History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Analysis 193
not enter into ministry after finishing their Seminary. We sent 18 Shan students to various Seminaries
and Bible Schools in 1985, expecting that they would become evangelists and missionaries to the Shan
after their four years study. However none of them are serving as evangelist or missionary in mission
fields. Most of them are serving in Churches as pastors. Most of them have been ordained. We have
discovered that it’s quite successful when we sent grass-root-evangelists, who only have primary
education but have gone under short course training program, to Shan villages for the missions.
Through these bare-foot-evangelists the miracles are seen, the evil spirits are driven out and more
Churches have been planted in the Eastern Shan State.
Working among the Shan is just like Bixby said, “A single sickle in the harvest.” How can a
single person do it all? How can a handful of Shan Christian workers save millions? The most needed
in Shan mission is not money but human resources. Not all Shan Churches are financially poor. Since
Shan Christians come from Buddhist background and living in the Buddhist environment they enjoy
giving and are very generous. Most of the Shan Churches are financially strong to stand on their own
feet. Some may have millions of Kyat in Church fund but they use very little amount of money in
supporting evangelist, missionary, pastor and mission work. Missionary work is not their first priority.
One of their most important priority is building church building bigger and bigger, make it more and
more beautiful, buying more and more materials for the Church. They are willing to spend millions on
church building, car and material but not for the missions. Churches are even competing with one
another in building church building. Little effort is put on mission and less support in evangelistic
outreach activities. They use to say, “We don’t have money to do it.”
Under 21 st Century Shan Mission Project’s goal number one, short-course training programs for
Shan Churches are conducted from 1994 to 2000. Total 400 have graduated from Great Commission
Institute training programs in seven years. However not all of them are going out and serving as fulltime
evangelists because of lack of dedication, commitment and financial support. Nevertheless the
work has been done to certain extend. We need more people to serve and more money to spend in
missions. We need more evangelists and missionaries to go out and preach good news to the Shan. We
need more dedicated, committed and faithful servants of the Lord.
Matthew 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask
the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”
Revelation 14:15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was
sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of
the earth is ripe.”
2. Response to Gospel
Past
Rev. Bixby said on November 5, 1861, “What the result of all this will be on our work I cannot
say. The priest is unquestionably a Buddhist still and most ardently attached to his own bible but I must
think he has taken a step unconsciously towards Christianity. I directed his attention to such passages
in the Bible as speak of the spiritual nature of God, His omniscience, omnipresence, unity and eternity
and he was greatly surprised and delighted. ‘Why this is just what I believe’ he exclaimed ‘Why your
Bible must have been taken from the Pali.’ After reading on still further he said, ‘The God of the
English is not merely the Englishman’s God but the God of the whole world.’ He said, ‘If I would give
him the Bible he would carefully compare the two.’ I shall follow him up with the truth as it is in Jesus