Myanmar

Myanmar, also called Burma, takes up a landmass about the size of Texas, yet has nearly twice the population, with roughly 54.2 million residents. A diverse country with a majority Buddhist population, Myanmar is rich with history, architecture, precious gems, incredible landscapes, and many ethnic groups.

The country has a long history of foreign colonization and local military rule. After being under a military junta dictatorship since 1962, a gradual liberalization began in 2010, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year. This led to the country opening up, but a 2017 army operation and genocide against the Rohingya ethnic group highlighted the military’s continuing power.

On February 1st, 2021, the military staged a coup, claiming election fraud as their reason to declare a state of emergency and arrest Aung San Suu Kyi, while giving no evidence of such fraud. Now under the junta again and facing a civil war of a scale and proportion not seen under the previous 50 years of military rule, Myanmar and the pastors and missionaries we come alongside there are facing a new and extremely difficult era. We ask for your prayers for comfort, wisdom, and strength for the men and women we partner with and serve, and for their fellow citizens. Now more than ever, we will continue to stand beside these brothers and sisters in their work of sharing the love of Christ.

With a growing network of missionaries throughout the country (26 of whom receive regular monthly support), Harvest Bridge comes alongside pastor training, child protection and education, women’s empowerment, economic development, printing and distribution of theological literature, and disaster relief programs. From 2021-2023, with our assistance, our network of missionaries accomplished the following and more:

1,530 families (over 7,600 people) received monthlong relief packs to stave off hunger crises precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the civil war, while 15 pastors and their families were assisted in relocating after their villages were attacked by the military. Another pastor and his family were aided in gaining freedom after being falsely accused and jailed by the junta, and five other pastors were equipped with technology to mitigate against daily war-related blackouts. 17 vulnerable women received training and equipment to launch or grow small businesses, and one of our country co-leaders received financial and logistical assistance both for his graduate-level theological studies and for a spiritual formation book translation project.

33 pastor and missionary families were assisted with medical treatment and bills – many of these needs being connected to the war and/or being persecuted. During the height of the pandemic, we arranged delivery of 25 oxygen cylinders and two oxygen concentrators, which enabled 100 Covid patients in our partners’ networks to receive life-saving care. A further 130 families were given medical and emergency supplies to aid them in weathering the pandemic.

Over these years, 63 children received monthly sponsorship, and 45 children whose school closed due to the war were assisted with home-based tutoring fees. In the children’s home run by one of our leaders, a laptop we provided enabled 14 children to continue their education online, and a ping pong table provided in partnership with Global Commission Partners helps these children to better enjoy themselves and reduce stress associated with the military coup. With our support, our partners have been able to temporarily evacuate 140 children from active warzones.

Despite Covid and the coup, 161 church leaders received ministry training, eight churches and 23 house fellowships were planted, 20 new Bible studies were started, 218 new villages were reached with the Gospel, and 392 new believers were baptized. Roughly 270 seekers attended a Gospel outreach program conducted by several of our partners, and 115 believers from nine villages participated in an intensive Bible training course. We were also fortunate to arrange a training program run by Concilium, wherein 50 of our leaders received instruction in warzone safely, first aid, landmine detection, hostage negotiation, withstanding interrogation, and other topics relevant to the unstable situation in their nation.

Capital: Naypyidaw

Population: 54.2 million

Religion: Buddhist 89.8%, Christian 6.2%, Muslim 2.3%, animist 0.8%, Hindu 0.5%, other 0.3%

Persecution Watch List Country Ranking: 17

Ministries: Disaster Relief & Rehabilitation, Pastor Training, Children’s Ministries, Pastor & Missionary Sponsorship, Economic Development

Leadership Information: Our Myanmar leaders oversee church planting teams in five regions of the country, all of which are now affected to one degree or another by long-running civil war and resistance to the 2021 military coup. In addition to planting dozens of churches among unreached people groups, they have established two children’s homes and an organization that advances the well-being of tribal people.

Give directly to our Myanmar fund: