Chin Christians Mark Centenary

With Special Edition Bible

HAKHA, Myanmar — Celebrations by the Chin Christians of the arrival of Christianity among them 100 years ago drew more than 20,000 Christian visitors. Also, more than 4,000 copies of a specially-revised edition of the Hakha Bible were sold in a single day.

The ‘Chin Evangelical Centenary’ was an event which the Chin Christians had been looking forward to for years: they dreamed about it, talked about it, wrote about it, sang about it and, finally, from April 1-4, they took part in it. Some literally walked for six days, others from further away drove for a week on the rough dirt roads to arrive in time for the celebrations in the Chin State capital, Hakha.

First night

It was on March 15 1899 that a missionary couple, Dr Arthur Carson and his wife Laura, first arrived in Hakha from the United States. On their first night Mrs Carson was so dismayed that she wept bitterly, saying that she would never be able to live the rest of her life among people so ugly and dirty. She eventually changed her mind, however, and when her husband died a few years later, she continued the work alone, staying on to complete 12 years of service. Today some 75 per cent of the Chin people are Christian.

Planning the celebrations raised many difficulties. Due to the country’s economic plight, all prices are very high. A bag of rice, for example, costs 2,800 Kyat whereas a high school teacher earns only about K1,500 a month – a little over US $9.00. Concerns about meeting the costs of the event, however, were allayed by the decision that local Christians of all denominations would pool their resources to mark what is strictly a Baptist-initiated celebration.

The organisers were also concerned by the attitude which the Government displayed to the Centenary. Submitted ten months ahead of the event, their application for permission to hold the celebrations met with the official response that ”The arrival of the white men is of no consequence for us whatsoever“.

Permission granted

Preparations went ahead in faith, however, and permission was finally granted just five days before the opening, with the proviso that only 4,500 guests would be permitted.

In the event more than four times that number arrived, making it an occasion of a kind rarely witnessed in Hakha before. Although soldiers were strategically positioned around the town to deal with any disturbances, the celebrations took place in a wholly peaceful and enjoyable spirit.

As its contribution to the celebrations, the Bible Society of Myanmar decided to publish a revision to the Hakha Bible. This was first published in 1978 and had been out of print since 1994. A team of six, headed by the Rev David Van Bik, began work on the project in 1996 and completed it in 1998. The checking and printing was handled by the Bible Society of Indonesia.

Hope for Bibles

The project managers were hoping to ship some 10,000 copies of the revision to Hakha in time for the celebration. In anticipation of the difficulties of doing this, much prayer was undertaken as well as preparation for the various stages of the Bibles’ journey.

With a week to go, the Bibles showed no sign of arriving in Hakha; then, two days before the celebrations were due to begin, 4,680 copies were safely delivered.

Proclaiming on its cover ‘The 100th Anniversary of the Chin Christians 1899-1999’, the Bible was dedicated at a special service held on April 3. More than 30,000 people attended and heard Guam-based UBS Translation Consultant Dr Stephen Hre Kio give the sermon.

Every copy of the new Bibles was sold. The rest of the consignment arrived a month after the celebrations and they, too, are now in the hands of the Chin Christians.

Another cause for celebration during the four days arose from the results of a long-term evangelistic programme which the Chin Christians began some 15 years before the Chin Evangelical Centenary, entitled ‘Chins for Christ Within One Century’ (CCOC).

Some 1,200 evangelists volunteered to take part in the work, travelling the length and breadth of the Chin State – 261,000 square miles in all – and seven lost their lives while doing so. Their efforts and sacrifices have resulted in 22,000 new Christians being welcomed into the churches.

The CCOC is now to be succeeded by a new evangelism program called Chin Mission of the Century (CMC) which aims to take the Gospel further afield – as far as the Buddhist plain-dwellers.

700 baptisms

The centenary celebration itself saw 700 new Christians baptised – all on April 3 – and 65 preachers ordained. Chin cultural dances were performed every night from 7pm to midnight. Some indication of the richness and variety of the culture of the Chin State is given by the fact that a total of 35 languages are spoken within its borders.

At the closing of the celebrations, the Commander General of the Chin State praised and congratulated the Christian organisers for having kept such a large-scale event free of disturbances and unwelcome incidents. (WR 344/22 - 10.99) [PHOTOS]

<<<Back