Kevin Honore, BHW Field Director, visited Myanmar 4-6th April 2009

Currently BHW is supporting 6 church planters in Myanmar. Although we have been supporting these people for some time and have received reports, it is the first time we have visited since the support began so it was a good opportunity to try to understand the issues they face and hear from them directly.
 

Local homes

Interviews

1. TGC (husband) and VSV (MV)

(interviewed MV)
MV and her husband live in a village quite close to Yangon. They travel to it by boat from the city, just a few minutes away. The village is called A and it is too dangerous for us to go there to visit. We could possibly get permission but there is no telling what problems it would create for them. There are always people who want to cause problems for them. There are around 5,000 families in the village. 

These two met while they were evangelising in the same village and were married in 2006. They then decided to shift to this village to start a church. There are now around 185 people in the church; all of whom have become believers in the last 5 years. More than 200 have been saved but some have left the place. Most are from Buddhist background and a few from Hindu.

Twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays they go witnessing around the village and follow up those who are interested in the Christian message. They just visit from house to house and find people to talk to. A few are abusive but most are willing to receive them and listen. Although it is hard work, they enjoy it because they feel it is God’s will for them to do it. 

The community has had to take notice of them because of a miracle that occurred. A couple who had been paralysed for a number of years were restored to health and since that time the community has treated them like doctors, they bring all sorts of people to them. They say that their God answers prayers and because of this they are accepted by the people. Most of the early converts were because of this miracle. 

The people are very poor and live hand to mouth. They are daily labourers and don’t have land. The support they receive is very helpful and important. They are able to help a number of poor children with the support and they pay school admission fees for some children. Many of the Christian people have been forced out of the village to another place and there is no track in the wet weather so they are building a road for them to walk safely on to school. 

They are also helping Hurricane Nargis affected people as the need to help these people continues. They raise some money for this from partner churches around Yangon. There are still 20 families in the area without houses from the hurricane. We left some money to build another house. (It costs around $US300 to build a house) 

TGC is a graduate of MEGST. They have one son of 2½ years (SSC) and MV is 8 months pregnant, due 12th May. 

Prayer Requests
- for safe delivery of the new baby 
- they rent at the moment and would like their own house 
- they have a very strong burden for the community, especially those who do not have houses following Nargis

Working hard

2. CLM – SM

SM works at MCTS, the Bible school established by Dr. AM. He is married with six children and has started a church in H - Living Waters Church. On most days of the week he visits from house to house sharing the Good News and praying with people. On Saturdays he runs Bible studies and prayer meetings. He also visits in three other small villages near to H. Most of the people are Karen and Burmese. Living Waters Church has a cross-section of people coming to it. 

The students from MCTS do their practical field training at this church. It is less than three years old and there are about 40 people attending now. There are many nominal Christians in the community and it is difficult to connect with them because they say they are Christians already. The old people are very difficult too. He usually shares about the love and goodness of God on these visits. 

It is very difficult for Buddhists to convert because of the strong influence of culture on them. Friendship is the key to breaking down the barriers they have in their lives and minds. They don’t easily engage in spiritual conversation. There is a saying here that, “the truth will be seen only after I respect you / have friendship with you.” The church is trying to help four families affected by Hurricane Nargis. 

The church families are largely unable to support the pastors of churches as they are so poor. In most cases, the pastor actually supports the people. This was a story we heard many times over. 

SM is on the faculty of MCTS. He teaches book keeping, economics and accounting. He has a degree in psychology from Mandalay University and an MA from MEGST. Before he came onto the staff he worked for 30 years in the Cooperative Department of the government. 

Prayer Requests
- daily survival – to be able to look after his family well 
- he is very thankful he has his own house 
- he would like to have a 1 acre piece of land on which to plant and grow flowers for sale ($US7,000/acre) 
- he needs a bicycle

3. TC

TC is an older man with a lot of presence and enthusiasm. He is married to L and two of his children have graduated from MEGST with MDs. He has very good, expressive English. He was a school teacher for 32 years and then did a stint with the UNDP. While doing that he saw many people suffering. He saw many orphans who could not go to school and suffering and tried to help them from his own family resources. 

He became a Christian in 1975 and then in 1996 he retired and went to MEGST. After completing a degree he started Rhema Christian Ministry in 1999. He started out church planting and found that many of the converts were the poorest of the poor. He couldn’t bear to see people so poor without trying to help them. Even now he often gives away the family food. He tried lending to people but they never paid him back. 

He and L adopted eight children after their own three had grown up. They only intended to adopt three or four but they couldn’t say no to the others. Along with that there are another 80 children being cared for in Yangon. They are housed in three houses around the city. In 2008 the houses were damaged in Hurricane Nargis. Three men and seven women help look after the children. About ½ their expenses come from the USA and the rest comes from random support. 

There are now 14 churches in Yangon slums but there is no support from them for the ministry. These churches have been planted by people who volunteer to come and work with Rhema. His family and children help him with the work. 

As well as this they have ministry going on in other parts of Myanmar. They have a mission in Southern Chin State in P City. There are 13 churches and six orphan children. He visits there once a year with evangelistic teams. There is one church in K city and at M there is a church with 40 people from animist backgrounds and there are six orphans. At Y village a new church plant has started. 

The people in the churches are from animist, Buddhist and nominal Christian backgrounds. It is great to see all these different people coming together. These churches are a new denomination registered under the Evangelical Fellowship. 

The funds we give are used for their personal family costs.

4. JBV

J lives and works in the Irrawaddy delta town of L. He is a full time church planter and is married to L - they have three children. They have lived there for three years. J did a MDiv at MEGST graduating in 2005. L is a school teacher. She also did three years mission training before going to L. They came to Yangon and MEGST from Chin State. After completing MEGST they prayed for a year before going to L. 

There were no churches there when they arrived. There are 40,000 people living in the town, some 8,000 families. There are approximately 600 other villages in the district with no churches. In the town itself there are 48 Buddhist monasteries. Since their arrival many people have become Christians and more than 100 have been baptised. 

J appears to be a very gentle, nice guy, very easy to like. He seems quiet and determined and full of faith. He travelled 10 hours overnight by bus the 300kms from L to Yangon to see us and then back the day after. 

When they arrived in L the first time they were the first Chin people to live in the town. They were a real novelty and they were accused of being spies by the political stooges. The first thing they started doing was to start praying. The local leader had been paralysed by an accident for five months and he was healed through their praying. This caused people to ask a lot of questions. They had never heard about Jesus so it gave them many opportunities to share about him and their testimonies. 

People started coming to the house for prayer so they mainly started with sick people. Slowly they commenced a worship service and the songs were very attractive to people, they had never heard singing like this before. After about three months there were around 30 people gathering. It has now become very easy for him to move around the area and visit people in their homes. There have been many other people healed and the great outcome of this is that the healed one becomes an evangelist and they cannot refute the testimony.

L jokes that their work is amongst the poorest, dirtiest people. The people who now attend church come from very different backgrounds and religions, mainly Buddhist but some Hindus as well. At times they hire a TV and show Christian films and the Jesus Film. The Passion of the Christ has been particularly effective. It causes people to cry and to ask many questions. There is no concept of sin in the Buddhist culture so explaining sin is a big part of their conversations and teaching. The people in this area have a very small world view. They struggle to understand when things like Creation are explained, J tends to do consecutive teaching and storytelling to help them get the picture. 

There are a lot of new believers but it is very dangerous to get baptised. At the very least they will be thrown out of the family. The first baptism was held at a location a long way from their local area to diminish reaction. Once the people from whom they rented their house heard that people were baptised they were kicked out and had to find another place to live. They fasted for four weeks about the issues and God gave them a vision to sell their house in Chin State so they did that and built in L. A few months later Hurricane Nargis came and totally destroyed their house and all the equity was lost. Many other Christians had their houses destroyed as well. They have never experienced a storm like this in their lives before. A 5 metre wave of water swept right across the delta and washed people inland first then swept them out to sea. Whole villages literally disappeared without trace and not one person survived. 

For more than a week after this hurricane and devastation many people heard an audible voice speaking around the area. It said, “Help Us! No one knew what it was or where the sound came from. J and L heard it too. It seemed to hum all around the area. Joshua started preaching about the need for a saviour and many people believed. The number of believers jumped to over 150 at that time. Their house was destroyed as well so they made a plastic shelter and 30 of them lived there together. There was a lot of suffering and need. Strangely enough, Nargis helped them with the ministry (Jeremiah25:32-36.) It is now possible to baptise at their house with no restriction. On July 18th they baptised 25 believers. 

One of the high community leaders called him to investigate him. There was a census and a lot of people had changed their status from Buddhist to Christian. These people were all questioned and asked if they had been paid a bribe to change their status and why they had become Christians. Their response was that they had received nothing but that now these people have brought the Living God to them. Some other minor officials even came on a Sunday and told them to stop but they refused to do that. Some of the youths in the area were asked by the officials to do something to them to make them stop so they started throwing stones at the building while they were gathering. No one would help them so they went to the High Court and made a complaint. Because of this they had the opportunity to tell their story and to share the Gospel in the High Court to the officials. They were told to apply for a place to worship and one of the officials thanked them very much for their involvement with the people. 

They have continued this relationship and now one of the officials is J’s best friend in the area. There is still persecution but three weeks ago the stone throwing stopped. They are still growing in number. Their strategy there is this: it is the responsibility of everyone to evangelise, not just the role of the pastor. They have started five more branch churches, two in L and three in other villages using this strategy. Each person in the church is given three months training in preparation for going. 

Because people were helped after Nargis, they have come to him and many people have been given Bibles. Helping, sharing and giving is a very effective process for preparing the hearts of people. 

They have a lot of experience at having nothing. They fast a lot and the support we send was a direct answer to prayer. He is willing to carry on the work there and to continue organising God’s people for the harvest in L.

Prayer Requests
- needs a motorcycle to get around all the villages as the work is growing. He visits the churches and the leaders of the communities. 
- many church men and women died in Nargis and they left a number of children. They want to buy some land so they can plant crops all year round to help the poor. The land there costs around $US500/acre. There is a plot of 20 acres available.
- their house needs to be rebuilt, it’s pretty bad but OK. There are still 27 houses for Christians that need to be built in the area. Five have been built. It costs $US300 to build a local house there.

5. KHT

K was our host in Myanmar and he’s a really nice guy. He has grown a lot since I was here two years ago. In June 2008 he started a fellowship in an area close to MCTS mainly amongst children. We visited the site after gaining permission from the area leader and saw the new building he is erecting and met the only Christian in the village. The building is ostensibly his house but it has a large lounge area that will be used for gathering and meetings. During the school holidays they visit the children who come to their programmes and once the building is built they intend to start tutoring lessons for the children. They expect to have 25–30 children involved in this. On Saturdays and Sundays some of the MCTS students come to help with the children. He visits the homes twice a month as well. On Sunday mornings they do children’s Bible stories. 

He has to take it easy and not make too high a profile. Our visit there was very short and has the potential to cause problems. 

Once the house is built they intend also to start an English summer vacation school to teach and tutor English. This is a relationship building phase in the community. The parents are very pleased because of the better marks the children are already getting at school, the improvement in their English and their improved social skills. Near to the place is a large company and four of the woman employees are being taught English to help them rise up the company ranks into better positions of leadership. 

K is a full time lecturer at MCTS. Around the H area there are five ex MCTS students involved in church planting and as well as the children’s work he has just commenced he visits these alumni in their churches on Sundays. 

Prayer Requests
- he needs about $US1,000 to finish the building of the “house” 
- he needs a motorbike to move around
- wants to grow and sell flowers for an income

6. KT

K lives a long way north so did not come to visit us. He sent a written report that KHT read to us. He is involved in church planting and has established one church and started a second one in Y village some 3 km away. He does most of his work by house to house visitation. 

He has also started a preschool in his house. He needs another room for the preschool because there is too much activity at his house and people ask lots of questions. Having a separate building would dispel a lot of criticism. People accuse him of trying to persuade them to change their beliefs. The preschool is very attractive to people and helpful and he plans/wants to start another one in Y village as well. It would cost $US250 to buy the land in the new village. Two people were baptised in February.

Comments

1. The calibre of the people we met is very high - in fact I was totally surprised and blown away by them. None of them were disappointing and I don’t think any of them would be able to achieve the same results without the support we give them. They are all examples of the best use of direct support.
2. There is so much that could be done here to back up the church planting but I just cannot get a handle on how to do that in such a difficult country.
3. We left $US1,300 with the MCTS people to distribute for the benefit of Hurricane Nargis affected people.
4. I propose that all of these people continue to be supported.
5. It is impossible to visit the location of any of these church planters without compromising their personal safety and ministry.