Myanmar’s economy is booming. International investor Jim Rogers says: ‘If you can find ways to invest in Myanmar, you will be very, very rich over the next 20, 30, 40 years.’ In 2012 the military government allowed foreign companies to have 100% ownership of the companies they start in the country.
The economic tide is rising fast. Everyone seems to have a mobile phone. Construction sites, modern hotels and shopping malls are everywhere in Yangon (Rangoon). The Myanmar Times is transitioning from a weekly to a daily edition. Tourists are now free to travel beyond the usual sites of Yangon, Pagan, Mandalay and the beautiful Inlay Lake. Luxury coaches ply the well tarmaced highways. Will the church in Myanmar be able to surf the wave?
Target for growth
In a country of 53 million, there are 1.5 million Baptists, 800,000 Roman Catholics and 67,000 Anglicans, which is about 5% of the population. Anglicans have set a target to grow to 100,000 by 2020. But their witness is constrained. Their involvement in education is limited to the provision of pre-schooling and calling on parishes and congregations to encourage as many as children as possible to go to school. The Holy Cross Theological College in Yangon graduated 15 seminarians at the end of the recent academic year. In Yangon there is a place known as Seminary Hill, as it boasts three Christian training institutions.
