Despite becoming more vulnerable and disconnected following last week’s military takeover, the country’s Christian minority steps out in prayer and protest.
Evangelical pastors in Myanmar have taken to the streets alongside their Buddhist neighbors in the week since a military takeover, believing that God is on the people’s side and praying desperately for him to bring justice.
Amid nationwide internet and phone shutdowns, some churches gathering online due to the pandemic couldn’t connect to worship together last weekend, the first Sunday since the coup in the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma. Hundreds of displaced Christians have been physically blocked out of their towns due to travel restrictions and roadblocks.
Ministries are scrambling to adapt so they can keep encouraging one another and ensure evangelism efforts don’t let up during another dark chapter in their country’s history.
“Our friends and relatives are unreachable, but they will not succeed in suppressing our voices,” said Michael Koko Maung, who leads a national network of church planters.
“On the ground, our brothers and sisters [believers] will continue their movement of peaceful civil disobedience, the drumming of pots and pans, peaceful mass marching demonstrations, and the chants of condemnation to the military. Abroad, we will let the world know that we are fighting back.”
Pastors in his network, Nehemiah Ministries, shared masked selfies of themselves crowded onto overpasses and holding signs at intersections as mass protests continued for a third straight day on Monday.
The unrest began a week before, on February 1, when the military detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, cut off communication and news networks, and put a commander in charge of the country. The move harkened back to decades of military rule and Suu Kyi’s historic fight ...
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