History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Analysis 261
Some Churches don’t have Wednesday prayer meeting. No other regular prayer meetings are organized.
Normally only one person pray for all prayer requests. Unison prayer is not Baptist practice except
Lord’s prayer. A member asked, “Do we need to close our eyes when we pray?” Because he saw a
pastor prayed with his eyes wide opened. Prayer life of Shan Churches needed to be revived.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Jude 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 6:5-8 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their
reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,
who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when
you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of
their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
46. Training
Past
Rev. Bixby reported in July 1864, “Therefore I selected several young men and brought them
home with me my second tour. Not one of them have had ever been to Toungoo to school neither before
nor had any of them been baptized. I preferred to take those whom others had no claim and to have the
entire training of them myself. I have fourteen not all of my selection however for some came to me
afterwards and begged to be taken in.” 165 Dr. Kirkpatrick reported in 1895, “The rainy season Bible
class for our preachers, teachers, Bible women and others has been regularly attended and full of
interest. The average attendance was thirteen.” 166 Dr. Kirkpatrick reported in May 1898, “We spent
about two hours a day in Bible study and prayer. Our hope for the evangelization of the Shan is in
training on the field Shan converts for the work.”
Present
What is training all about? Training means;
To develop habits, thoughts and behavior,
To make proficient,
To make fit and get into condition,
To bring into particular shape or position.
We use to conduct training but fail to achieve the goal.
Sometimes it is not training but lecturing.
Special short-course training programs such as leadership, praise and worship, ministry planning,
spiritual warfare, evangelism, mission and Church planting are very much in need in Shan Churches.
Training programs are occasionally organized and taught by MBC or local teachers but not on regular
basis. Sometimes trainings are not given by qualified trainers. It is beneficial to learn from qualified
experienced teachers to keep up with the development of the modern world and missions. Some pastors
and leaders use to think that they know it all because they are Bible School graduates and they are
pastors and do not participate in training and try to learn more. In fact there are many things that they
don’t know. I noticed during our GCI training programs, some of the pastors did not come in and listen
165 Letter Of Moses Homan Bixby 25 July 1864, The Baptist Missionary Magazine, February 18, 1965.
166 81st Annual Report, 1895 Baptist Missionary Union