Aung Htoo                         Lamp Vol-2                       PDF

This essay is a personal-theological reflection on Christian leadership in Myanmar from my personal experiences in ministry. Leadership is, in this paper, pictured as a wheel that has three spokes, each of which has two poles. Each pole stands for a particular leadership characteristic. The two poles of the first spoke are given as obedience vs. creativity; second, faithfulness vs. truthfulness; and third, family vs. body structure. The problem with Christian leadership in Myanmar is that one pole in each spoke is tightly screwed at the cost of others, and this leads to polarization. The paper examines two fundamental reasons for these polarizations in the leadership wheel in Myanmar. The first is the polarizing way of thinking – either obedience or creativity, faithfulness or truthfulness, and family or body structure. This thinking has conditioned Christians to be stuck in choosing between obedience or creativity, faithfulness or truthfulness, and family or body structure. The second is cultural captivity. Christians came to be a part of the leadership culture in Myanmar by following the pattern of the society knowingly or unknowingly.

Keywords: Leadership, polarities and polarization, obedience, creativity, faithfulness or loyalty, truthfulness, family structure, nepotism, body administration, Myanmar

John Buchanan                Lamp Vol-2                  PDF

This paper reports on the design and implementation of and reflection on a mentoring course at the Myanmar Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (MEGST) in Yangon, Myanmar. An Alumni survey in 2016 identified the need for mentoring to be taught and practiced by MEGST. Because Christianity is an imitative faith and because we learn more from doing than simply listening, a practical mentoring course was developed whereby mentoring sessions were scheduled weekly. Faculty mentored Year 2 students and Year 3 students mentored Year 1 students. Research based on solicited student feedback and students’ reflective essays affirmed the value of mentoring to the individual students – both in terms of being mentored and doing the mentoring themselves. Among the themes identified from student feedback were experiential learning, genuine relationship and being heard. Although implementation of mentoring at MEGST has been challenging, students are learning important life skills as the MEGST college models mentoring and not just talks about it.

Keywords: Mentoring, discipleship, Bible College, Myanmar

Peter Thein Nyunt                          Lamp Vol-2               PDF

Mission is at the very heart of the gospel and the life of the Church. The actions of missionary God are manifested and take place in a specific context in which people live. Communication, on the other hand, always happens contextually and of course, mission cannot be understood without it as an indispensable part of God’s mission. Hence, if the church is on the move and its mission is to be effective, contextual communication is essential. If God is within the reach of all people, the Omnipresent; when sincerely searching for him, they will definitely find him even in Shwedagon Pagoda.

Aung Htoo                       Lamp Vol-2                PDF

This paper argues that the gospel is far more profound and richer than a mere guarantee of going to heaven when a person dies. Instead, the gospel is a story that reached a climax when Jesus Christ became human. Understanding the gospel in this biblical narrative unveils that the ultimate hope of the Christian faith is not heaven; rather, it is a new Jerusalem or new heaven and new earth where God will dwell among us. In Myanmar, presenting this gospel always triggers off a worldview clash because of radical differences between Buddhist and Christian worldviews. However, this paper points out that God does not leave humanity without a contextual link since human beings (regardless of religious differences) are divine image-bearers.

Keywords: The gospel, apologetics, worldview, Buddhism, dukkha, un-satisfactoriness, Christianity, Myanmar.