Time to Work

There’s no creative way to say this: God is doing amazing things in the hearts of many in Myanmar.

We spent a few days with our host, who helps in a Christian school in the Yangon area, learning about their training and work, and their future plans to reach those in the country who do not know Christ. This leader had already embraced the principles of church planting that we have brought to them via a guidebook, and this week we were able to communicate some of those basic precepts as found in the Book of Acts. The students, roughly from ages 15 through 22, showed quick understanding of the material, and that was exciting.

“This is a book we can’t be lazy with,” said our host. “It takes us right to the Bible.”

The guidebook has been so well received, in fact, that our host has already given away hundreds of copies that had been translated in the Burmese language. During our visit with them another nearby Christian institution came and asked for 30 copies for their students.

The best way for the Gospel to spread rapidly is for indigenous believers, not Westerners, to be the ones bringing the Good News. That has already been shown to be happening here.

Despite obvious challenges, God is proving to be the Overcomer. The communication of the Gospel is through relationship building, since open evangelism, pamphlet passing, and door-knocking is not a good idea here. So friendships are made; homes are visited; trust is built; and the Truth is shared. That’s how it works in and around the city, at least.

But it has not stopped there. Our good friend from the Yangon area (our host) works with missionaries in other parts of the country. In October he brought some students and fellow believers to 11 remote villages in southwestern Myanmar – which took two full days by bus, a day by boat, and two days of walking, to reach.

“When you reach their village and see their honest smiling faces,” our friend said, “the tired is all gone.”

A few of the villages already had an indigenous Christian missionary living there ministering to the peoples – many who were animists or Buddhists – so our friend’s group came to encourage and strengthen, as the Apostle Paul did in Acts. As they arrived in village after village, they also found receptive hearts that were glad to see visitors that showed love for them and cared for their needs. Our host’s group was able to establish friendships and gained enough trust to teach from the Bible and share the Gospel while there.

Myanmar appears poised for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Only recently has the country had enough Bibles in their own language (or audio versions for the illiterate) to even allow the Word of God to work in the peoples’ hearts.

“Ten years ago it was hard to disciple anybody because you didn’t have the Bibles,” said a Western missionary we met during our visit, who until last year worked with the Bible League. “Now the time is right for a flood of church planting.”

That’s the goal of our indigenous host, who already has nine missionaries he works with in villages throughout the country. By next spring he expects that from among his students – all of whom have hearts to reach their own people – he will add another 13. Two of them plan to go to the Irrawaddy Delta, which was the area hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis in May. And in March he plans another short-term mission trip to villages in south Chin State.

“We are young and energetic,” our friend said. “It is the young people God is using here.”