MISSION HISTORY

Founding a Mission

Frontier Labourers for Christ (FLC) was formed on November 1, 1979, by Daniel and Beverley Kalnin.  Daniel, originally from the Rawang tribe of Northern Myanmar, had a burden to help his impoverished homeland from the time he was a young boy, and Beverley, a Canadian national, was called by God into mission work as a teenager.  Together they founded FLC to minister spiritually and physically to the peoples of the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia.  

Struggling

The mission had a financially humble beginning of 100 Canadian dollars donated by Beverley’s home Church, Westway Christian Church in Toronto, Canada.  Daniel and Beverley managed to house 12 students and support numerous evangelists in their work during this time through complete reliance on God's power and provision.

Building

The early stage of the ministry began with an outreach to the Lisu tribe in Northern Thailand.  At that time, most of Thailand’s Lisu people were animists.  Finally, a highly respected Lisu chief came to the Lord in Jom Hat village in Prao, Chiang Mai Province.  Later, through his testimony on tape, several hundred Lisu’s came to the Lord. 

The second tribal group that FLC began reaching was the Lahu tribe.  In the early years of FLC’s ministry, there was only one Lahu Christian village; refugees from Myanmar.  The Lahu ministry developed and expanded and FLC trained twelve Lahu evangelists and established 28 Lahu Christian Churches.

The Lahu ministry then led to evangelism of the Akha tribe. One Lahu evangelist spoke Akha and had a burden to reach them with the gospel message.  Through his and other peoples outreach, 12 Akha evangelists were trained and they planted 54 Akha churches.  In the meantime, eight Chinese Churches were established through one Chinese evangelist supported by FLC mission.  In addition, FLC ministered to the Kachin as well as the Wa tribe.  Later the work expanded to the Mien (Yao), Karen and Hmong tribes. 

FLC has now established over 200 indigenous churches in the Golden Triangle.  FLC has also initiated projects like: the Barefoot Doctors School, crop substitution projects, as well as opium detoxification and clean drinking water projects.  Schools and youth centers have been established so tribal children can receive an education for the first time. FLC trains evangelists in Bible, medicine and leadership, and does direct evangelism. The ministry has expanded to over 20 tribal people groups in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, demonstrating God has been faithfully blessing and expanding the mission.