Burma (June 2017)Burma has always featured prominently in our ministry – in fact, Timothy Two was born out of an email originating from an indigenous pastor there. Over the years, the Lord has opened the door for me to serve several different groups (always initiated through an email that shows up unsolicited in my inbox!) and, last month, I worked with a new group of pastors for the first time.
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Last year, a week before one of my trips to Burma, I received one of those unsolicited emails from Henry, a pastor who lives near where I was going to be serving. We set up a meeting and prayerfully considered whether the Lord would have me work with Henry and the churches in their area. I was glad to be able to do so last month.
One of the challenging things about missions in Burma is that the Christians there are usually isolated in tight, regional/tribal micro-denominations, with little to no interaction with other Christians outside their group. That means that there remains much work to be done in that country, as there are still many of these groups that have had little to no interaction with the global Christian community or even the other Christians in Burma. (Incidentally, my dissertation - click here to read it - was focused on researching this problem and how missions can help to bridge the divide between tribal churches in Burma; so, this is a matter dear to my heart and always in my prayers). |
At the end of our time together, Henry and the other pastors shared that the teaching had affected them in a profound way, deepening their knowledge of God but, far more importantly, their love for Him and their confidence in Him as their Redeemer and as the Sovereign Lord of all creation.