History of Shan Churches in Burma 1861-2001 - Khamkoo

Baptist mission among the Shan 64
Mrs. Cushing were the first foreign missionaries to be in KengTung, the Eastern Shan territory. They
preached good news in bazaar, sang Christian songs and distributed gospel tracts to the people.
Interestingly enough to ask what kind of song they sang? We don’t know whether they sang song in
Shan or in English. If they sang in English no body would understand. Most likely they might have
sung songs in Shan that they had translated. They also distributed gospel tracts written in Shan, which
Cushing had translated. Cushing had learned Shan language and literature and managed to speak, read
and write well within four years. Rev. and Mrs. Cushing spent eleven days in KengTung.
19 years after the first visit by Rev. & Mrs. Cushing, another American missionary Rev. W.W.
Cochrane left HsiPaw mission field to visit KengTung via MuongNai in 1889. KengTung mission field
was not yet opened at that time. It was an exploratory visit. We do not know why it took 19 years to
have another missionary’s visit to KengTung. 10 years after W.W. Cochrane’s visit, a third missionary
Dr. Henderson visited KengTung again in 1899 as exploratory and evangelistic trip. Two years later, in
1901, Rev. & Mrs. William Marcus Young and some Karen missionaries arrived KengTung to start a
new mission field after serving in MuongNai since 1892. By the permission of KengTung’s SaoPha
they were allowed to preach gospel in bazaar on market-day. The gathering places for the people in
those days were only at market place, zayat and Buddhist monastery. KengTung mission field
eventually opened in 1901, thirty-one years after Dr. Cushing’s first visit.
Rev. Young reported in 1900,
“I have been in Burma too short a time to make a report. We arrived December 3
in Rangoon (returning from furlough). The month since my arrival was spent in
purchasing an outfit and the preliminary work for the long journey to KengTung, three
hundred and sixty one miles beyond the railway’s end. Thirty-seven days by regular
stages will be required for making the trip. When I left Boston I expected to go to
KengTung alone but later decided that it was not good for man to be alone. So Mrs.
Young is going with me. She has had several years’ experience as a teacher and is a
decided help to the work. The journey, thus far, has been a very pleasant one. We are
now at MuongNai, where we remain about one week arranging for transport and visiting
the field of my first labors in Burma. There has been a wonderful change here since we
arrived the jungle from the compounds eight years ago. I do hope to see as strong a plant
in KengTung before I have to take another furlough. So far as I am able to gather
information the outlook for KengTung is very hopeful. The chief political officer for the
Southern Shan State has promised whatever aid the government can render in opening
the work. The chief military officer at KengTung is a very active Christian and a warm
friend of missions so the prospect is good. The improvement in the roads in Shan land
has been very rapid in the last six years. KengTung will be much more accessible in two
or three years than it is now. All things considered it seems an opportune time for
opening the work. The cost of transporting goods from the railroad to KengTung is
heavy but this will become better each year. I will write descriptive letter after I reach
the field and get work started. I am greatly pleased with the outlook of the work at
MuongNai also the general grow and development of the Southern Shan State.” 69
Rev. and Mrs. William M. Young who had served in HsiPaw and MuongNai in the past established
mission field in KengTung in 1901. Rev. Young reported in 1903, “There is one Church with 4
members and one baptism. The past year has been one of the seed sowing and foundation work. I am
sorry that we cannot report greater results. The year opened with bright anticipations that Dr. Harper
would arrive early in the year as an associate worker to open the hospital work at once and that he
would also bring reinforcements of native workers. We soon learned however that he was to go to
69 KengTung, 1900, Reported by Rev. W.M. Young and Mrs. Young, 90 th American Baptist Missionary Union Annual
Report, p96