary Daniel McGilvary (1828–1911) was an Presbyterian Church in the United States, American Presbyterian missionary who played an important role in the expansion of Protestantism in Northern Siam. Throughout his life, his colleagues and the general p ...

and Mrs. Sophia McGilvary in April 1867. It was established as a mission of the Board of Foreign Missions,

Presbyterian Church in the United States The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS, originally Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America) was a Protestant denomination in the Southern and border states of the United States that existed from 1861 to 1983. That ye ...

Mission

The original vision for the mission came from Dr. Dan Beach Bradley, who himself once proposed starting a mission in the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

. The Laos Mission included, at one time or another, six stations in Northern Siam:

(founded 1867);

Lampang Lampang, also called Nakhon Lampang ( th, นครลำปาง, ) to differentiate from Lampang province, is the third largest city in northern Thailand and capital of Lampang province and the Mueang Lampang district. Traditional names for L ...

(founded in 1885 and originally known as the Lakawn Station); Lamphun (founded 1891 and made a sub-station of Chiang Mai in 1897); Phrae (1893):

Nan Nan or NAN may refer to: Places China * Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China * Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China Thailand * Nan Province ** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province * Nan River People Given name ...

(1895); and

Chiang Rai Chiang Rai ( th, เชียงราย, ; nod, , เจียงฮาย, ) is the northernmost major city in Thailand, with a population of about 200,000 people. It is located in Mueang Chiang Rai District, Chiang Rai Province. Chiang Rai ...

(1896). In addition, the mission founded a station in 1903 to work with the

Tai peoples Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, a ...

of eastern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Kengtung th , เชียงตุง , other_name = Kyaingtong , settlement_type = Town , imagesize = , image_caption = , pushpin_map = Myanmar , pushpin_label_position = left , ...

, which was closed in 1907; and it founded another station, the Chiang Rung Station, in

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

in 1917. The mission founded its first church, Chiang Mai Church, now known simply as First Church, Chiang Mai, in 1868. After a brief period of evangelistic success, the mission underwent a time of persecution in 1869, during which two converts were martyred. The mission did not fully recover until the late 1870s. In 1880, it founded three congregations including the Mae Dok Daeng Church, known today as the Suwanduangrit Church, Ban Dok Daeng. In 1885, the mission sponsored the founding of the Presbytery of North Laos, officially under the

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, to give oversight to the churches. By the 1890s, the mission increasingly emphasized medical and educational institutional work, founding boarding schools, such as

Prince Royal's College The Prince Royal's College ( th, โรงเรียนปรินส์รอยแยลส์วิทยาลัย) is a private Christian school serving the education needs of over 6,000 students per year in grades kindergarten through ...

and

Chiang Rai Witthayakhom School Chiang Rai Witthayakhom School ( RTGS), locally spelled as Chiengrai Vidhayakhome School ( th, โรงเรียนเชียงรายวิทยาคม), is a school in Chiang Rai city. It is the oldest school in Chiang Rai Province, ...

, American printing house (Wangsingkam), hospitals and dispensaries in each of the stations. The churches, meanwhile, numbered 37 by 1920, the last year of the mission, and communicate membership numbered 6,649 that same year. The presbytery continued in existence until 1934, when it was incorporated into the

Church of Christ in Thailand The Church of Christ in Thailand (C.C.T.) ( Thai: สภาคริสตจักรในประเทศไทย) is a Protestant Christian association. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Thailand and is considered to be the larg ...

. Beginning in the 1890s, the majority of the mission's members campaigned for mission expansion into the

Shan States The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called '' muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India. The term "Shan States" was fi ...

of Burma, which brought it into a protracted, time-consuming territorial dispute with the

American Baptists The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...

in Burma. For a brief period from 1911 to 1914, the mission's church grew rapidly in the wake of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious ...

s in various parts of northern Siam. With improvements in communications between northern and central Siam, the Laos Mission was united with the

Siam Mission Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in 1920-21.From Herb Swanson with permission
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References

*Curtis, Lillian Johnson. ''The Laos of North Siam''. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1903. (Reprint. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1998). *McFarland, George B., ed. ''Historical Sketch of Protestant Missions in Siam 1828-1928''. Bangkok: Bangkok Times Press, 1928. (Reprint. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1999). *McGilvary, Daniel.'' A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lao''. New York: Revell, 1912. (Reprint. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2001). *Pasuna, C. Lanna Dynamics: Changing of Language in Payap County (Monthon Payap) Under the Influence of Siam from Missionary Archives, 1893-1926. "''Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences''" 8(2) (July-December 2020). *Swanson, Herbert R. ''Khrischak Muang Nua''. Bangkok: Chuan Press, 1984. *Wells, Kenneth E. ''History of Protestant Work in Thailand 1828-1958''. Bangkok: Church of Christ in Thailand, 1958. {{Christianity in Thailand Christian missions in Asia Protestantism in Thailand 1867 in Chiang Mai Buildings and structures in Chiang Mai

Mission

See also

References