The instruction to priests accompanying fleeing Burmese refugees was simple: go if you must, but do not contact us. Concerned about danger to themselves, the Anglican diocesan officers did not wish to risk the ire of Burma’s military government. An exception could be made if there were deaths, and then the bishop would come to bury the dead.
This play-it-safe approach was typical in the past of the Church of the Province of Myanmar (CPM), also known as Burma, according to the Most Rev. Stephen Than Myint Oo, the current Anglican archbishop there.
“The church in Myanmar needs revival,” Than said. “In the past, we just emphasized what could be done with human means.”
Representing a church that had been effectively walled off from the rest of the world for decades, the Anglican Archbishop of Myanmar spoke this week at the New Wineskins for Global Mission conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina.
Prayers for the Church in Myanmar.
We need to give them all the support and prayer we can.
A bishop who wants revival and not new programs! That is when the visions begin. This is going to be fun to watch.
New Wineskins is in my mind the most important conference every three years in American Anglicanism specifically because it is not about programs but about revival and the faithful proclamation of the Gospel. Myanmar, Chile, India, Nigeria were all featured in the keynote addresses–workshops highlighted opportunities around the world and the practical questions of engaging the peoples of the world with the Gospel. Powerful stuff. The Communion in spite of our problems here in the US continues to grow and to reach more peoples for the Lord Jesus. It is truly exciting.
Yes, Loren+ (#3). Having attended three previous New Wineskins’ Conferences, I was sorry to miss the one this year. They are always so inspiring and encouraging.
I’m glad for Jeff Walton’s IRD report. Burma/Myanmar indeed needs all the support in prayer and otherwise that we can give, as Pageantmaster reminded us. My Anglican priest in Richmond, A Tamil immigrant from South India made a special trip to Burma last year, to lead a clergy conference for one of the six dioceses in that sorely oppressed country. It’s telling that it was the first such clergy gathering they’d dare to hold in several years. The military regime in Burma is truly one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world, right up there with Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Sudan, etc.
Personally, as an ardent advocate of “3-D Crhistianity” (evangelical, catholic, and charismatic), I was pleased to read ++Than Oo’s boast that, [i]”The unity and balance of Evangellical and Anglo-Catholic tradition is strong in Myanmar.”[/i] I love that.
David Handy+
Inspiring! Thank you for publishing this article.
Its an important reminder of where the real spiritual action is happening in the Anglican Communion. The Holy Spirit seems to have worked independently of any outside missionaries or contact, and with great power.
David+ (#4)–The Myanmar government sends undercover police to Singapore (and I presume other countries) to keep tabs on those Myanmarese who are able to get temporary work in Singapore (e.g. two year contracts in physical labor for construction). The police then are able to arrest the men who become Christians when they return to Myanmar. Yet, the men are coming to faith and are joining together to worship the Lord, in a number of the Anglican parishes as well as in other traditions. The Diocese has been able to quietly provide significant encouragement and ministry among the men in Singapore, the Karen refuges in Thailand, and inside Myanmar. It has been exciting to watch the Archbishop take a bolder and bolder stand in Myanmar, in the Communion, and at New Wineskins. Let’s keep praying.
Thanks, Loren+, for the additional info on the courage shown by our persecuted brothers and sisters in Burma/Myanmar.
I’m reminded of a saying of the great Protestant missionary who first planted (Baptist) churches there, the legendary American, Adoniram Judson. He said, “[i]The future is as bright as the promises of God.[/i]” Amen.
David Handy+
Amen! He is faithful.