MC Canada: ‘Pray for the people of Myanmar’

2 February 2021|Web First|

2021-feb-2-articlemyanmar

Mennonite Church Canada calls on the nationwide community of faith to pray for the people of Myanmar. Pray also for our Myanmar siblings here in Canada. They are deeply concerned for their loved ones and the effect that recent actions will have on peace within Myanmar.

Myanmar’s military has seized power and detained democratically elected leaders in the country. Troops patrol streets in major cities and communications are limited. The coup follows a landslide win by the National League for Democracy party in an election the army claims was fraudulent.

“Today is a sad and dark day for our country,” writes Amos Chin, leader of Bible Missionary Church, a Mennonite World Conference-member denomination in Myanmar. “Our country is under military regime again and we are under fear. We ask for your concern and prayer for our country and for our missionary work.”

“We worry for our political leaders who have been imprisoned,” says Jehu Lianching, assistant director of Myanmar Missions International. “This creates a very uncertain future. We need to lift our prayers to God. Burma has seven states; all have their own armies. Concern is growing about the possibility of civil war.”

There are five congregations in MC Canada with ties to Myanmar:

  • Calgary Chin Church in Calgary, Alta.
  • Living Hope Christian Fellowship (Surrey, B.C.)
  • Chin Christian Church in Kitchener, Ont.
  • Grace Christian Church in Ottawa, Ont.
  • Kitchener Emmanuel Church in Kitchener, Ont.

MC Canada has a formalized partnership with Myanmar Missions International to support regular leadership formation, training events and development needs of this emerging Anabaptist network of congregations. MC Canada is supporting Mission Anabaptist Church in Chin State, Myanmar, to become a centre of Anabaptist training and formation in the region.

—Updated Feb. 26, 2021 to include Living Hope Christian Fellowship (Surrey, B.C.)

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One response to “MC Canada: ‘Pray for the people of Myanmar’”

  1. Clare Neufeld Avatar
    Clare Neufeld

    Myanmar/Burma
    In your article you mention only the Chin ethnic group as related to MC Canada.

    I can attest to having had and worked with folks of the Karen ethnic group, in B.C., within our congregation, at the time, in Surrey.

    I believe the Living Hope Christian Fellowship, Surrey, also continues to nurture that Karen fellowship group, which might well be of a size which, hypothetically, might even “qualify” as a “congregation”, in some regions – dependent on meeting minimum size/number criteria of the local area church.

    Thinking out loud:

    Perhaps there are other ethnic/language groups we could include in our accounting of with whom we have relations as MC Canada?

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