Baptists in Myanmar (formerly Burma) are evangelizing and growing in number despite limitations under a government headed by the world’s second worst military dictator.
Parade magazine ranked Myanmar’s Gen. Than Shwe second only to North Korea’s Kim Jong II. In the Feb. 22 report, contributing editor David Wallechinsky wrote that the Myanmar regime “continues to kidnap ordinary citizens and force them to serve as porters for the military in various conflicts against non-Burmese ethnic groups.” He also said Myanmar has “more child soldiers than any other nation.”
A public document The Alabama Baptist obtained from the U.S. Department of State said, “Religious minorities (particularly Christians and Muslims) are discriminated against, and any form of proselytizing activity is actively discouraged.”
The State Department designated Burma a “ ‘Country of Particular Concern’ for severe violations of religious freedoms” in 2002. The document also said, there is no “real freedom of speech, press, assembly, association or travel.”
Despite restrictions, the number of Baptists is growing in the Buddhist-dominated country, Simon Pau Khan En told The Alabama Baptist when he recently visited Birmingham. En is the immediate past general secretary of the Myanmar Baptist Convention (MBC) and a theology professor at the Myanmar Institute of Theology, a historically Baptist institution.
“The world [especially the Western world] does not know about Myanmar, so what we need is a voice for the voiceless people — someone to tell the world what is happening in Myanmar,” he said.
Fewer than 9 percent of the country’s 46 million people are Christians. Baptists comprise the largest Christian minority with 4,000 churches and more than 600,000 baptized members, according to the Baptist World Alliance and the State Department. Buddhists account for around 89.1 percent of the country’s population.
“We have the freedom to evangelize and the freedom to worship as long as it is not subversive to government policy,” En said. “We are convinced that churches must evangelize. Missions is the life of the churches in Myanmar,” he said. “We’ve discovered that all churches, all believers must be witnesses to the work [of Jesus].”
Freedom violations
Volunteer missions groups sometimes visit the Southeast Asia country to assist Baptist churches through the MBC, but more are needed, En said. The visits can bolster the spirits of church members, he noted.
Christians in Myanmar work and worship in a web of complexity that can be deadly. Its backdrop is a checkerboard history of governments and its present scene is volatile, complicated by its 135 ethnic groups and factions for a change of government.
“Buddhism is encouraged by the government so there can be unity among the groups,” En explained.
Amid the Buddhist labyrinth Baptists find opportunities to minister, but some places, such as refugee camps, are untouchable missions fields. En said they cannot minister in these camps across the Thai border due to the political tensions and Myanmar governmental restrictions.
The camps hold refugees who fled Myanmar for neighboring Thailand after the military government took control in 1988.
Christians from other countries are reaching out to the more than 100,000 known refugees. However, the State Department estimates 2 million economic and political refugees from Myanmar live illegally in Thailand.
Myanmar believers also face restrictions on the Bible because Myanmar’s government prohibits its printing. Nonetheless, Bibles are in the country and read, mostly in churches and homes. They are not available in bookstores.
Practical concerns
En said most books, religious and non-religious, mailed into the country in large quantities are confiscated before they leave the post office and sold on the black market.
As Baptists in Myanmar face the practical concerns of religious life, they find government prohibition on new building projects at existing churches. And the wording that can be used on church buildings is strict. “Church” is sometimes allowed, but “religious center” is preferred by the government. Inside their church buildings Baptists have sought more expression in worship.
Pentecostal churches in Myanmar began appealing to Baptists in the 1970s and 1980s because these churches gave more attention to self-expression and encouraged emotional outlets, he explained.
Therefore, some Baptist churches are attempting to become more charismatic or emotional in worship. This has lessened the migration of Baptist church members to Pentecostal churches, En said.
He said Pentecostal churches are among the 13 Christian denominations in the country, which are organized as the Myanmar Council of Churches. They have close-knit fellowship and support, heightened by mutual oppression from the government.
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