Kachin Baptist Convention

Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) is a Myanmar Baptist denominational body whose members practice the Baptist faith. It is an evangelical organization based on holistic missions. Its headquarters are in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar. It has 15 associations and over 300 churches, and is still growing [Reference: 6]. Most of the members in KBC are Kachin, but some are not. Some believers within KBC are the fruits of labor from mission works to other tribes and races. According to 2000 census, KBC had 141,952 baptized members and 153,913 non-baptized members, and 400,000 baptized and non-baptized members in 2010 [Ref. 7]. It has 449 ordained ministers and 790 un-ordained ministers.

In 1813 Adoniram Judson arrived in Rangoon as the first missionary ever sent overseas by the Christians of North America. He set sail as a Congregationalist but while he was in India the English Baptists persuaded him and his wife to become Baptists. He labored in southern Burma for 38 years.

After seven years a person was converted to his religion. He translated the Scriptures into Burmese and traveled as far north as Mandalay, where he presented the Scriptures to the King of Burma, who refused to give him an audience. He was imprisoned in Mandalay on the site—Aungbinlae—where this Centennial Celebration of Kachin Literacy was being held.

But no missionaries targeted the Kachin people until 1877. The first Kachin converts were baptized in 1882. Eight years later, Ola and Minnie Hanson arrived. Though the Hansons did not grow up at Bethlehem they became members during Ola's seminary years. He was ordained to the gospel ministry at Bethlehem and, with his wife, was commissioned by Bethlehem in 1890.

When the early missionaries approached the King of Burma to ask permission to teach the Kachin, the king laughed and pointed to his dog and said that they would have more success teaching his dog than teaching the Kachins. They were the wild men of Burma, illiterate animists, who sacrificed cows and chickens to appease the spirits.

Rev. Kincaid, an American missionary in Pyay (lower Myanmar), went up to the Kachin land (upper Myanmar) in 1837 and met Kachin people in Bhamaw and Mogaung regions. He wrote a letter to the American Baptist mission society to send the missionary to Kachin Land.

In 1878, Rev. J. Lyon and his wife first came to Bhamaw as missionaries, but Lyon contracted malaria within a week, and died within a month. Rev. Roberts came to Bhamaw in 1878, and started opening the mission work among the Kachin people. Rev. Dr. Ola Hanson came to Bhamaw in 1890. He preached the gospel to the Kachin people, created Kachin writings, and translated the Bible into Kachin. He handed the Bible to the Kachin people in 1927, in the time of Golden Jubilee celebration of mission work.

...
Wikipedia