The Work

This page outlines The Work being done in our part of Myanmar.

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It can quickly get complicated trying to explain all of what’s going and who’s doing what, so I’m going to keep to the basics.

Mission Partners

The Organisation in Australia, mission partners, which you can read more about here, has established partnerships with 2 churches in Yangon, Myanmar. They are

  • The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC) and,
  • The Free Reformed Church of Myanmar (FRCM)

Both churches were established in Myanmar before mission partners partnered with them. The reason they’ve been partnered with is, basically, to help them grow.

mission partners’ role is to work in Australia to raise awareness of their partner churches, and in doing so to raise funds or resources to send to their partners. Numerous people have made many short-term trips to the partner churches in Myanmar for the purposes of teaching, encouragement, and delivery of finances or resources, like Bibles or books.

The Missionaries

It is also the desire of mission partners to send long-term missionaries to work closely with their partner churches, and in the case of Myanmar they hope to send me, the guy behind this website, Martin Eagle.

My role initially is to run an English Teaching school open to anyone interested, and also to work with the ERC in whatever capacity they require. More about what I’ll be doing can be found in The Workers section.

Our Partner Churches

Both the ERC and the FRCM are involved in the following:

  • Weekly Sunday Church services
  • Twice-weekly prayer meetings
  • Weekly Sunday School
  • Outreach and evangelism
  • Each have their own Bible College with live-in students
  • Community assistance programs

As well as the list above, both churches, through the assistance of donations made by the Presbyterian Church of Australia, were able to offer significant and ongoing help to many victims of the May 2008 cyclone, which claimed more than 146,000 lives and left millions homeless.

The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC)

The ERC have a few ministries and activities which are unique to them:

  • Church planting – they have planted 3 churches in and around Yangon as well as 23 churches in rural areas of Chin State
  • Farming – They own and operate a farm which provides a meagre income through the growth of rubber trees. They hope to expand this to Mango trees once they have the funds.
  • Rice production – They own and operate a large rice field which can supply the Pastor, his family, his farm workers and his Bible College students with rice all year round. They also produce enough rice to be able to sell some at market.
  • Taxis – The Church owns 2 taxis which operate 6 days a week and are an excellent source of income. One of the taxis is driven by a church member, providing him with valuable employment.
  • Orphanage – A recent addition is the financial and spiritual support of an orphanage in lower Chin State

The Free Reformed Church of Myanmar (FRCM)

The FRCM’s unique ministry is in a very poor part of Yangon where they’re involved in a home-school. Members of the FRCM visit this area of the city almost every day of the week and teach children who are too poor to go to a regular school. On Sunday, the children faithfully turn up again, this time for lessons about Jesus and the Bible.

Other Info

Below are some stats and details on the ERC and the FRCM.

The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC) The Free Reformed Church of Myanmar (FRCM)
Established Oct 22nd 1992 pre 1999
Pastor Rev. Dr. Thang Bwee Rev. James Mang Khen Thang
Location Tarmwe Township Insein
Parishoners approx 35 approx 30
Bible college Yes Yes
Bible college name Reformed Bible Institute (RBI) Grace Bible Seminary (GBS)
Number of students 15 approx 15
Courses B Th. Dip. Th.
Contact +95 1 554859 n/a

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