A Myanmar pastor inspired Asian Christians to share their gospel with their people to make disciples of the Lord.
Aye Min, a pastor from Myanmar and a leader of Myanmar Evangelical Alliance, shared his unique conversion story to Christianity through his Buddhist teacher in this Buddhism-dominated country, eventually preaching the gospel to all his teachers from kindergarten to high school, and even the president of Myanmar.
In the afternoon workshop of the Everyone Asia 2024 conference titled "Challenges for Discipleship in Asia" conducted on July 5, Min, the senior pastor of Peace Evangel Church in Myanmar and leading the Peace Evangel Myanmar Bible College, Peace Prayer Garden, Kinder Garden (Children) ministries, and community services, began the lecture with his own testimony.
“During my high school, our country assigned Buddhist teachers to teach Buddhist prayer.” But he didn’t pray. Asked why he refused the Buddhist prayer by his teacher, Min pretended to be a Christian. The teacher continued to ask him what kind of Christian he was, he just denied that he did not worship Mary. Then the teacher gave him the Four Gospel tract, and he read it and accepted Jesus Christ.
“If the Lord can use the Buddhist teacher, he can use everyone here,” he encouraged the participants. “Everyone is important in the sight of God.”
Min stated that as the Asian population is large, the harvest is great, too. He introduced the general situation in Myanmar: 87% of the population are Buddhists. “When we look at Asia, Asia is the seat of many religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism.”
“This is a great challenge in making disciples. And also, the most populated continent is [where] the most unreached people live,” he added.
He continued to share the basic situation in Myanmar, where there are eight main tribes who speak 135 dialects. “It is very difficult to preach the gospel to Myanmar.” The first missionary, Adoniram Judson, arrived in Myanmar in 1813, and he was the first convert until six years later.
Among the tribes, many Karen, Kachin, and Chin people are Christians. The forefathers of the Karen people would tell stories about creation and Noah’s flood as tradition, adding that they lost the book given by God, but a white brother would bring that book back with a black cover. When Judson and his missionary friends went to a village on horses with the Bible in black cover, the whole village recognized him as the white brother and accepted Jesus Christ. “There was much movement.”
Not only are Karen people evangelized, but Kachin people are also reached. Pastor Min said that more than 50% of the Kachin people became Christians. The same story also went for the Chin tribe, who worshipped their spiritual sacrifice. “But when the missionary preached the gospel: Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice; if you accept Jesus Christ, there is no need to sacrifice, then 99% of Chin people are Christians.”
“Three tribes are reached by the gospel, but the Burmese people still need it.”
“We need a proper discipleship program and contextualizing children. Christians need to understand their culture and worldview, but when the Holy Spirit comes, we will receive power.” The pastor claimed, “The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and uses signs and wonders, so many Burmese people also convert.”
Recalling the crisis of COVID-19, military, and wars, he testified that many new were coming to Jesus Christ, “but we need to make disciples.”
“In order to make disciples, we need the Holy Spirit.”
Ten years after his conversion, Pastor Min preached the gospel to all his teachers from kindergarten to high school. Twenty years later, he had the privilege to share his testimony with the country’s president and other top leaders.
“So I want to challenge all of you: the Lord will weaponize your testimony to make disciples of God. May the Lord use you for Asia.”
