matt2819.com/myanmar

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’ll keep to the basics.

Mission Partners

The Organisation in Australia, Mission Partners, which you can read more about here, has an ongoing partnership with The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC).

ERC was established in Myanmar before Mission Partners partnered with them. The reason for any Partner Church partnership is basically to encourage them and 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 have sent me, the guy behind this website, Martin Eagle.

A brief outline of my work:

• First 12 months – Yangon University of Foreign Languages (YUFL) learning the basics of the Myanmar language.
• 2nd, 3rd, and ongoing years – Teaching various subjects at the Reformed Bible Institute (RBI), the Bible College of the Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC). Some teaching will be done in my first year, though only short intensives during my semester breaks from university.
• 2nd, 3rd, and ongoing years – Additionally I will be teaching English to the RBI first-year students. It is also hoped that the ministry here will be able to facilitate English classes to locals using a Bible-based curriculum, however this will most likely not begin before late 2014.

More about my roles can be found on The Workers page.

Our Partner – The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC)

ERC is involved in the following:

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

As well as the list above, ERC, 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.

• Church planting – they have planted 3 churches in and around Yangon as well as more than 30 churches in rural areas of Southern 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.

Details summary for ERC and RBI