History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Twenty-first century Shan mission project 126
Faculty
Five foreign teachers; Jean Harper, Rev. Ong Siew Huat, Rev. Franklin Williamson, Mrs. Katie
Williamson and Dr. Sai Htwe Maung. Three local teachers; Rev. Seng Tip, Rev. Aung Htun Shwe, Rev.
Sai Stephen.
1) Salvation
2) Evangelism & Mission
3) Christian Life
4) Leadership
5) Church Planting
6) Power Theology
7) Pray Intercession
8) Ministry Planning
Subjects taught
Report from Jean Harper, director of GCI
Pom drove Franklin, Katie and I from Chiangmai to Chiangrai where we met Dr. Sai Htwe
Maung at the airport, together with Sombat and Pantip, Boonyuen and Somlit. Our hotel was a stone’s
throw from the Burma border and it was interesting to notice the constant traffic crossing the border, as
well as traders of gems, clothing, food etc. The hotel has a Buddhist temple immediately behind it and
we found ourselves awoken, sometimes as early as 4 AM, with broadcast Buddhist chants. Just a few
minutes walk from the hotel is the Baptist Church, which has a huge, new four-storey complex. They
allowed us the use of the top floor for our lectures, which provided us with beautiful views into Burma
and across the hills where the tribal people live.
This GCI was very different from any other that we have conducted, in that:
1. We could not live-in with the participants, or even share meals with them in the evening.
2. The participants were billeted out into different believers’ homes in the town of other side of the
border.
3. They lived in one country and we lived in another.
4. The participants “disappeared” at 5 pm each afternoon in order to cross the border before the gate
closed. Therefore we were not able to participate in their evening programs.
5. The participants held their morning devotions in TaChiLeik before crossing the border. Therefore we
did not have opportunity to hear their testimonies. But none of this was by any means negative.
It was also a unique GCI in that we were working with Sai Htwe Maung toward the goal of 21 st
Century Shan Mission Project. This was a great privilege for us as we saw the tremendous burden he
has for his people, his enormous energy in working with them and his sacrificial endeavors toward that
end. Every free minute he filled with recording testimonies for his radio broadcast and recording hymns
from the Shan Hymnal when he discovered he had a four-part harmony choir at his disposal,
unaccompanied. They came one hour earlier each morning to record. If he had had enough time, I
think Sai Htwe Maung would have recorded every hymn in the book! We began to wonder if there was
anything he could not do: he taught, translated, conducted the choir, can sing, play the guitar and
keyboard; was out evangelizing the many Shan he discovered in Maesai. He just enjoyed being with
his people.
Twenty-eight participants crossed the border each day. Of the 28 Shan, 11 are pastors, 8 are
evangelists and the rest are leading youth groups, women’s and men’s fellowships, Sunday School and
one is the Assistant Secretary of the Eastern Shan State Baptist association. Of the 14
evangelists/pastors that Sai Stephen has sent out, 11 participated. We felt it was a tribute to Stephen’s
ministry. He is obviously a key man for the Shan vision of 2001. The local teachers who taught in the
evenings became students by day. One of them is translating the New Testament of the new Shan Bible.