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

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

, northern

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

by the Rev. Daniel McGilvary 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.

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 (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

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

(founded 1867); Lampang (founded in 1885 and originally known as the Lakawn Station);

Lamphun Lamphun (; , ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district. As of 2006 it has a population of 14,030. Lamphun lies north of Bangkok and ...

(founded 1891 and made a sub-station of Chiang Mai in 1897);

Phrae Phrae (; ; ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') and capital of Phrae Province and Mueang Phrae district. It is located in Northern Thailand on the east bank of the Yom river, 555 km north of Bangkok by road. The town occupies ''tambon'' Nai ...

(1893): Nan (1895); and

Chiang Rai Chiang Rai (, ; , ) 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 was established as a capital city in the reign of King Ma ...

(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 people, Dai, Thai people, Thai, Isan people, Isan, ...

of eastern

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

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

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...

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 Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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 and Chiang Rai Witthayakhom School, 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. Beginning in the 1890s, the majority of the mission's members campaigned for mission expansion into the

Shan States The Shan States were a collection of minor Shan people, Shan kingdoms called ''mueang, möng'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' (''sawbwa''). In British rule in Burma, British Burma, they were analogous to the princely states of Britis ...

of Burma, which brought it into a protracted, time-consuming territorial dispute with the American Baptists 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 disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

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 (W ...

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 hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

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 in 1920-21.From Herb Swanson with permission
/ref>

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 History of Chiang Mai Buildings and structures in Chiang Mai 1860s establishments in Siam 1867 establishments in Asia

Mission

See also

References