Yangon, Myanmar: Southeast Asia Field hosted the first-ever local Missionary Conference at City Golf Resort. The three-day conference was attended by 22 leaders from different areas of Myanmar, including the war-torn regions. This gathering hopes to explore new innovative strategies, outreaches, and local engagement in Myanmar. The goal of pioneering work in Southeast Asia is to pioneer, develop, and resource local, interdependent, and sustainable Nazarene churches.
The Church of the Nazarene’s missionary work is vital in spreading the gospel and establishing new churches worldwide. The Southeast Asia Field is actively involved in pioneering work with 238 million individuals from 569 different people groups dispersed across five countries. The majority of these people follow Buddhism, while some minorities are animists or Muslims, and only a small number are Christians. Despite several attempts to spread the gospel over the past two centuries, most of these populations have remained unreached owing to their deep-seated atheism.
The conference featured keynote speeches/lectures from SEA Field Strategy Coordinator Dong Hwan “Bill” Kwon, who shared his passionate spirit, experiences, and insights on effectively engaging in the new community as a pioneer. There is also an emphasis on what a pioneer is and how it differs from church planters. Methodology, finding pioneers, and steps to do pioneer work are also emphasized. Local missionaries Jessica, Roland, and Solomon, deployed by districts and fields, shared their practical experiences in their mission work.
“Because of this training, I learned the new way to share the gospel and reach out to other people from other areas”. – Steven
“Praise God! In this conference, I learned what the difference is between a church planter and a pioneer. I also learned the steps in starting a pioneer area and how it grows into a new district.” -Thein Than Win
The conference resulted in seeing the vision, mission, goals, and plan for the Church of the Nazarene in Myanmar, aiming for the district to born another one in the next five years.
This pioneer mission conference will have a follow-up workshop twice yearly starting in 2025.
