Thursday, December 10, 2020

Indonesia thet phawkikna

English Sabbath School program

UNIVERSITAS ADVENT INDONESIA

SUNDAY, 09/27/2009 -07:24

UNAI's Church will have English Sabbath School Program. It will start on Saturday, 3 October 2009. We urge all English Major student to attend this program, and we would like also to invite faculty, staff and student to join this program. Last Sabbath, Dr. Baroi led sabbath school discussion and we felt God's blessing were poured among us and we also experiecned international fellowship because our class attended by God's people from different countries; Dr. Rontgen Bala from Bangladesh Union Mission, Ps. Suak Khaw Ngin, from Myanmar Union Mission, Mrs, Sumana Wickramarachi, Srilanka Union Mission, Ning Pei, student from mainland China, Dr. Dal Khan Mang, expatriate lecturer from Myanmar, and from Indonesia Mrs. R. Panjaitan, Mr. I. Heriyana, ivana Soputri, Daniel, etc.

Source: Data Ku (hilda09-hilda.blogspot.com)

Votaw, Heber Herbert (1881–1962)

By Thang Suan Suum, and Suak Khaw Ngin

Thang Suan Sum is a doctoral student at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, Cavite, Philippines.

Suak Khaw Ngin was born in Chin State, Myanmar; he has been a pastor, teacher, principal, departmental director, and a seminary professor. He holds a BA in Religion from the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary and a MA in Education from the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, Philippines. He was ordained to the ministry in 2003. Together with his wife, Pau Za Dim, a son and three daughters, he lives in Myaungmya.

Heber Herbert Votaw was an evangelistic pastor, writer, thinker, leader of the world church, and motivator of the young people.

Heber Herbert Votaw.

Photo courtesy of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Archieve.

Early Life

Heber Herbert Votaw was born on March 3, 1881, in West Mansfield, Ohio, United States of America.¹ His parents were Lewis Votaw and Angelina L. Curl. When he was born, his mother was a Seventh-day Adventist, but his father died before he heard of the Adventist truth. Heber converted to the Adventist faith in 1898 through his parents’ teaching and the influence of the church school. He was baptized by Elder E. J. VanHorn at Van Wert County, Ohio.²

Education and Marriage

Heber attended 6^th to 9^th grade at the church school in Battle Creek, Michigan, from 1893-1897 and then transferred to Mt. Vernon Academy to attend 10^th-12^th grade. He then attended George Washington University and received his bachelor of arts degree in 1920. He also received an education diploma.

After completing higher studies, Heber H. Votaw and Carolyn Harding (born October 21, 1879), daughter of Dr. and Mrs. George Tryon Harding from Mount Vernon, Ohio, were married in Marion, Ohio, on August 5, 1903. The couple did not have children.³

Ministry

From the early part of 1902-1903, Heber Herbert Votaw was a colporteur and did Bible work for a living in Ohio. He then became a tent master for M. C. Kirkendall and J. O. Miller in the autumn of 1904.⁴ Since the Votaws were a couple who hungered for lost souls,⁵ they soon left for India to serve the missionary work in Burma. Since October 2 was their last Sabbath in their native land, Votaw spoke at Elgin Church’s Sabbath evening program, and many of his friends listened to his last message before his departure. A financial contribution was collected for the Indian field, and they received $19.75 USD. A church sister who was a widow had also previously donated $25.00 USD, making a total fund collection of $44.75 USD.⁶

The Votaws left the New York dockyard for India via London on October 15, 1904, in the evening and sailed by the steamship, “Finland of the Red Star Line.” As the ship left the dockyard, many bitterly cried because they knew they might not see their loved ones again. God gave the Votaws peace of mind; they knew that they might not see their home again but were certain of God’s rule over all kingdoms of men from one side of the world to the other. The couple gave Bible studies on board the ship.⁷ In 1905, Votaw wrote a letter to W. A. Barlow about his first devotional meeting with one indigenous Santhal Indian.⁸

On January 14, 1905,⁹ the Votaws reached the city of Rangoon, Burma, and met the pioneering colporteur, H. B. Meyers, and U Maung Maung, the first Burmese believer.¹⁰ In 1906, after two full weeks of Bible instruction from Elder Votaw, he baptized “seven Burmese souls.”¹¹ In September 1907, James E. Shultz met the Votaws in Burma and helped them organize a Seventh-day Adventist church among the Burmese.¹²

Alfred H. Williams arrived in Rangoon to work for a British firm in 1906. Within a few months of his arrival, he came in contact with the pioneering missionaries, the Votaws. That led to Williams’s study of the Adventist faith, and, as a result, he was baptized in 1910. In the same year, Williams met and married Mabel Harcourt, another early Adventist convert who had studied with the Votaws.¹³ In 1909, under the Votaw’s leadership, there were over 50 Sabbath school members in Rangoon, the capital of Burma.¹⁴

In 1912, Elder Votaw extended the worship meeting hall to double its size and had electric ceiling fans installed.¹⁵ Under Elder Votaw’s leadership, the Rangoon English Church was attended by people from Chinese, Punjabi, Madrasi, and European backgrounds. The first Telegu convert to the Seventh-day Adventist faith was baptized then. Also, in 1913, a self-supporting mission station opened in the southern part of the Shan States.¹⁶ In Myaingalay, Burma’s mission president, Elder Votaw, baptized two Pwo Karens in the summer of 1914. The new believers stood firm and faithful in sharing the Adventist truth with their neighbors.¹⁷

On July 1, 1914, the Votaws left for the United States of America via Mumbai on furlough due to his health, which began declining during the winter of the previous year.¹⁸ Shortly after arriving, Elder Votaw served as an acting pastor in Columbus, Ohio. He served in that capacity for almost two years.¹⁹ Many church members were encouraged by listening to Elder Votaw’s recollections in the mission field.²⁰

In June 1915, after conducting a tent-effort meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Elder Votaw baptized a husband and wife.²¹ He then taught “Bible and Mission” at Washington Missionary College for two years. In 1917-1918, he assisted Dr. Harding in establishing the Harding Sanitarium. He served as Dr. Harding’s secretary from 1918-1921. Elder Votaw was appointed director of a federal prison from 1921-1925. He was appointed service manager for a sanitarium in Washington, D.C., from 1925-1926.²² In 1926, Elder Votaw was appointed associate secretary of the department of religious liberty of the General Conference, and, while in that position, he conducted various weeks of prayer at several places, one of which was Southern Junior College in Collegedale, Tennessee.²³

Later Life

In 1947, Elder Votaw was the secretary of the church’s international religious liberty association of the General Conference.²⁴ At the same time, he was the editor of “Liberty Magazine.”²⁵

On October 22, 1951, his wife, Carolyn Votaw, suddenly passed away in Washington, D.C.²⁶ She supported her husband’s ministry in every way possible. While editing “Liberty Magazine” (1942-1954), Elder Votaw was a coeditor of the book, “American State Papers and Related Documents on Freedom in Religion,” and authored “Your Freedom and Mine.”²⁷

The Votaws lived at 7633 Caroll Avenue in Takoma Park, Maryland.²⁸ Elder Heber Herbert Votaw passed away on October 7, 1962, at age 81, in Washington Sanitarium in the District of Columbia.²⁹

Legacy

Though his health did not allow Elder Heber Herbert Votaw to spend his later years in Burma, the Votaws committed their entire lives to the Lord’s work. Elder Votaw will be remembered as the first president of the mission field in Burma. He left innumerable blessings in a way that the people of Burma came to know the Adventist truth through him. The blueprint of his work ethic is still seen today as he built the bridge of relationships with the country’s governing body.

Sources

2^nd Mission Quarterly, April 19, 1941.

Guild, C. B. Southern Asia Tidings. June 1965.

Guild, Nora, editor. Southern Asia Tidings. May 1, 1974.

Hagmann, Olive Krum. Columbia Union Visitor. June 17, 1915.

Kohn, Diana. “Takoma Archives.” Historic Takoma. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.historictakoma.org/voice/WhiteHouse0206.pdf.

Lawrence, N. W., editor. The Welcome Visitor. June 8, 1904.

Little, J. C., editor. Eastern Tidings. April 1, 1906.

Little, J. C., editor. Eastern Tidings. September 18, 1907.

Loewen, M. E. Review and Herald. October 18, 1962.

Ludington, D. C. Southern Tidings. December 15, 1937.

Personal Appointee File. Accessed September 24, 2019. General Conference Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

Salisbury, H. R. Eastern Tidings. July 15, 1914.

Samraj, E. “1910 Heritage Issues.” Southern Asia Tidings. November-December 2010.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1966.

Shultz, James E. and Bessie E. Russell, editor. The Welcome Visitor. October 12, 1904.

Shultz, James E. and Bessie E. Russell, editor. The Welcome Visitor. November 16, 1904.

Shultz, James E. and Bessie E. Russell, editor. The Welcome Visitor. February 15, 1905.

Shultz, James E. and Bessie E. Russell, editor. The Welcome Visitor. February 22, 1905.

Slades, E. K. Columbia Union Visitor. December 16, 1914.

Smouse, A. R. Northern Union Outlook. March 18, 1947.

Votaw, Heber Herbert. “Superintendent’s Bi-annual Report.” January 15, 1913.

White, J. Ina. Eastern Tidings. November 15, 1951.

Williams, A. H. Eastern Tidings. May 1914.

Notes

E. Samraj, “1910 Heritage Issues,” Southern Asia Tidings, November-December 2010, 25.↩
Personal Appointee File, accessed September 24, 2019, General Conference Archives, Silver Spring. Maryland, USA.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩
N. W. Lawrence, ed., The Welcome Visitor, June 8, 1904, 4.↩
James E. Shultz, Bessie E. Russel, ed., The Welcome Visitor, October 12, 1904, 2.↩
James E. Shultz, Bessie E. Russel, ed., The Welcome Visitor, November 16, 1904, 2.↩
James E. Shultz, Bessie E. Russel, ed., The Welcome Visitor, February 15, 1905.↩
Personal Appointee File, accessed September 24, 2019, General Conference Archives.↩
James E. Shultz, Bessie E. Russel, ed., The Welcome Visitor, February 22, 1905, 1.↩
J. C. Little, ed., Eastern Tidings, April 1, 1906, 5.↩
J. C. Little, ed., Eastern Tidings, September 18, 1907, 1.↩
Nora Guild, ed., Southern Asia Tidings, May 1, 1974, 5.↩
2^nd Mission Quarterly, April 19, 1941, 3.↩
C. B. Guild, Southern Asia Tidings, June 1965, 5.↩
Heber Herbert Votaw, “Superintendent’s Bi-annual Report,” January 15, 1913.↩
A. H. Williams, Eastern Tidings, May 1914, 7.↩
H. R. Salisbury, Eastern Tidings, July 15, 1914, 8.↩
Personal Appointee File, accessed September 24, 2019, General Conference Archives.; and E. K. Slades, Columbia Union Visitor, December 16, 1914, 4.↩
Personal Appointee File, accessed September 24, 2019, General Conference Archives.↩
Olive Krum Hagmann, Columbia Union Visitor, June 17, 1915, 4.↩
Personal Appointee File, accessed September 24, 2019, General Conference Archives.↩
D. C. Ludington, Southern Tidings, December 15, 1937, 8.↩
A. R. Smouse, Northern Union Outlook, March 18, 1947, 3.↩
M. E. Loewen, Review and Herald, October 18, 1962, 28.↩
J. Ina White, Eastern Tidings, November 15, 1951, 8.↩
Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1966), 1384.↩
Diana Kohn, “Takoma Archives,” Historic Takoma, accessed September 25, 2019, https://www.historictakoma.org/voice/WhiteHouse0206.pdf.↩
Loewen, 28.↩

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Yangon Adventist Mission

By Suak Khaw Ngin

The Yangon Adventist Mission was established in 1977 as Yangon Attached District. It was renamed to its current name in 2017. The Yangon Adventist Mission is part of the Myanmar Union Mission in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division. The territory is comprised of the Yangon Region, the southwest portion of Bago Region, and the Rakhine States. The headquarters is in Dagon Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar.¹

Statistics for June 30, 2018, indicate that there were 38 churches, 12 ordained ministers, and 5,560 members out of a general population of 12,004,502.²

Origin of Seventh-day Adventist Work

Herbert B. Meyers, who had become a Seventh-day Adventist in Calcutta, India,³ and A. G. Watson arrived in Yangon selling literature in 1902. They rented a house at 110 Brooklyn Street in East Yangon and immediately started selling religious books in the downtown streets. Meyers’s wife opened a school with 18 students. In 1904, Maung Maung went to Calcutta, India, and requested the assistance of a missionary for that area. The church responded to his request by sending H. H. Votaw and L. F. Hansen in 1905.⁴ A house called “Grennan Slopes” in Insein, about nine miles from Yangon, was rented.⁵

The first Seventh-day Adventist Church (now Yangon Central Church) was organized in 1907 with 23 members.⁶ Yangon has long been a multi-racial city with a Chinese and Indian mixed population. Early in the 1920s, work among the Telegu Indians was started by Andrews Stephen. The Telegu-Indian Church was organized on a Sabbath, December 23, 1922, with 15 members.⁷

The church bought a portion of land on the corner of U Wisara (formerly Voyle) Road and Mawkwunhtaik (formerly Steward) Road in 1928 and built an office and residential three-story building, headquarters of the Myanmar Union Mission, and a beautiful church for the Yangon congregation on the same portion of land.⁸ In the early years of Yangon Seventh-day Adventist Church, people called it the Yangon English Church. From 1924-1927, R. H. Hubley served as Yangon’s church pastor and initiated and opened an English primary school in Yangon.

Church pastors for the Yangon English Church were J. M. Comer (1911-1912); George A. Hamilton (1912-1922, 1937); Isaac Counsell (1920-1923); R. A. Hubley (1924-1927); G. W. Pettit (1927-1932); and W. W. Christensen (1932-1942).⁹ At that time, membership of the Yangon English Church was comprised of about 60 English-speakers and 25 native language-speakers.¹⁰ World War II began, and all church functions and services were stopped. When the war ended in 1945, the church’s functions and services started again.

Before the war, the Yangon English Church was attended by white people. Members from Karen and Myanmar worshipped in one office room following the main English church service. At the time, there was no pastor for Myanmar believers. Some Myanmar church members were Mr. Dick and his wife, Daw Saw Mya, Hla Pe, Saw Bwa, Tun Maung, Pein Kyi, Daw Mu Seik, Daw Sein, Lonsdale, and D. G. Robert.¹¹

In 1977, Yangon Attached District was organized, and Khin Maung Nyein became the first district administrator. The newly-formed district was started with five churches and 764 members.¹² In 2013, Yangon Attached District was extended to include Rakhine State. In this year, there were 37 churches with 6,224 members.¹³

Organization Challenges

Due to Myanmar’s urbanization, Yangon, its most populated mega city, accommodates over 4.7 million people at the present time. Over 12% of the country’s total population of 51.4 million lives in the Yangon area.¹⁴ It is also estimated that, by 2020, the population in Greater Yangon will reach over seven million.

Migrant workers, the local elite, and the wealthy moved to Yangon due to its business and work environment. The potential of business expansion, access to the international educational institute, INGO and NGO work availability, and modern setup of the city attracted the people. The churches in the Yangon area obtained sufficient membership and need to open other churches. The SDA Church needs to plant more churches throughout the city that can be easily accessed by people who live in the city. The offering, tithe, and other assistances are being increased. The members of Yangon Attached District moved to become mission level in 2017. The Southern Asia Pacific Division evaluated the application at the Yangon Attached District office on May 4, 2017.¹⁵

Yangon Attached District to Mission Status

The Southern Asia-Pacific Division conference/mission status survey commission carefully examined the qualifications of Yangon Attached District to become a mission during the meeting of August 3-4, 2017. As voted in the Myanmar Union Mission Executive Committee in 2017 (Action No. 2017-320), Yangon Attached District became Yangon Adventist Mission.¹⁶ The blessed celebration of the Yangon Adventist Mission was held during December 15-16, 2017. Division President Saw Samuel officially inaugurated it.

The first Yangon Adventist Mission officers were President Maung Maung Htay; Executive Secretary Khin Maung Yin; and Treasurer Nang Do Dal. The new departmental directors were Saung Wai Wai and Maung Maung Myo Chan.¹⁷

List of Administrators

Yangon Attached District Leaders: Khin Maung Nyein (1977-1979); Hla Chit (1980-1983); Tember Chit (1984-1990); Samuel Po (1991-1992); Kyaw Sein Pe (1993-1995); Tember Chit (1996); Kenneth H Suanzanang (1997-2002); Samuel Po (2003-2004); Sunny Htain (2005); Maung Maung Htay (2006-2010); and Saw Keh (2011-2015).

Yangon Adventist Mission President: Maung Maung Htay (2016- ).

Sources

Fernandez, G. G, ed. Light Dawns Over Asia. Silang, Cavite: AIIAS, 1990.

Kotz, E. “Our Work in Burma.” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, April 23, 1931.

“Myanmar: Union of Myanmar-Burma.” April 16, 2019. Accessed May 21, 2019. https://www.citypopulation.de/Myanmar-Cities.html.

One Hundred and Twentieth Meeting, General Conference Committee, General Conference Archives, April 13, 1910. Images 1893-1993: The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Asia. Oriental Watchman Publishing House, 1993.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1966.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1978, 2013. Accessed May 21, 2019. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 2019.

Southern Asia Pacific Division Committee Minutes, Action No. 2017 – 107. Southern Asia Pacific Division Archives.

Wilson, J. O. Advent Angels in Burma. Published by friends of Burma, n.d.

“Yangon Attached District.” Denominational Employees by Division 2016 Table 26, 2018 Annual Statistical Report. Accessed May 21, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR2018.pdf.

Yangon Attached District. Mission Status Proposal. May 4, 2017. Yangon Adventist Mission Archives.

Yee, Pe. The Story of Seventh-day Adventists in Myanmar. Yangon: Kinsaung Publishing House, n.d.