History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Twenty-first century Shan mission project 136
for God’s guidance and protection. The chairman of the Church, Dr. John Noi, was a brave man. He
said, “Don’t worry. Carry on. I will take all the responsibility. I know the authority here. If they are
going to arrest us let them arrest me first.” Then we continued. Nothing happened till the last training
day.
Most of the trainers had either Charismatic or Pentecostal back ground. All trainees were Baptist
and they never had experienced in Charismatic or Pentecostal, speaking in tongue and experiencing in
the power of the Holy Spirit. There were some difficulties in teaching them how to pray, how to praise
and worship God since Baptist way of prayer, praise and worship are different from Pentecostal. Do we
need to abandon Charismatic way or Pentecostal way in teaching the Baptist? Do we need to insist and
teach them to experience in manifestation of the Holy Spirit? Do we need to give up? Do we need to
adjust and balance? As an organizer I have a big difficulty between Pentecostal trainers and Baptist
trainees. We need to be sensitive to the background culture of the people, the environment and the
situation of the country. We all know that Burma is a Buddhist Country and 84% of the populations are
Buddhist. The military Government is very much sided with Buddhist religion. They are not only
supporting but also promoting Buddhism. If any one talking or acting against Buddhism it is just like
one is committing a crime. They will not tolerate any one who is insulting Buddhist monk or Buddhism.
The slogan such as “The wall of Buddhism must come down!” “Give me this Land Oh God!” is in fact
very dangerous. Be wise!
After graduation ceremony one of the trainees from the North said, “We would not recognize
the certificate issued by GCI because it is Pentecostal training.” How can he say that it was Pentecostal
training? They did not teach Pentecostal doctrine but the Bible. What a waste of time and money! Some
of these trainers have either master or doctor degree. 12 trainees came from the North. All together we
have 42 trainees. Actually the majority of the trainees are very happy and transformed after training.
Some of the Shan leaders from the North did not get along well with me because I was quite strict at
them during the training sessions. Some trainees came to the class very late. Some leaders just sitting
outside the classroom, drinking tea and smoking cigar instead of coming into the room to listen and
learn. I asked them not to be late to the class, show good example to others, as they were the leaders.
We had a good graduation ceremony. Representatives from the Shan States gave very positive
testimonies. Emotion ran high when Sai Stephen wept.
3 rd Shan GCI, KengTung
December 1-13, 1997.
KengTung GCI 1997