A New Light in the East

by Colin Macpherson, Langham Literature.

Myanmar is a hugely complex and needy country. There are millions of Christians but many of them lack any real exposure to what God says in the Bible, however the context is changing rapidly and significant opportunities for Christian publishing are opening up.

Aung Thet Nyunt and Joseph Rajan from Lighthouse Publishing House

In 2012, Langham Literature formed a partnership with a dynamic Burmese duo (pictured), and the outcome was Lighthouse Publishing House. Together, Aung Thet Nyunt and Joseph Rajan are passionate about publishing books that will accompany and explain the Bible’s teaching. Aung is well known as a prominent preacher and spokesman for the Christian church in Myanmar. Joseph is a printer to trade who now prints and distributes New Testaments; you can see them stacked up behind him in the picture. Aung says:

‘We are focused on providing pastors and preachers with the resources they need. If we reach them, we reach the whole church. So we have formed a literature network across the denominations. This is a lot of work because there are more than 90 different denominations in Myanmar!’

The first two books in partnership with Langham have just been released.  They are from the popular Bible Speaks Today series which Lighthouse plans to publish in its entirety over the coming years. They are The Message of The Cross (Derek Tidball), and the The Message of the Resurrection (Paul Beasley-Murray). The series is proving very popular, and not just with preachers, as Aung points out:

‘We love this series because the titles are so clear and helpful in preaching and devotional study.  The title on Job was translated in record time when the translator became so excited about the content that he just kept going!’

The Message of the Resurrection

Although things are changing fast in Myanmar, it still lies outside of the world ‘system’ in many respects.  For instance, its currency is restricted and it is not yet possible to send funds to a Burmese bank account.  This is a real inconvenience for Lighthouse, which requires external support for many titles. Together we had to arrange a new account in Thailand, and Joseph has to take a long trip to Bangkok to access funds.   Although Langham sent funding in good time, it had still not arrived four weeks later.  Joseph’s ticket to Thailand could not be extended any further so, in faith, he decided to make the trip anyway.  It was not until he was actually standing in the bank and discussing the issue that our transfer finally popped into the account!  We thank God for His timing and faithfulness, and for teaching us a little about trusting Him.