History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Analysis 237
25. Mission is Mandatory
Past
In a letter written from Rangoon in 1831, Adoniram Judson mentioned the Shan first in a list of
peoples of Burma he represented as calling for help. When Eugenio Kincaid and his wife were in Ava
in 1833-36 he wrote that a missionary would find a wide field of labor among the Shan. In 1835 British
officials in India invited Baptist missionary to work in Assam among the Shan. Rev. and Mrs. Brown
and Mr. O. T. Cutter, a printer, went from Moulmain to Assam to open mission work in Sadiya under
the name “Mission to the Shan.” The first printing in Shan language was done in Assam. However we
have not heard about any Shan Church in Assam. There are still Shan-speaking people in Assam today
who are descendants of the Shan migrants who established the Ahom Kingdom in the thirteenth century
and ruled for six hundred years.
The mission to the Shan in Burma began in 1861. As reported in 1861-1862, “The arrival of the
10,000 Shan refugees at the same time as the first missionaries ever assigned to Shan work seemed
truly providential. God seemed to have sent the Shan to the mission, as well as the mission to the Shan.
Mr. and Mrs. Bixby did not have to penetrate robber-infested mountainous country but settled in
Toungoo with their Shan parish at their very door. They were able to give counsel to the struggling new
settlement, help those who had lost everything along the way and encourage the Shan to build schools
and chapels” 120 Mr. Cross said on March 21, 1863, “It is my opinion that the Shan Mission is now a
mission of great promise work goes on silently but with power and energy it goes on. It seems to mark
its character peculiarly as of God. So may it go on and not be carried on until the vast multitudes of
Shan are all reached” 121 The mission to the Shan was not started among the Shan in Shan States but
among the Shan refugees in Toungoo, which was a city in Burmaland. It seemed the sheep came to the
shepherd; the harvest came to the reaper; as the Shan from Shan States came to the missionaries in
Toungoo. Missionaries dreamed of reaching vast multitudes of Shan.
Present
Under great commission of Jesus Christ, American Missionaries came to our land and people.
Mission is not optional. It is the command from Jesus Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20). The main
responsibilities are to Go, to Make disciples, to Baptize and to Teach. American Missionaries came and
did all these to the Shan. Now there are no more foreign missionaries. Who are going, making disciples,
baptizing and teaching the Shan?
Foundation of the Church is mission and foundation of mission is the Church. Without mission
there will be no Church. The main ministry of the Church is mission. Many Shan leaders and pastors do
not understand what mission is all about and its importance in the life of the Church. Some Church
leaders think the main work of the Church is to get together on Sunday at the church and worship God,
to give offering to the Church, to partake communion, to build the church building bigger and bigger,
decorating more and more beautiful, raising more and more money and getting more and more
membership. The Church fails to give priority to missions to go out and preach good news to unbelievers.
They are reluctant to spend a little more money in missions. They use to keep Seminary
graduates and pastors in their own Church. They are not willing to share with the others who do not
have pastor and resources. They do not want to loose good pastors by sending them out to other places
for missions. That is why in some Churches there are more than one pastor and no pastor in other
places. Apostle Paul was the first pastor to plant Churches in many places. He did not stay in one place
or in one Church only. The Church of Corinth sent out Paul and Barnabas to other places for missions.
Is our Church willing to send someone like Paul from our Church to other places in Shan States to plant
more Shan Churches? God has given us the best, His one and only anointed Son. America has given us
120 Burma Baptist Chronicle Book I, By Maung Shwe Wa, Book II Edited By Genevieve Sowards And Erville Sowards,
1963.
121 Letter From Mr. Cross, March 21, 1863, Toungoo Mission