Tens of thousands of Kachin Baptists in military-ruled Burma have gathered to pray to God for five days in northern Kachin State, even as civil war seems imminent in the midst of growing political instability in the country.

Kachin Baptist followers and church leaders from Kachin State and from around the country and abroad are gathering in the Robert Memorial Kachin Baptist Church in Bhamo city for the March 27 to 31, 36th Quadrennial General Mass Meeting and Centennial Celebration of Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), said devotees.

Under the conference’s title, “God is victory”, over 30,000 followers are attending the conference. Emotions are running high, said eyewitnesses and church leaders of the conference - the hosts, the Bhamo Zonal Kachin Baptist Church.

During the five-day gathering, Kachin Baptist followers will choose new leaders and staff in a democratic manner for a four-year term for Kachin Baptist Convention’s office based in Myitkyina, says the written conference programme.

Unusually, the special worship service on the 100th anniversary of forming “Ninghtan Hpung (Solidarity Church in English)”, which was later renamed as Jinghpaw Wunpawng Hkalup Hpung Ginjaw (Kachin Baptist Convention in English) was held amidst emotionally charged scenes, the worshipers told KNG.

Looking back at Kachin Baptist history, American Baptist missionaries planted the seed of the Baptist faith in Kachin communities during the British colonial period in Burma from 1885 to 1948.

Currently, there are over 400,000 Kachin Baptist followers under the KBC making it the majority of the Kachin population in Burma, according to the KBC.

Now, the KBC is in the mid-period of implementing the “50-year Holistic Mission” for its followers with 20 different departments under the KBC office since 1977 with the church’s policy of “separation of Church and State”.

The KBC youth leader Tang Gun said, KBC is not against the policy of any political organization but only for peace.

For the conference, the KBC had to request for permission from the junta authorities from the local to the Naypyitaw level, according to KBC’s sources.

This KBC conference is held every four years.

Significantly, Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum, former general secretary of KBC and Director of Shalom Foundation, the country-based peace NGO, helped in the 1994 ceasefire agreement between the Kachin Independence Organization and the ruling junta.