Started in 2014, this social arm of CTD aims to help children from broken homes. This was made possible because of three main factors. Firstly, it has been the burden of Ah Wu, our co-worker, who is staying at Huay Sai. She has a heart to help children who are orphans or come from broken families. She hopes to give these children the warmth of a family, a better education and the love of God. Through these children, she also hopes to reach out to other children and adults. Secondly, there was a dream from my wife, from which the name 宣恩 or Shannon (meaning “grace”) was derived. Thirdly, there was a donation from an old lady who made this possible. In March 2014, the building was put up.

Mission of Shannon Home ภารกิจของบ้านแสงพระคุณ

• To lead the residents to Christ and to develop them into holistic Christ-like disciples, may it be spiritual, psychological, intellectual, social, physical, vocational.
• เพื่อนำเด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณไปสู่พระเยซูคริสต์ และพัฒนาพวกเขาให้เติบโตเป็นสาวกที่บริสุทธิ์เหมือนพระเยซูคริสต์ในทุก ๆ ด้าน เช่น ด้านฝ่ายวิญญาณ จิตใจ สติปัญญา สังคม ร่างกาย และวิชาชีพ เป็นต้น

Goals of Shannon Home จุดมุ่งหมายของบ้านแสงพระคุณ

• To lead the residents to Christ so that they may in turn lead others to Christ
• เพื่อนำเด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณไปสู่พระเยซูคริสต์เพื่อที่เขาจะสามารถนำผู้อื่นมารู้จักพระเยซูได้
• To disciple the residents into Christ-like disciples so that they can disciple others
• เพื่ออบรมเด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณให้เป็นสาวกที่เหมือนพระเยซูเพื่อเขาก็จะสามารถอบรมผู้อื่นให้เป็นสาวกพระเยซู
• To educate the residents so that they become knowledgeable and responsible persons
• เพื่อให้การศึกษากับเด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณเพื่อเขาจะเป็นคนที่มีความรู้และความรับผิดชอบ
• To provide the residents a loving family environment so that they may also care for others
• เพื่อให้เด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณอยู่ในสภาพแวดล้อมที่มีความอบอุ่นของครอบครัวแล้วเขาจะได้มีความห่วงใยผู้อื่นด้วย
• To bring God’s healing to their past hurts and let go of their baggage so that they may live a new life for Christ
• เพื่อนำการรักษาของพระเจ้าเข้ามาในชีวิตของเด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณ และช่วยให้เขาได้รับการรักษาจากความเจ็บปวดและรับการปลดปล่อยจากภาระหนักในอดีต เพื่อที่เขาจะสามารถดำเนินชีวิตใหม่เพื่อพระคริสต์ได้
• To equip the residents with necessary vocational skills so that they can have a better job in the future
• เพื่ออบรมให้เด็กบ้านแสงพระคุณมีความเชี่ยวชาญทางวิชาชีพเพื่อเขาจะสามารถมีงานที่ดีในอนาคตได้

To fulfill these goals, Ah Wu who is the guardian of the children would do daily devotions with them and pray with them. There is also a simple worship service on Sunday. Ah Wu would also counsel and give parental guidance those children besides providing them with nutritional meals and hygienic lodging. The children are now studying in a proper government school and also trained to help simple chores like cleaning, washing, cooking, planting and farming. We hope that they would acquire simple survival skills and contribute to the Home in their own simple ways. It is our hope that the children in this Home would grow to be godly, faithful and useful for God and the society.

Selection of children

As Ah Wu move around the region, people would come to know about this ministry and they would request her to take in the needy children. She would then assess the individual situations and pray for the child before making a decision. The children that we bring in might not necessarily be orphans though they have the priority.

Many children in the mountainous areas are tribal people. Some of their parents might be drug addicts who are imprisoned, thus leaving their children to the care of their relatives. There are also many cases of parents who were divorced and the children are often left to the care of their relatives or a single parent who could not provide for so many children. These children often have very little education because of their financial limitations.

As such, we trust that Shannon Home can help these children from dysfunctional families by providing them a place where they can call home. We hope that they can experience the warmth of a family and the love of God, together with better education and training.

Once they come into the Home, they are expected to follow the regular time-table closely and would not be able to go back home unnecessarily to prevent disruptions. But they can make occasional phone calls or visit their relatives during their long term break.

As an extension of our ministry, we also look forward to the day where Shannon Home can also minister to other groups of people like the poor and the widows in this region as instructed by our God in the Bible.

Sponsorship

There are many children who apply to the Home, but we only take in a new child if there is someone who want to adopt them. The sponsor must be willing to commit to support the child for at least 4-5 years so as to ensure continuity of the ministry. Our goal is to provide basic education to the children to a minimal level of Secondary 3 level where the students can opt to go into a vocational school under the Thai education system. By that time, the children would normally be able to make a living on their own too. Of course, if sponsorship is available, we hope that the children can complete their high school or Secondary 6 in Thailand. After that, we can send the children to either Bible school to do their theological study or university. The sponsor would get to know who they are adopting and is able to write to them or send gifts to them or even visit them at Shannon Home. We also encourage the child to write a thank you note for their sponsors.

Currently, we have six boys and two girls. The cost of sponsoring a child is now S$1,650 a year with a startup cost of S$200. There is a slight increase due to inflation. The breakdown is as follows:

• Startup costs S$200 (one time): For school registration, fees, school items and beddings.
• Yearly S$1,650:
• Food: S$1140
• Transport: S$150
• Stationery & Toiletries: S$150
• Miscellaneous: S$210

You can choose to give the whole sum altogether, or you can also give it half yearly.

Besides, sponsoring the child, we also need to raise fund for the salary for our intern Nai. He will also be attending bible school training in 2021. The amount to sponsor for Nai is S$3,000 yearly. There are also many other costs like utilities bill which is about S$1600 a year, to keep the home going. The operation cost is also expected to grow over the years. If you have the burden to give to our ministry, please write to us.