Honoring history: Celebrating Kachin American Baptists at the Biennial
A Kachin worship group performs at the 2025 ABHMS Biennial Mission Summit. Photo by Michele Turek
Rev. Michele Turek
In May of 2018, the First Kachin Baptist Church of America (FKBCA) received the rights to Ola and Minnie Hanson’s gravesite in Oakland, Nebraska, an honor bestowed upon the church by the Hansons’ great niece after the church had already been maintaining the site for several years. It was the Hansons that first shared the Gospel with the Kachin people in Burma, beginning in 1890, and helped to create the Kachin written language.
In July of 2025, the American Baptist Churches USA Biennial Mission Summit was celebrated in Omaha, Nebraska, home of the FKBCA. On the final day of the conference when attendees start heading home, closing worship saw a sudden spike in attendance, many of them clothed in the traditional Kachin patterns and headdress. Small children ran to and fro followed by the tinkling of their metal chest pieces, while young women donned ornate head pieces and men carried faux n’htu, a traditional Kachin sword often accompanied with dance.
The local Kachin churches had been preparing for months to share a worship song and dance, thanking God for sending the Hansons to their homeland and passing on the Christian faith to their people. It was a beautiful marriage of their faith and culture, both present and strongly represented. This expression of worship is a shining example following a historic missionary encounter that preserved the richness of the people the missionary served, as opposed to the typical pattern of the time, ushering in more Western culture presented hand-in-hand with Western theology.
Following this incredible group of talented Kachin worshippers, the room erupted in proud cheers, welcoming to the stage Rev. Dr. Zau Sam Lahtaw, senior pastor of FKBCA and respected leader of the Kachin American Baptist Association. Dr. Lahtaw was the first Kachin leader, let alone from the entirety of the diverse Burma diaspora, to be invited as a keynote speaker at an ABCUSA Biennial Mission Summit.
How does one honor historical connection while finding a theological home within the ABCUSA? This is one of the current dilemmas of some Burma diaspora leaders.
The poetic moment, of course, is the full-circle story following a Swedish immigrant who spent more time in Kachin State than he did in Nebraska and his spiritual descendants now making their home in the plains state. The joy and honor that the Kachin people felt with Dr. Lahtaw’s speaking was made exponential in celebrating this historic relationship with the American Baptists. One hundred thirty-five years after the Gospel was first brought to their community, the Kachin people still feel a strong connection with their Baptist siblings.
However, this historic connection is not so simple as coming from Burma to the U.S. and plugging in to the ABCUSA.
Being Baptist in Burma meant one thing; there is only one kind of Baptist in Burma. When people began to arrive in the U.S. as immigrants, then more recently in larger groups of refugees, it was a culture shock to learn that there were many more options than just one kind of Baptist. Many of the earlier churches connected with the Southern Baptist Convention, especially because of the SBC’s ample resources to help them get settled in their new homes and provide scholarships to their seminarians. Some Burma diaspora leaders find themselves hesitant aligning themselves with the ABCUSA because of perceived theological differences.
Inheriting a faith from 1890, theology in Burma has evolved on its own, but its starting point was rooted in more traditional viewpoints. The American Baptists are not the Baptists many from Burma were expecting. Though today’s American Baptist polity leaves room for a diversity of theological convictions and scriptural interpretation, this openness is often misunderstood. My perception from conversations with Burma diaspora leaders is that this is a misunderstanding that is being taken advantage of by the SBC and causes strain between Burma diaspora generations.
How does one honor historical connection while finding a theological home within the ABCUSA? This is one of the current dilemmas of some Burma diaspora leaders and their rising generation of seminarians who mostly attend SBC seminaries. The answer is seen in the celebration of the Kachin people at the Biennial and other glimpses of significant partnership such as Central Seminary’s relationship with the Kachin community’s Ola Hanson Bible Institute. This is a modeled partnership that encourages the embracing of one’s God-given culture and ethnic identity. This is what the American Baptist family offers in all its unique shapes, edges, colors, and theologies. With the Kachin worship group and a stirring word from Dr. Lahtaw, the ABCUSA Biennial in Omaha, NE took a big step in honoring both the history and future of Kachin American Baptists and all other Burma diaspora ethnic groups.
Rev. Michele Turek is the national coordinator for Asian Ministries at the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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