The Karen people number about 7 million, but if the
Burmese government had its way, there would be none.
The Karen (ka-REN) are the second most persecuted people group in the world. (The Sudanese rank first.) The military regime that rules Burma has been trying to eliminate them for nearly 50 years.
About 2 million of the Karen have escaped Burma, fleeing to neighboring countries in southeast Asia. About 700,000 of these refugees live in camps barely over the border in Thailand - so close that it's not uncommon for Burmese soldiers to lob mortars into the camps. The Thai government tolerates the refugees and is working to move the camps farther back from the border, but Thailand doesn't welcome the Karen with open arms.
Hunted by the Burmese and unwanted by the Thai, the Karen are trapped without a homeland. And in the midst of this struggle, where being a Christian can be a death sentence, the church of Christ is thriving.
About 30 percent of the Karen are Christian. The remaining 70 percent are Muslim or Buddhist.
More than 20 years ago, Vineyard Boise pastor Tri Robinson visited a Karen refugee camp and began a mentoring relationship with the Christians there. During the past two years, Vineyard Boise has become an active supporter of the Karen people and a Bible school they operate. Vineyard Boise missions director John Taylor said the church has given about $5,000 and sent six mission teams.
This ministry is vital, John says: "The support coming from us is the only support the Bible school has."
In February, John and six other Vineyard Boise members traveled to Thailand. Five team members - Inga Johnson, Mike Summers, Ron Braun and Brian and Suzie Lambrecht - taught English and Bible lessons to Thai Karen living in a village near Mae Sariang.
Animist children in attended the Bible classes, and in the evening they brought their animist parents. Normally the parents tell their children to avoid even talking to Christians. (Animists believe that all objects and natural phenomena - rocks, wind, trees - have souls.)
The group also established a good relationship with the village's Christian pastor, who had been reluctant to embrace previous mission teams.
While the rest of the group was teaching, John and children's pastor Bud Reberry set out to visit Mae Kah Kee, otherwise known as Refugee Camp No. 6, where most of Vineyard Boise's ministry has been based. After two days of negotiations, the Thai military finally granted permission for John and Bud to travel to the camp.
"We'd been told the camp had changed since we'd been there last," John said. He and Bud wanted to meet with leaders of the camp, church and Bible school to determine how those changes would affect Vineyard Boise's ministry there and learn how mission teams could better help the Karen.
John and Bud learned that the Thai government has put added restrictions on the refugees during the past two years: limiting how much bamboo they can use to build their huts, increasing the military and police forces that monitor the refugees, requiring special passes for foreigners who wish to enter the camps.
They also learned that three graduates of the Bible school will be returning to Burma to evangelize the Karen. Other graduates will be traveling to other refugee camps to pastor churches that currently have no leadership.
"We were excited about that - just seeing all the fruit coming out of the Bible school," John said.
Perhaps the most surprising discovery was that there's a
Vineyard in Bangkok - the capital of Thailand. "We didn't have a clue," John said.
The church was established by the Hong Kong Vineyard, which also has planted churches in Vietnam and Cambodia. The Bangkok Vineyard's pastor is
Sukhit Wangtechawat, whom John met during a 1985 mission trip.
The connection with Sukhit and the Bangkok Vineyard will help mission teams from Boise get around the restricted-access rules and gain government permission to enter the camps, John explained.
"Now that we've got a Vineyard in Bangkok, I'm just blown away. We can work through
Sukhit and have a ball," he said.
John and Bud also learned that another Christian worker they know, Sonny LeGardio in Bangkok, is bringing in Vineyard pastors to train Karen leaders in border camps south of Mae Kah Kee. By combining his efforts with Vineyard Boise trips, Sonny envisions training as many as 4,000 Karen pastors.
"We came away from the trip really jazzed," John said. "We heard and saw 10 times more than what we thought we would."
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