In Tom's own words -

'In the summer of 1990 in the old sanctuary at Bethlehem after the 11 a.m. service, Julie saw a man and woman standing across the sanctuary. They were obviously from another country wearing their native dress. She pointed them out to me and so we went over and introduced ourselves to them.

Hken Naw and his wife, Tsin, from Myanmar were studying at Trinity Seminary in Illinois but came up to Minneapolis so that they could visit their mother church. I asked which church that was. And Hken's response was, "I am here!"

He then related to me the story of how in 1890 Bethlehem Baptist Church (known then as First Swedish Baptist Church) ordained and commissioned Ola and Minnie Hanson to work with the Kachin people of northern Burma. They lived among the Kachin for 37 years preaching, planting churches, and mostly translating the Scriptures.

When the Hansons arrived, the Kachins were 100 per cent illiterate. Hanson used the Roman script for writing the Kachin language (still used today) and began to translate the scriptures into Kachin.

In 1927 Ola Hanson presented the Old and New Testaments in the Kachin language to the Kachin Baptist Convention. Shortly after that they returned to the Twin Cities [Minneapolis and St Paul -Ed] where Ola soon died at Midway Hospital.

Since that time there has been a people movement to Christ and about 90% of the 600,000 Kachin people profess to be Christians. The Kachin Baptist Convention has grown to about 230,000 worshippers (152,000 baptized believers) making it the largest Christian group among the Kachins. Hken Naw told us that the esteem and appreciation for Ola Hanson is very profound and many consider him their spiritual father.'

Hken Naw invited Tom Steller to attend the Cenntennial Celebration of Kachin Literacy [Ola Hanson used the Roman script for , to be held in Mandalay, Myanmar, in December 1995, and to stay on for the Kachin Baptist Convention. About 3,000 Kachins were expected to attend, which would have been remarkable since this was the first convention held outside Kachin State. They were unprepared for the 30,000 Kachins who showed up, some coming from as far away as India, China and even Japan!

Some Missions History

In 1812 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 on the boat the Scriptures persuaded him to become a Baptist. He labored in southern Burma for 38 years.

It was seven years before he saw his first convert. 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 very site 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.

In the museum they wanted me to see the difference between what the Kachin were like before the missionaries came and what they are like now. First they showed me old photographs of the Kachins which depicted them as very wild. Then they pulled out of the entourage of people who were following me around the museum a young Kachin man and woman who apparently were actors and quite well known in Myanmar and representative of the modern Kachin. They insisted that I take a "before" and "after" picture.

The Lingering Affection for Ola and Minnie Hanson

....Before the meetings of the Centennial Celebration began I was brought around to meet as many people as possible. Groups would often form around me and at times I would stand for an hour where people would line up to have their picture taken with me.

Part of the reason for the interest was that I was a foreigner. I and about ten other foreigners were the first foreigners permitted to attend the Triennial Meeting of the Kachin Baptist Convention in thirty years. The Kachin State has been sealed off to foreigners for almost 30 years, which means that thousands of the people there under 30 years old may have never seen a white face in person before. But the main reason people wanted a picture was because I was a pastor from Ola Hanson's church.

I was introduced to several elderly people who had worked with the Hansons. And I talked with one woman who as a small child remembers being on her mother's back when Ola Hanson gave the completed Bible to the Kachins in 1927.

Meeting Key Leaders

....It was beautiful to see how the Gospel is transforming the Kachin culture. To become a Christian a Kachin must renounce his animist ways and must burn all his fetishes and anything that has to do with the worship of spirits which they call "nats".

But the Kachins are a living testimony that to renounce the demonic elements in a culture does not mean to obliterate their culture. The Kachin have a traditional dance called the Manau in which they dance for several hours telling a story as they dance. Now that they are Christian the story of Christ's victory is sung throughout the dance.

In addition to translating the Scriptures, Ola Hanson translated over 400 hymns from Swedish into Kachin. It has now become part of the Kachin Baptist culture to sing "Children of the Heavenly Father" to the old Swedish tune but using Kachin words. Hanson also wrote about 200 hymns that are true to the Kachin style and culture.

One of the nights of the Centennial Celebration the first Kachin orchestra gave a concert. It was a delightful mixture of classical music and traditional Kachin music. That night Gum Se addressed the people and admonished them to write music and stories and books. He declared that now that literacy has come to the Kachin they need to tell their story of God's redemption to the whole world.

A Final Greeting

...There is much work left to be done for the Kingdom of God. There are still unreached peoples in Myanmar and China and India and in America and in many places in the world.

In the footsteps of Ola Hanson and Zau Tu [one of the early Kachin evangelists] and by the power of the Holy Spirit we must continue to proclaim the glory and beauty and love and holiness of Jesus Christ until there are true worshipers from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You must work in partnership with the Burmese Christians and the Karen Christians to evangelize the Wa, the Palaung, the Arakhan and the other unreached peoples of Southeast Asia.

To God be the Glory. No glory to Ola Hanson. No glory to Bethlehem Baptist Church. No glory to the Kachin Baptist Convention. All glory to God alone! I love you. Thank you for inviting me to come.

See here for a map and discussion of Kachin State in Northern Burma, where ethnic Kachins form the majority population.