Reaching, touching and changing lives in the Myanmar Chin state

By Rev Dr John Thoung

AO coordinator Myanmar

The Chin State is bordered by Rakhine State in the south, Bangladesh in the south-west, the Indian state of Manipur in the north and the Indian state of Mizoram in the west. The Chin ethnic group make up the majority of the state's 500,000 people. The capital of the state is Hakha. The state is a mountainous region with few transportation links, sparsely populated and remains one of the least developed areas of the country with the highest poverty rate of 73%.

Christians in the Chin state face systematic religious discrimination at the hands of the Burmese government and are often forced to convert to Buddhism as reported by the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). CHRO accuses the nominally-civilian government of pushing ahead with the military policy of “Burmanisation” in ethnic minority areas, resulting in widespread human rights abuses including violations of religious freedom, forced labour, torture, and sexual violence. The report, documents numerous cases where the state has destroyed crosses or denied Christians the right to worship through arbitrary regulations, threats and violence. Many civilians complain of being forced to build pagodas or hand over their land to make way for Buddhist constructions.

Christian students are regularly coerced or threatened into converting to Buddhism. Some students even report of being forced to shave their heads and wear monks’ or nuns’ robes. “If you don’t want to be a monk, you must join the military,” the headmaster of a Na Ta La school told students in 2010, according to a report.

Every year I make it a point to go back to my home state, the Chin state, to hold revival meetings to encourage the believers there. Because of the persecution they go through, many are afraid and discouraged, some even reverting back to Buddhism. My team of 4 members and myself left Yangon on the 2^nd of April travelling by bus through the troubled Rakhine state and then by boat to arrive at our first stop, a small village called Pyiwa. People here were hungry for revival and we had a wonderful night meeting with the believers and even some non-believers.  During the morning seminar the next day, praise the Lord 3 non-believers accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. 5 believers who never experienced the Holy Spirit before were filled with the Holy Spirit. We left this village encouraged and full of joy, eager to proceed to the next part of our journey. The next village we went to, Sami, we again experience the joy of seeing 5 believers filled with the Holy Spirit and 4 people being saved. We felt the anointing of God just flow over these events, touching and changing lives.

The next part of our journey took us up the mountain where we had to walk for 10 hours before we could reach our destination, Emakung Village. Being the hot season and after 10 hours of walking we were just so tired out. The villagers who were expecting us rushed out to greet us with cold drinks and a warm welcome. As tired as we were, the people were ready and eager for us to start our meeting and what a revival night it was. The joy of the Lord just flooded the place and people were singing and rejoicing during worship.

As we climb further up the mountain from village to village the climb got harder and we prayed to the Lord for His strength. Half way before reaching the village, groups of villagers greeted us with shouts and waves of excitement. They brought water and food for us. I was so touched at their eagerness to see us, excitedly anticipating our arrival. Not many local pastors wanted to come up here as it was too rural and the villagers too poor to support them if they decided to pastor a church. Due to strict travel restrictions for foreigners, hardly any foreign missionary ventured here.  God showed me just how hungry these people were for His word and how much they needed to be encouraged and uplifted.

At my native village of Seinki Taung, it was a joy to meet up with old friends I had not seen for 11 years. At the revival meeting, I was overjoyed to see the whole village come for the meeting and to see 10 people from my village give their lives to Jesus. Leaving my village we continued up to the Khopum Mountain where we held a 6 day youth camp in the jungle with about 105 youths. The youths there were on fire for the Lord and everyone who was there felt the presence of God and a powerful anointing. 30 people got saved and 20 people were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The local authority in charge of the village testified that he was a very arrogant man but that day he was touched by the saving grace of Jesus. Watching the people dancing and singing at the open air meeting, the team and I felt so humbled to be part of this great revival. After the camp the youths decide to erect a memorial stone for remembrance and to dedicate the camp to the Lord.

We spent a month on the road walking from village to village on the mountains and though it was completely exhausting all of us agreed that we would go back next year. We brought 50 souls to the Lord in that one month and we know Heaven is rejoicing with us. The villagers begged us to return and were sad to see us go.  Every village we went to, we saw the same thing, the hunger for the Word of God. Unfortunately the Harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.

We are Soldiers of the living God. We are Called, Chosen, Confirmed, and Charged living to serve the God we love. Without Him I can do nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”