Eastern Shan State Baptist Association (ESSBA)
Under the leadership of Saw Khin and Rev. John Po, “Eastern Shan State Baptist Association“ was formed during the 65th Eastern Shan State Baptist Mission Celebration in KanNaLone from April 4-7, 1968. On that day, 218 people were baptized. Eastern Shan State Baptist Association was a multiracial association comprising Shan, Wa, Lahu, Lisu, and Kachin Churches. ESSBA held meetings annually and sometimes biannually, and sometimes triannually from 1969 to 1994.
The First Executive Board Members (1968-1970)
Sai Win (chairman),
Saya Ai Chit (vice-chairman),
Sayama Saw Khin (secretary),
Saya Sai Seng Tip (vice-secretary).
There were 19 Churches and 1,507 baptized members in ESSBA in 1970.
Six Churches were from leprosy villages.
Board members (1970-1977)
Chairman Saya Sai Seng Tip
Vice-chairman Saya Ai Chein
Secretary Saya Sai Philip
Vice-secretary Sayama Nang Sauk
Treasurer Sayama Saw Khin
Evangelism Dept. Saya Sai Tin Maung
Evangelist Saya Ai Chit
Development
In 1972, there were 24 Churches in ESSBA. In 1979, the number of Churches reduced to 17 because two Wa Churches and one Kachin Church left the association, and 4 Churches in the MuongYa areas were out of communication because of communist insurgency. Church contribution from each Church to the ESSBA increased from Kyat 1,235 in 1968 to Kyat 15,000 in 1981, Kyat 18,000 in 1986, and Kyat 25,000 in 1988. For the development of a self-supporting program, some Churches own rice fields and fishponds. It yields some profits for the Church’s coffers. There was also a piece of land owned by the association to plant trees, mango, and other fruits for the association’s income. It also provides job opportunities to members of the Church and earns some money for their living. KanNaLone Church has one small electricity generator. It supplies electricity to some Christian homes and charges a small amount of money since the electricity supply from the government is very irregular.
ESSBA reported in 1988, “Eastern Shan State lacks good, qualified leadership. In many Churches, there are no graduates from university level. The Church can only afford to support a pastor with Kyat 600 per month. The roads are so bad that travel is not easy. During the rainy season, it is almost impossible to travel. An evangelistic trip can only be made during the dry season. Communication is bad. No postal service, no telephone, no telex available in many towns and villages. The fare for the bus is extremely expensive. Most of the pastors cannot afford to pay for bus fare to travel.” 5 Churches have been reorganized and re-communicated to ESSBA in 1989 after 20 years of separation because of communist insurgency.
Statistics – January 1963 – July 1963
80-bedded hospital; 1 National Doctor,
Out patient department; 2,628 attendance,
1 Missionary nursing superintendent,
In-patients; 321, Daily Census average; 11.6,
1 Business Manager, 4 qualified nurses (including Midwives)
Buildings; 2 quarters, 4 Trained nurses from Yedwinyegan, 1 nurses’ home
2 houses for leprosy; 2 Aid nurses, 1 Lab/Xray assistant, 1 Cook; 5 Menials, including night watchmen
Mission School
Mission school was started in 1904 by Dr. H.C. Gibbens. Mr. Antisdel had to abandon his work at KengTung and proceed to America in 1912 because of poor health. The pupils were from six different tribes, but the examinations were conducted in Shan, which was the common language for all. A rudimentary normal department for the training of teachers had been opened, and industrial training in carpentry, masonry, seed sowing, laundering, cooking, care of animals, and housework was given. San Lu was the head master of the school in 1927. He got his training in the Methodist School, Rangoon, and the Baptist School in Taunggyi. San Lu could speak and teach in languages such as Shan, Burmese, Lahu, and English. The children came from non-Christian Shan, Burmese, Chinese, and Indian families. Those boys and girls, while in school, lived in a Christian atmosphere, and they carried back to their homes Christian influences, which helped to dispel the misunderstanding their parents had about mission work. It seemed essential that, in work for the Shan, confidence and friendship had first been established as a basis of approach for the Gospel message. San Lu had won many friends among the parents of his pupils. He was quick to note the absence of a student, and he promptly found out by a personal visit to the home the reason for the student’s absence. His interest and enthusiasm for the success of each pupil inspired the parents to show more interest in the education of their children.
San Lu had gathered to the school a fine company of boys and girls who paid monthly fees for their education. There was the SaoPha’s school in town where free education was given but despite this competition many parents preferred to send their children to the mission school where both the teaching and the discipline were better. Even SaoPha sent some of his children to mission school. In the absence of the pastor of Shan Church, San Lu conducted the religious services. He also taught a Sunday school class and he had, on different occasions, gone to the KengTung market to preach the Gospel to his fellow Shan. He even had conversations with the SaoPha about the Christian religion. The SaoPha was a staunch Buddhist. San Lu had a likable personality and he was a great Christian leader among the Shan. San Lu was honored by the prime minister of Burma, U Nu, as Mahathraesethu San Lu, as minister of transportation in 1953. His memorial hall was built in KanNaLone Shan Baptist Church, KengTung.
Aung Din, Saw Maung, and Saw Ka Le Htoo also arrived in Kengtung and helped Rev. Young in the mission school until 1956. The new school building was started in 1959. Schools were teaching up to six standards in 1962. The school had become a High School and the headmaster was David Hsam. All the teachers were Christians except one. A children’s hostel was built in the mission compound in 1978 with 22 students. There were 28 students in 1988. The objective of having this hostel was to allow hill tribe children to have the opportunity of continuing learning in KengTung and to produce future Christian leadership. Twelve of them were children from leprosy villages. Now there are two children’s hostels under the Eastern Shan State Shan Baptist Convention. Hostels accept children from primary to high school. A kindergarten was started in KanNaLone Church in 1981 with 60 children and 3 teachers. It increased to 85 children and 4 teachers in 1985. In 1988, the number of kindergartens increased to 7 in 7 Churches under ESSSBA.
Mass Baptism
Whenever some one believed in Christ water Baptism was conducted to accept him or her as a member of the Church. According to Baptist practices baptism was conducted on Sunday. Sometimes a large group of people baptized at the same time. Noticeably mass baptism use to be taken place during big and special occasions.
For instance, 218 people were baptized when Churches in Eastern Shan State celebrated the 65th Eastern Shan State Baptist Mission Celebration in KanNaLone from April 4 to 7, 1968.
165 baptized on April 7, 1978, during the Annual General Meeting of E.S.S Shan Baptist Association.
68 people were baptized during the Shan Bible Centenary Celebration held in MuongYang in 1985 from 11 to 14 April.
58 people were baptized in 1987 when the silver jubilee of TaChiLeik Church was held in TaChiLeik from April 2 to 5.
168 baptized in KengTung on March 31, 2001 when Eastern Shan Churches celebrating Eastern Shan State Baptist Mission Centenary.
Why do people want to be baptized on such a special occasion? Who are those baptized on these special occasions? Very few people are baptized in normal circumstances. Almost all the people baptized on such special occasions are second-generation Christians. One of the purposes of baptizing on such a special occasion is a happy moment to be baptized together with friends, and easy to remember the date of their baptism. Should we have special occasions more often so that more people will be baptized? Should we change the attitude of baptizing only at special occasions? Many Shan Churches do not organize water baptism regularly. A senior pastor said, “We conduct baptism only twice a year at Easter and Christmas.”
Evangelist training
As we have set up a 21st Century Shan Mission Project to produce 201 evangelists in the year 2001, a three-month evangelist training course was introduced in 1990 in KengTung to produce more evangelists in Eastern Shan State under the leadership of Rev. Sai Stephen. This is the first training course of its kind ever conducted, aiming to produce more Shan evangelists. 15 people attended the first program. Before attending the training, all trainees have to give a promise to serve in a mission for at least 2 years after graduation. Nevertheless, most of them are still serving today. Most of them are being ordained.
The first GCI for Eastern Shan Churches was conducted in Kengtung from December 1 to 13, 1997. Trainers came from different countries. 40 attended, including 31 Shan and 9 Wa. The expense was Kyat 520,000 paid by the GCI team. Lessons such as Power Theology, Ministry Planning, How to study the Bible, Leadership, Church Planting, Pastoral Ministry, Prayer, Christian Family, Evangelism, Praise and Worship, and Child Evangelism were taught. The second GCI was conducted in Kengtung in February 2001. 42 students from the Wa tribe, Lahu tribe, Shan tribe, and a couple more from different tribes attended.
Bible School graduates
There is no “Shan Bible School” in the Shan States. All Shan students have to go to study at a Burmese or Karen or Lisu, or English Bible School in Insein, MayMyo, or TaungGyi. The first Shan Christians to graduate from Bible School since the mission field opened in KengTung in 1901 were Sai Philip, Sai Hsam, and Sai Seng in 1961 from TaungGyi Bible School. Between 1961-1980, 6 attended TaungGyi Bible School, 6 attended Insein Myanmar Seminary, and 2 attended Myanmar Institute of Theology in Insein. Only 14 young people went to Bible school in 19 years. Under the 21st Century Shan Mission Project, 19 students were sent to Bible schools in 1984, including 5 from Eastern Shan State. It was a surprise to Bible Schools in Insein to see such a large number of Shan students attending Bible Schools in one year. Normally, the Bible Schools seldom have one Shan student in a year.
Sai Myint Lay was the first student from Eastern Shan State to graduate from the Myanmar Institute of Theology in 1969 with a B.Th degree. He served as General Secretary of the Eastern Shan State Shan Baptist Conference for one year and moved to LaShio in 1971. There, he got married to a Shan woman and had two sons. He later got addicted to heroin and completely left the ministry. He was rehabilitated and returned to serve in the Burma Baptist Convention’s drug rehabilitation department in 1980. He was then sent to Hong Kong in 1982 by the BBC to study a drug rehabilitation program at Wu Oi Drug Rehabilitation Center for two months. He spent one month staying at my home. We had an opportunity to discuss Shan missions. Sai Myint Lay went back to Burma in January 1983 and got involved with Shan mission work again. He left the BBC and went back to serve the Eastern Shan State Baptist Convention as a full-time secretary in 1986. He later married a Kachin woman on May 19, 1989. He had a severe motorcycle accident in 1992 and damaged his right shoulder. He was sent to New Haven. CT, USA, by BBC, in 1996 for a few months’ study tour. After returning from the U.S.A., he had a severe sickness and was admitted to the hospital. He passed away on September 3, 1997, in Yangon.
Sai Stephen was a second Shan student from Eastern Shan State to graduate from Myanmar Institute of Theology in 1977 with a B.Th degree. He served the Lord as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, NaungPha, KengTung, since graduating from Bible School until he served full-time as Assistant Director of 21st Century Shan Mission Project in 1992, responsible for Eastern Shan State. He also served as General Secretary of the Eastern Shan State Shan Baptist Convention since its inception from 1997 to 1999. He was the pioneer of the formation of the Eastern Shan State Shan Baptist Convention. He was sent to New Haven, CT, USA, by the Myanmar Baptist Convention for a study tour from September 1999 to May 2000. He returned to Myanmar in June 2000. He unexpectedly had a stroke and passed away on July 12, 2000, in Kengtung. I had an opportunity to talk to him by phone from Yangon two days before he passed away, while I was conducting Shan GCI in Yangon. It was a shock to Shan Churches. I was able to go to KengTung and join his funeral service on July 17.
Bible School gradates in one century (1901-2001)
Name / Diploma / School / Remark
- Naw Mi / L.Th / MICT / (deceased)
- Philip / L.Th / TaungGyi Bible School
- Sai Hsam/ L.Th / TaungGyi BS
- Sai Seng/ L.Th / TaungGyi BS /(deceased)
- Shwe Pui/ L.Th / MICT
- Seng Tip/ L.Th / MICT
- Myint Lay/ B.Th / MIT /(deceased)
- Stephen/ B.Th / MIT (deceased)
- Kham Yung/ L.Th / MICT
- Seng Arm/ L.Th / MICT
- Stephen Ping/ L.Th / MICT
- Kya Yung/ L.Th / MICT
- Khin Htun Hein/ L.Th / MICT
- May San Oo/ B.Th / MIT
- Zan Leng/ B.Th / MIT
- Myint Myint Pyu/ B.Th / MIT
- Tha Han/ M.Div / MIT
- Saw Tip Lao/ B.R.E / MIT
- Htun Kyaw/ B.Th / Po Karen Bible School
- Seng Hom/ B.Th / Lisu Bible School
- Mu Ran/ B.Th / Lisu Bible School
21 Shan from Eastern Shan State graduated from Bible School and Theological Seminary in 100 years.