What are the historical beginnings of Biblical Christianity in Thailand?
Biblical Christianity is believed to have been first introduced into the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand’s former name) nearly 200 years ago through the influence of the Baptist Missionary to Burma, Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann (Nancy) Hasseltine Judson. The Judsons first arrived in Siam in 1813. They compiled the very first Siamese (Thai) dictionary, and translated the Gospel of Matthew into the Thai/Siamese language in 1819. Their first convert to Christianity, a Karen tribal man named Ko Tha Byu, was said to be like gold hidden under a thick layer of tarnish. After having lived a life of robbing and murdering, he was rescued from slavery by the Judsons, and later converted and was baptized in 1828. Eventually Ko Tha Byu went out to villages to preach. He helped convert a man named Quala, who became one of the most prominent Christian leaders in the 19th century. Later, in the 1860s, Presbyterian missionaries entered Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Their first Thai convert to Christiani
