Stand with Myanmar

Stand with Myanmar

Sep 11, 2024
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Myanmar Sunday

Myanmar Sunday

A devotional by Kathy Thompson, from Croydon Hills Baptist Church and Director of Sharing Hope (an NGO supporting refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border) and Rev Moo Hei, a Karen refugee from Myanmar and Pastor of Croydon Hills Karen Baptist Fellowship.

caring for wIdows, orphans and foreigners

You don’t need to look far in the Old Testament to find references to justice and, specifically, how God brings justice to the oppressed and how God calls his people to do likewise. This justice is often summarised as caring for the “widows, orphans and foreigners” (Psalm 146:9, Isaiah 1:17).

Then in the New Testament Jesus continues this call and it is probably best summed up in Matthew 25: 31-40 where Jesus characterises the “righteousness” as those who care for people without food, who are a stranger or in prison and so on. In fact, the Hebrew concept of righteousness involved not just being a moral person but also someone who was hospitable, generous and compassionate.

More than an Abstract Concept

Many of us may not realise that we have “orphans, widows and foreigners” in our Australian Baptist family in the form of the large number of refugees from Myanmar who attend Baptist churches. There are 56 churches in Victoria with congregations consisting of refugees from Myanmar.

So often when we think of “the poor” or “the persecuted” it is an abstract concept of people far away and far removed from us. But Baptist refugees from Myanmar live in our suburbs, their children go to our local schools, and they attend our churches. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Their family and friends in Myanmar are, by extension, our family and friends.

Watch or download the Myanmar Sunday campaign video
Over 70 years of Civil War

Myanmar is a country that has been racked by civil war in many of its territories for over 70 years. Successive governments have sought to rule along ethnic lines resulting in ethnic minorities facing attacks by the Myanmar military and often outright ethnic cleansing. These minorities include the Chin, Karen and Kachin communities who make up a majority of the refugees from Myanmar in Australia.

The 2021 military coup in Myanmar brought about an escalation in aggression by the military. Villages throughout Myanmar are regularly attacked by air and on the ground as the military seeks to assert control. The UN now estimates there are 1,704,000 internally displaced people in Myanmar along with another 1,086,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in neighbouring countries. (1)

 Ecclesiastes 5: 8-9 (NLT) reads: 

“Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!” 

What can we do?

This could be written today about Myanmar. It is exactly the type of government from which our refugee brothers and sisters have had to flee. It is heartbreaking to think that people are still suffering at the hands of oppressive regimes a millennia after this passage was written. So what can we do in the face of such insurmountable problems?

Stand With Myanmar

The Stand with Myanmar campaign brings together national Baptist agencies, Baptist World Aid Australia (international aid and development) and Baptist Mission Australia (intercultural mission), to partner together with local Baptist churches throughout Australia.

The campaign will run from August 18 – September 15, 2024, with churches encouraged to host a Myanmar Sunday between these dates if possible and aims to help individuals, or church communities to:

Pray: pray for the people of Myanmar in their country and in the surrounding refugee camps. Pray for the refugee communities here in Australia and that Myanmar people will be welcomed. More prayers can be found on the Stand with Myanmar website.

Be an advocate: tell others about the situation in Myanmar and of the refugees from Myanmar in Australia

Write to your local Member of Parliament: Go to the Stand with Myanmar campaign website for a latter template

Give to Stand with Myanmar here: standwithmyanmar.com.au

As we do these things, we will, in the words of Jordan Pe, Karen refugee from Myanmar and Sharing Hope Director: “be closer to a world where every refugee has a safe place to live and is able to start anew, free from the threat of violence” 

Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Jordan’s vision come to fruition? We can be a part of the solution, in many small but significant ways, as each one of us prays, shares with a friend about the situation in Myanmar or provides financial support. These are our brothers and sisters. What is your response?

Questions to Ponder

Isaiah 1: 17 says, ‘Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.’

How does Isaiah 1: 17 apply to refugees from Myanmar? How are you, personally, going to help the oppressed from Myanmar?
What can we do as a church community to fight for the rights of refugees from Myanmar?


(1) Myanmar Emergency Update as of 6 March 2023, UNHCR Bureau for Asia and Pacific (RBAP)

Myanmar Map

Kathy Thompson attends Croydon Hills Baptist Church and is a Director of Sharing Hope (an NGO supporting refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border) 

Rev Moo Hei is a Karen refugee from Myanmar and Pastor of Croydon Hills Karen Baptist Fellowship

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