History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo
History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo
History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo
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Analysis 220<br />
converts won from heathenism.” It was reported <strong>in</strong> 1963, “Settlement evangelism is strongly advocated<br />
for the <strong>Shan</strong>. The <strong>Shan</strong> are complacent and slow to change. They have a religion <strong>of</strong> their own,<br />
Buddhism mixed with Phe (spirit) worship. And unless they are sick, diseased or possessed with evil<br />
spirits, conversion is not easy.” 75<br />
What is settlement evangelism? When someone believed <strong>in</strong> Christ and became Christian he<br />
faced a lot <strong>of</strong> discrim<strong>in</strong>ation and hardship either from immediate family members or villagers. When<br />
people were tormented or possessed by the evil spirit, they used to come to the Christian pastor and<br />
asked for help. They knew that evil spirit feared Christian. After they were released from the evil spirit<br />
they could not return to their own village because the villagers did not accept them. They were<br />
discrim<strong>in</strong>ated aga<strong>in</strong>st because they had been possessed by unclean evil spirit and they were considered<br />
unclean. They had to be resettled somewhere. Sometimes a village for new believers had to be<br />
developed. That’s why we can see the village called “Christian village” <strong>in</strong> <strong>Shan</strong> States.<br />
It was reported <strong>in</strong> 1865, “Many strangers came <strong>in</strong> on Saturday. We opened the meet<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Saturday even<strong>in</strong>g. After a few remarks, expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the objective <strong>of</strong> the meet<strong>in</strong>g and the read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the<br />
word with brief exposition, we spent the even<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> special prayer for the descent <strong>of</strong> the Holy Spirit. No<br />
time was lost but prayer after prayer followed <strong>in</strong> quiche succession <strong>in</strong>terspersed with s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g until a<br />
late hour. 76<br />
It was reported from Bhamo mission field <strong>in</strong> 1991 by Mr. Spr<strong>in</strong>g, “The people are <strong>Shan</strong>-Ch<strong>in</strong>ese and<br />
have given the most hearty reception and will<strong>in</strong>g ear to the gospel from the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g. We sat some<br />
days from dawn till nearly midnight tell<strong>in</strong>g the wonderful story <strong>of</strong> Jesus, stopp<strong>in</strong>g only long to eat our<br />
meals. They did not want us to leave them and when we do they literally hung to our clothes begg<strong>in</strong>g us<br />
to rema<strong>in</strong>.” 77 How hungry were the souls! They listened until late hour. The time had no limit. As long<br />
as the people were there and listen<strong>in</strong>g, the meet<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>ued even till the late hour.<br />
Present<br />
Evangelism seems to be very successful <strong>in</strong> the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>Shan</strong> mission. The first <strong>Shan</strong><br />
convert was baptized with<strong>in</strong> a year after arrival <strong>of</strong> Rev. Bixby to Toungoo. Another 8 <strong>Shan</strong> baptized<br />
just 4 months after the first baptism. The <strong>Shan</strong> are traditionally resistant to the gospel and Western<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence at least <strong>in</strong> part due to negative experiences dur<strong>in</strong>g the British colonization period. Christianity<br />
is seen as a Western religion and there is a lack <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Shan</strong> way <strong>of</strong> “Do<strong>in</strong>g Church”. Western forms are<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten adopted though there is one Church on the Thai-<strong>Burma</strong> border who is mak<strong>in</strong>g headway <strong>in</strong> the area<br />
<strong>of</strong> funerals, a very important part <strong>of</strong> <strong>Shan</strong> culture. “To be <strong>Shan</strong> is to be Buddhist”, they say <strong>of</strong><br />
themselves. The idea <strong>of</strong> eternal life seems to them irrelevant, as the goal <strong>of</strong> Buddhism is to seek for<br />
passionless peace. The exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Shan</strong> <strong>Churches</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Shan</strong> State are <strong>of</strong>ten lack<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> desire and <strong>in</strong>itiative to<br />
reach out to their Buddhist neighbors. There is a Christian sub-culture that is hard for new believers to<br />
break <strong>in</strong> to. 78<br />
Some <strong>Shan</strong> <strong>Churches</strong> are try<strong>in</strong>g very hard <strong>in</strong> evangelistic works by send<strong>in</strong>g short-term<br />
evangelistic team to villages to preach gospel. But sometimes transportation or money are the excuses<br />
for not go<strong>in</strong>g out for evangelism. It should not be an excuse. Compare to transportation one hundred<br />
years ago, present situation is a lot better and easier. The Church should send out preachers to preach<br />
and the Church should pay for their travel expenses. Nowadays we don’t see a preacher preach<strong>in</strong>g<br />
gospel <strong>in</strong> bazaar or zayat like American missionaries did <strong>in</strong> the past. Bazaar preach<strong>in</strong>g, zayat preach<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
prison m<strong>in</strong>istry, gospel tract distribution are no longer exist today. There are house meet<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
occasionally for thanksgiv<strong>in</strong>g service and special worship service with believers but not as an<br />
evangelistic outreach meet<strong>in</strong>g. We use to send evangelistic teams to the villages. We use to hold<br />
75 Progress Report Of KengTung <strong>Shan</strong> Baptist Field, 1957-1963.<br />
76 The Missionary Magaz<strong>in</strong>e August 1865, p309, report from Rev. Bixby, Feb. 1, 1865.<br />
77 97th Annual Report, 1911, American Baptist Missionary Union<br />
78 http://www.joshuaproject.net/pr<strong>of</strong>iles/text/t113721.pdf Apr 21, 2006, p10