Myanmar
Myanmar, also called Burma, takes up a landmass about the size of Texas, yet has nearly twice the population, with roughly 55 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 (27 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 response. From 2021-2025, with our assistance, our network of missionaries accomplished the following and more:
4,890 families (over 24,400 people) received relief packs to stave off hunger crises precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the civil war, and/or the devastating March 2025 earthquake. More than 300 people (including 22 pastors and their families) were assisted in relocating to escape attacks by the junta, persecution, and/or forced military conscription, while another pastor and his family were aided in gaining freedom after being falsely accused and jailed by the junta. Six ministry leaders, an orphanage, and a community of IDPs (internally displaced people) were equipped with technologies to mitigate against frequent war-related blackouts. 24 families received home reconstruction assistance after their village was burned to the ground by the military, and 34 families were given help in rebuilding their homes after the March 2025 earthquake. An additional 100 families received rent assistance and/or flexible cash disbursements to aid in earthquake recovery.
23 vulnerable women and 10 pastors 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. Two church leaders were funded to attend agriculture training in a neighboring country, and 11 pastors and missionaries were gifted motorbikes to aid in their travel and outreach. Another 25 leaders received training and electronic tools for ministry from Jesus Film.
42 individuals and 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, while 186 children were treated for issues including fever, dysentery, and dengue.
Over these years, 70 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 coordinators, 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 coup. With our support, our partners have been able to temporarily evacuate over 350 children from active warzones. A further 127 children in a region heavily affected by the March 2025 earthquake received one year’s worth of support for their education, as part of assisting them and their families in recovering from the quake.
Despite Covid and the coup, 354 church leaders received ministry training, 19 churches and 42 house fellowships were planted, 20 new Bible studies were started, at least 218 new villages were reached with the Gospel, and 640 new believers were baptized. Roughly 270 seekers attended a Gospel outreach program conducted by several of our partners, 115 believers from nine villages participated in an intensive Bible training course, and 100 IDPs attended multi-day Bible conferences. 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. If feasible, we hope to arrange more trainings in partnership with Concilium.
Capital: Naypyidaw
Population: 55 million
Religion: Buddhist 87.9%, Christian 6.2%, Muslim 4.3%, animist 0.8%, Hindu 0.5%, other 0.3%
Persecution Watch List Country Ranking: 14
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: