Myanmar church embraces Anabaptism

The amazing growth and commitment to Anabaptism by churches in Myanmar was witnessed recently by leaders of Mennonite Mission Network attending the annual Kale district conference of the Bible Missionary Church.

In March, Stanley W. Green, executive director of Mennonite Mission Network, and Kuaying Teng, the agency’s denominational minister of Asian ministries, enjoyed the company of several fellow Anabaptists, the result of God’s calling of Amos Thang Chin, leader of the Bible Missionary Church in Myanmar, and Chin’s linkages with Mission Network.

Ten churches were represented among the 200 in attendance, including some who walked two days to attend the three-day event at the Sanpya Church in Kalaymyo.

Green said that he and Teng were greeted warmly at the opening evening worship, and that it was clear that the church had embraced an Anabaptist identity.

About a decade ago, Chin was advised by the Asia Mennonite Conference to contact Mission Network. Chin’s story of how he came to accept Jesus Christ and embrace Anabaptism moved them deeply.

“As his story unfolded, Mission Network staff were astounded by the extent to which Amos’s story seemed so resonate with the early Anabaptists’ experience,” Green said.

Chin grew up in an animist family in the Chin State of Myanmar. His conversion to Christ later in life incensed his father, who, as a result, rejected him. Chin fled to India, where he attended a Bible school in Delhi. His eagerness to witness to his faith in Jesus led to preaching on street corners. This enraged some people and he was stoned and left hurting on the street.

As many people passed him by, Raj Kumar, a Mennonite, came to Chin’s aide. Kumar had attended Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va. He put Chin in touch with the Asia Mennonite Conference. Kumar’s expression of compassion and love stirred Chin’s interest in Anabaptism.

Chin moved back to Myanmar to reconcile with his father and witness to his compatriots. Moved by his gesture, Chin’s father gave his son a rice field, which Chin sold, using the money he received for evangelistic outreaches and church planting.

As the number of churches grew, Chin became concerned about the identity of this new movement. He requested Mission Network to have Mennonites come to Myanmar specifically to teach the emerging leaders Anabaptist theology and conflict resolution. After an initial visit, Mission Network representatives, encouraged by the alignment of the Bible Missionary Church’s faith expressions, counseled that the BMC to seek affiliation with Mennonite World Conference. The church became a full member during Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay in 2009.

Mission Network also sent Loren Johns, professor of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, on a teaching tour with the BMC churches in 2006 in response to their specific request for formation in Anabaptism.

Prior to the conference, BMC leaders had told Teng and Green that the BMC had embraced an Anabaptist identity. In introducing the vision for the BMC, Chin noted that “the name Mennonite is very strange and quite unknown in Myanmar,” but the BMC anticipates changing its name to “Myanmar Mennonite Church.” Chin said the BMC wants to educate people about Anabaptism and hopes to publish Mennonite books to help people “understand about our convictions.”

In addition to planting churches and developing social ministries, the church also hopes to work with the government to achieve recognition for its stand on nonmilitary participation.

“I would like to commend the Mennonite faith in Myanmar,” Chin said in declaring his commitment to the way of reconciliation in Burmese society, which is riven by many ethnic divisions and scarred by violence and conflict in the past.

“By the grace of God, you are here,” said the Rev. Khua Rung, the conference secretary. “Today we can testify that though we are of different cultures and colors, we are one in Christ; we are God’s people chosen by the blood of Christ.”

“Here was a visible, public confirmation of the changing identity of the BMC in the direction of explicit Anabaptist affiliation and conviction,” Green said. “Anabaptist brothers and sisters who had gathered to worship God and to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ, encouraged each other by their joy in the richness of the family of which they are a part.”

 

At DOOR Atlanta, lunch comes straight from the garden

As youth come through DOOR Atlanta this summer, they’ll find something on their plates that you wouldn’t expect on a weeklong service  trip: local, organic food.

Tim Showalter Ehst, the interim co-director of DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection) in Atlanta and a Goshen (Ind.) College graduate, is in the midst of planning and creating menus that will allow the DOOR staff to feed their young volunteers with healthy food grown around the city. It’s a not a typical focus for a summer mission trip, but Showalter Ehst believes that food justice is an important issue to raise with the high school and college students that will serve in the city this summer.

“One goal [for the summer] is that 80percent of the food they eat while they’re here will be local and organic,” Showalter Ehst said. “But a bigger goal is to talk with DOOR participants about the new way to look at food. Where our food dollars go is a Christian issue and part of living intentional Christian lives.”

DOOR is a joint program of Mennonite Mission Network and Presbyterian Church USA that invites high school- and college-aged young adults to serve and see what God is doing in six cities around the United States: Atlanta, Chicago, Hollywood, Miami, Denver and San Antonio.

In the past, a limited budget meant that DOOR directors simply went to the nearest grocery store and bought inexpensive, yet healthy, food items in order to keep costs low for youth groups. Showalter Ehst is trying to change that mindset by investigating low-cost ways to bring local food to DOOR.

“Cost is the biggest rub,” Showalter Ehst said. “Mennonites often have this deep-seated need to buy the cheapest thing on the shelf.”

Showalter Ehst has found a distributor who can bring food directly to DOOR, which saves money on gas. He’s buying a lot of items in bulk, and he says that DOOR directors from other cities are eager to hear about his summer experiment in local eating.

“I’m getting a lot of great feedback from the other directors who want to know how it’s going,” Showalter Ehst said. “We’re all hoping that this can work.”

After three weeks of groups coming through for spring break work, Showalter Ehst is positive about his food experiment so far.

“We’ve had great experiences talking about this stuff with the groups,” said Showalter Ehst. “What’s important is the exposure. It matters that coffee has been cheap for the last 50 years because we’ve been paying Nicaraguan farmers $1.50 a day instead of $10. Connections that haven’t been made before are being made.”

Showalter Ehst became interested in food justice issues and farming during his time at Goshen College. After he and Krista, his wife, graduated, they moved to a family farm in Kentucky for a year to learn about the day-to-day life of a farmer.

“We were told it was hard and we wouldn’t make any money,” Showalter Ehst said. “I wanted to see if I could handle it, and it turned out I could. It was really rejuvenating and energizing for me.”

But considering themselves “farmers” wasn’t enough.

“We asked what, beyond that, is our calling?” Showalter Ehst said. “Krista’s focus is: How do we get good food to people who otherwise don’t have access or can’t afford it?”

With these questions in mind, Krista and Tim moved to Atlanta so Krista could attend seminary. Tim was anxious to find farm work, and Berea Mennonite Church had a six-acre plot of land in the middle of the city. They were brainstorming about how to use it and considering the possibility of a community supported agriculture program when Showalter Ehst approached them.

“His coming seemed like an answer to prayer,” said John Wierville, pastor at Berea Mennonite Church. “What Tim brought us was a willingness to work, to labor in the creation, day in and day out to put in a large garden and take it to market. He loved his work, and it was a joy to behold that love.”

The church built a barn and surrounded the plot with wood fencing to create the feel of a farm in the city. “They took a financial risk and bet that I could make it happen,” Showalter Ehst said.

Wierville says that the church sees the creation of the farm—now called Oakleaf Mennonite Farm—as a witness and an act of co-creation. 

“Having a farm is not just a way to raise food for the hungry or to find ways to fellowship with one another,” he said. “It is a way of being at worship in God's creation, working with our God to bring the new heaven and the new earth. “

He added that the farm gives the church an identity as a different kind of community, one that is as much about living a new way as it is about particular beliefs.

“The farm is a place that brings all the many people from our neighborhood together regardless of race, economics, or religion,” Wierville said, “and it brings strangers to our place, too.

Tim’s five reasons to eat local and organic:

1) It supports the local economy. People from all over the political and theological spectrum are concerned about where their dollars and jobs are going. Buying locally makes sure our food dollars go to the farmer who lives down the road.

2) It is a practice of creation care. Studies have shown the average meal in the United States travels 2,000-3,000 miles to our plates, using excessive petroleum, water, and other resources along the way. By buying from local farmers, we minimize the distance our food travels, the impact on soil and animal eco-systems, and contribute to a more healthy stewardship of God’s creation.

3) It builds community. One of our jobs as Christians is to build the church, get to know our neighbors, and help usher in God’s beloved community on earth. Think about using farmers’ markets, getting to know farmers, buying half a hog with a neighbor, or purchasing a share of vegetables from a local CSA — community supported agricultural project — with a friend. All of these are ways to incorporate our habits of buying and eating food – something we can’t avoid doing – into our Christian witness of being good neighbors and building community.

4) It regains control of our health. It is hard to buy food these days and avoid food additives like dyes and preservatives. Many of these additives have not been conclusively tested to be healthy for our bodies or the environment. Buying organic foods and local foods (in which case, you can ask the producer what goes into the production) returns to us a measure of control over what goes into our bodies.

5) It just tastes better! Has your grandmother ever told you about how the apples tasted when she was a little girl? Over the past 60-70 years, we’ve bred characteristics into our food crops to make them more productive, store longer, and ship better. The problem is that hard orange-red tomatoes and, in general, vegetables and fruits with less available sugars, ship better and last longer. Unfortunately, almost without exception, they also taste worse. So give yourself a treat: Eat some local (perhaps even heirloom variety) foods!