About: The place of the Karen People in Baptist mission history

 Note: Is it Burma or Myanmar? Burma is now often called Myanmar. I will join the US government though, and use Burma. I don’t speak Burmese, but I understand the country has always been called “Myanmar” in the Burmese language. “Burma” on the other hand, is an Anglicized name based on the Burmese ethnic group which is the largest people group in the country. It is also the people group that has controlled the government and imposed a heavy handed, military rule over the many other people groups in the country including the Karen. The Burma government wanted to change the international name of the country after a new government took power by military coup. This new government wanted to  squash any hope of democracy and any hope of self-determination for minority groups. At the time of the name change, we were involved with the refugees from Burma and many of the agencies working with them. None of the refugees or the agencies working along the Thai-Burma border seemed interested in appeasing the Burmese government by adopting the name Myanmar so we adopted and keep the same attitude.

 We were originally sent to Thailand to work among the Karen people (pronounced KAH-ren with the emphasis on the KAH syllable). Later, we began working with the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship (TBMF) office but even then, we were quite involved with the Karen. Then, during our final 10 years of missionary service based in the US, our work continued to be with the Karen and other people groups that had been forced from their home country of Burma into refugee camps in Thailand and subsequently resettled in the USA.

As already mentioned in About: Us and how we got to Thailand we were willing to go most anywhere in the world for most any length of time. But God was gracious when He sent us to go to Thailand and to work among the Karen. We found Thailand to be home and the Karen to be extended family.

Baptists in the US have a history with the Karen going back to Ann and Adoniram’s time in Burma which began in 1813. Originally, the Judsons planned to focus their efforts on reaching the urbanized Burmese living in the Rangoon area. It took about 6 years for the Judsons to learn the Burmese language and win their first convert to Christianity. A small ethnic Burmese church was started.

Meanwhile Judson and other early missionaries became aware of some of the other minority ethnic groups living in the surrounding countryside. Finally, in May of 1828, a Karen man named Ko Tha Byu was Baptized by George Boardman. Ko Tha Byu  was a rough character reportedly guilty of several murders. Judson bought him out of slavery and began to teach him about Christ leading to his eventual Baptism. Ko Tha Byu became a dynamic and effective evangelist taking the Gospel far and wide. The Karen began showing up at missionary homes asking to hear the Gospel, seeking Baptism and more learning. These early evangelistic efforts among the Karen were aided by traditional historical and prophetic poems passed orally from generation to generation. Some of these poems taught that one day, the Karen’s “younger white brother” would return to bring back the “golden book” that would show the Karen how to live. For the early Karen converts, the missionaries were the younger white brother and the golden book was the Bible.

The eagerness of the Karen to receive the Gospel reshaped the Baptist mission efforts. More focus, energy and personnel were devoted to reaching out to the rural areas. As the focus shifted, it was clear that the Karen and others like them could not fully appreciate the Bible unless they could read it.  So education became a part of the mission efforts. People groups in the countryside had no written language so ways to put the languages in writing was also necessary. Even things like printing presses were sent to Burma so Bibles and educational materials could be printed and distributed.

Many Karen were eager to learn and churches spread among the Karen. Missionaries found they could use the Karen as guides, evangelists and translators not only among the Karen but many other people groups as well. Looking at the mission history of Burma, it is fairly easy to find the role of the missionaries. It is harder to find how instrumental the Karen were, but I would venture to say that many of the mission efforts would not have been nearly as effective without the input of the Karen Christians.

Karen Christians were the first to bring the Gospel to the Karen in Thailand as well. So the work we joined in the 1980s was a direct result of the work begun in Burma in the 1800s.

Burma was a long time colony of Great Britain and after World War II, it was one of the many colonies that England had to set free. Too often around the world, this process of setting up former colonies as new, independent countries was not done very well. Burma has roughly 135 ethnic groups in the country. Some groups might be related to each other but each has pride in their own language, culture and abilities and no desire to be ruled by someone else. While a colony, Great Britain kept the groups in line by having a large enough military they could put down uprisings. They also would often use minority groups to keep the larger ethnic groups in line as well. While mostly effective with England in charge, these policies could also serve to instill desire for independence among the minorities and create feelings of hostility and resentment among the larger groups put under control of a minority. But apparently as a matter of convenience for Britain and the western powers, the borders of Burma were drawn including many minority groups that had their own aspirations for independence prior to World War II. Like it or not though, they were part of Burma.

So Burma was granted independence from England in January of 1948. By 1949, the Karen were already revolting against Burmese rule and that struggle continues today. Sadly for the Karen, they have suffered many losses. When we lived in Mae Sariang, we could often hear the rumble of heavy guns as the Karen and Burmese fought. At other times, we could even hear the rat-a-tat of machine gun fire when out visiting villages and we visited market towns that were there one day and burned down the next.

Karen villagers in eastern Burma were seen as “the enemy” for Burma. Sometimes the central government would want Karen land for some development scheme that would give the land to Burmese people or businesses. There was also the “4 cuts” policy begun in the 1960s.  The 4 cuts aimed to cut off all food, funds, information and people from the Karen. Remote mountain villages would be attacked, destroyed, crop fields burned, and people used for forced labor. People might be randomly shot working fields, rape was used as a weapon. Villagers were used as human mine sweepers sent out ahead of the army so the Burma soldiers wouldn’t step on a land mine. Any kind of horrific act could be committed with the villagers having no recourse.

So as the Burma army would approach an area, the people would run. The army would come from the west so the people ran to the east, toward Thailand. As they ran out of room to run within Burma, they would cross the Moei or Salween Rivers and come into Thailand as refugees.

Refugee camps began to be established in the 1980s and remain today.  After the uprisings in Burma in 1988, some from Burma were allowed asylum in the US and a few Burma related communities got established in the US. In 2005 however, the refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border were able to participate in the US government’s refugee resettlement program. Since then, the number of refugees  from Burma is approaching 190,000 and communities of Karen and others from Burma can be found all across the US.

Many of the Karen refugees coming to the US are Christians, very much aware of their Baptist heritage. Most spoke little to no English when they first arrived but some in the community might know enough to figure out where the local Baptist church was located and what time the service started.  In some cases, 30 – 50 Karen might show up one Sunday morning at a Baptist church and join the service. They would often join in singing the songs and hymns (but just not in English). With the arrival of these newcomers, some (though sadly not all) US churches were happy to receive them and found their congregation was energized and had new purpose.

It is amazing to me how the mission work among the Karen has come full circle.  There are Karen churches now all across the US with many participating in Baptist denominations. Karen that came to the US as kids have now found ways to get a college education and are contributing to their communities, their churches and to missions around the world.  Marcia and I are honored to have been able to participate in this movement of God and His people.