History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Appendix 335
Thank you for having concern and helping us. I look forward to seeing all of you in October.
The Lord bless you and His Mission.
In His Service, Signed/ Sai Stephen , Mission Director
Letter from Rev. Sai Stephen, KengTung, to Dr. Sai Htwe Maung, Hong Kong. 18 June 1997
Dr. Sai Htwe Maung,
Greeting in Christ’ name. I am now working as General Secretary of Eastern Shan State
Shan Baptist Convention and also as full-time associate director of 21st CSMP. I have received Kyat
4,500 per month from ESSSBC. I have received letter of invitation to attend Asian Outreach
Conference but the letter doesn’t have Myanmar Consular signature. Without his signature I cannot
apply for passport. If you think I need to come to Hong Kong for this conference please kindly go to the
Myanmar Consulate and ask for Consular endorsement signature and send it to me. I think I can apply
in time. Please pray for us to have good pastors and genuine Churches. Remembering you in prayer.
In His Service, Signed/ Sai Stephen.
From; Asian Outreach International Ltd
To Rev. Sai Stephen, Baptist Mission Compound Nong Pha, KengTung Eastern Shan State, Union of
Myanmar. 9th July 1997
Warmest greetings from Hong Kong SAR!
It was good to receive your report and your recent letter and to know you are trying to come for the Key
Co-workers Conference in Hong Kong in October. We have already arranged for the endorsement from
the Myanmar Consulate here. It will take about a week and we hope the endorsed invitation letter will
reach you on time to obtain your passport to come.
I am sorry for some of the misunderstandings and miscommunications that have taken place
between the various parties involved in the Shan Ministry. Traditionally in the past, we have always
worked through your leader Dr Sai Htwe Maung in Hong Kong because we believe he understands the
Shan situation better than we do. As AOI always want to involve more Churches in missions, therefore
we have opened the door for SSMC to visit and assist in the Shan Ministry. SSMC is also my
home/supporting Churches in Malaysia. Ideally, when there is any change of working relationship or
change of perspectives and understandings we should inform all the parties. I know Dr. Sai has been
working through AO’s core values of indigenous support and we were quite surprised when we were
not informed of the new arrangement you’ve made with SSMC. I have spent sometime explaining to
the leadership of SSMC some of the issues and my prayer is that we can all come together and try to
understand each other’s perspectives, which may be different.
It is “difficult” to explain all the issues on paper so I am looking forward to your coming, then
we can freely talk face-to-face without the restriction of writing. Meanwhile, I want to assure you that
AOI will continue to support the Shan Ministry under your leadership. We will still be working through
Dr. Sai and we should all have a common understanding before making any changes. The usual
working process is that once the Annual Budget is agreed based on your ministry plan, AOI will send
you the finance as agreed. Of course, each ministry is encouraged to raise funds for the approved
budget. If there is any direct support to the ministry covering the areas of budget we will reduce
accordingly and will still fund what we agreed. Therefore the training in November 1997 by the GCI
will continue to receive the appropriate funding. Please work with Jean Harper regarding this.
I would like to hear from you from your perspectives. I pray that we all can be open to each
other for the Kingdom’s sake and not to allow the evil one to divide, cause confusion and distrust
among us.