Asian American Christian History Institute of Fuller Theological Seminary

In episode 7, we dive into the powerful and multi-layered responses of Burmese Christian communities navigating Myanmar’s ongoing political crisis. From the front lines of the pro-democracy movement to diaspora churches in the United States, faith has become both a shield and a catalyst for action. David Moe and Joe Cheah illuminate how both Protestants and Catholics are engaging in diverse forms of resistance.
Visit:
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/07-faith-under-fire?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Beyond the Golden Pagoda: Faith, Identity, and the Burmese American Journey
Episode 6 of the Burma Diaspora Christianity Project podcast series, brought to you by an APARRI Working Grant and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
➡️ 350,000 Burmese immigrants now call America home.
But what does it actually look like to rebuild a faith community in a new country-across language barriers, generational divides, and tribal differences?
➡️ A church within a church.
For Burmese Catholics, adaptation has meant forming tight-knit ethnic ministries within existing parishes-sustained largely by lay leadership and anchored in devotional practices like the Rosary that traveled with them from Myanmar.
For Protestants, it's looked different: new congregations, bilingual worship, and churches that serve as cultural centers as much as spiritual ones.
➡️ The hardest challenge...It's not language-it's unity.
When Burmese Protestant communities arrive, they often worship together across ethnic lines
—until they don't. Church splits among Chin, Karen, and Kachin communities tend to happen not over doctrine, but over tribe.
Dr. David Moe points to Jesus' last prayer—not just his last commission-as the call these communities still need to answer.
👉 Go to https://fulleraachi.substack.com/p/06-beyond-the-golden-pagoda?r=22nhbn

Episode 5 of the Burma Diaspora Christianity Project podcast series, brought to you by an APARRI Working Grant and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
➡️ The Burmese American community didn't arrive all at once.
It came in three distinct waves-each shaped by a different kind of crisis, and each leaving a different kind of mark on the diaspora we see today.
➡️ Three waves, three stories.
🌊 The first wave: students and professionals fleeing political instability after Burma's 1962 military coup.
🌊 The second: activists and dissidents after the violent suppression of the 1988 uprising.
🌊 The third-and largest: ethnic minority
Christians, predominantly Karen, Chin, and Kachin, fleeing decades of civil war and religious persecution to rebuild their lives in cities like Indianapolis and Minneapolis.
More than refugees.
➡️ When the third wave arrived, they didn't just survive-they built.
Churches became cultural centers. Indiana's governor proclaimed July "Burmese Month." And a community that once had to hide its ethnic identity now has 40,000 Chin in Indianapolis alone.
👀 Dr. Joseph Cheah and Dr. David Moe reflect on what it means to finally be seen.
⏯️ Listen on PearlDive.net
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/05-waves-of-resilience?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

The Cross and the Crown: Adoniram Judson's Legacy in Myanmar: Exploring 19th-Century Missions and the Modern Burmese Christian Diaspora

Episode 4 of the Burma Diaspora Christianity Project podcast series, brought to you by an APARRI Working Grant and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

➡️ Adoniram Judson didn't plan to go to Burma.
But his "providentially accidental" arrival in 1813 would shape Burmese Christianity for the next 200 years-and leave a legacy that's still being wrestled with today.

➡️ A complicated legacy
Judson translated the Bible into Burmese, founded what became Yangon University, and helped unify the entire Baptist movement in America. He also viewed Buddhism as a false religion and arrived carrying assumptions shaped by colonialism.
👀 Dr. David Moe argues we need both-honest appreciation and honest critique.

➡️ Why it took root
Why did Christianity spread so rapidly among Karen, Chin, and Kachin communities but not the Bamar Buddhist majority? The answer lies in culture. Karen folklore spoke of a lost younger brother who would one day return with a book. When Judson arrived, they recognized him.
🕌 Culture, Dr. Moe says, paved the way for the gospel.

Visit PearlDive.net
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/04-the-cross-and-the-crown-adoniram?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Faith in the Golden Land: The Catholic Journey in Burma
500 years of Catholic faith in Burma-and most people have never heard the story.
From a small Portuguese enclave to a nationally rooted church: Catholicism arrived with Portuguese traders long before the British ever set foot there. The church survived monarchy, colonialism, world war, and military rule. The story of Catholicism in Burma is one of gradual, hard-won transformation.
Key moments: the shift from Portuguese patronage to papal authority in the 18th century, WWII martyrdom, and the forced departure of foreign missionaries after 1962 that paradoxically strengthened indigenous leadership.
A church that endured: Catholics make up just 1-2% of Burma's population. Yet in 2015, Pope Francis elevated Archbishop Charles Maung Bo as the country's first Cardinal. This remarkable milestone for a minority faith that has quietly shaped the nation's ethnic communities for centuries.
Episode 3 of the Burma Diaspora Christianity Project podcast series, brought to you by an APARRI Working Grant and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
Listen to "Faith in the Golden Land: The Catholic Journey in Burma" on PearlDive.net
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/03-faith-in-the-golden-land?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Pearl Dive continues our series on the Burma Christian Diaspora in the U.S. with this article by Dr. Joseph Cheah, who asks "How the 1948 Independence Reshaped Burma’s Catholic Frontier?"
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/faith-in-the-crosscurrents?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Episode 2 of the Burma Diaspora Christianity Project podcast series, brought to you by an APARRI Working Grant and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
Before Buddhism. Before Christianity.
Burma was alive with the Nat-powerful spirits woven into the land, the community, and everyday life. This episode asks: what really happened when the cross arrived?
Catholic missionaries absorbed folk traditions. Protestant missionaries condemned them. Neither fully succeeded.
Beneath the surface of Burmese Christianity — in its rituals, fears, and spiritual imagination — the ancient cosmology endured.
For Burmese diaspora Christians in America, this isn't just history.
It's identity. The spirit-filled worldview their ancestors carried didn't disappear at baptism — it shaped how they understand community, protection, and God.
Listen at https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/02-where-spirits-meet-the-cross?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Welcome to episode one of our series discussing the history of Burmese Christianity! This Pearl Dive episode, part of Fuller’s Burma Diaspora Christianity Project led by Dr. Joseph Cheah and Dr. David Moe, explores the intertwined histories of Catholic and Protestant missions in Burma/Myanmar within a predominantly Buddhist context. It traces early 16th-century Portuguese Catholic missions (Franciscans, Jesuits, Augustinians) centered around Syriam/Thanlyin and reliant on mercenaries and traders, then contrasts them with 19th-century Protestant efforts such as Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson, whose work benefited from British colonial protections but also linked Christianity to colonial rule.
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/01-christianity-in-the-land-of-pagodas?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Our Burma Christian Diaspora project starts today! First up, Rev. Florence Li’s article: “For over 70 years, the ethnic groups of Burma have endured one of the world's longest-standing civil wars, driven by a brutal military junta and a campaign of "Burmanization." In this article, Rev. Florence Li trace the history of the Burma diaspora—specifically the Karen, Chin, and Kachin peoples—from the 19th-century missionary work of Adoniram Judson to the modern-day resettlement of over 322,000 immigrants in the United States. She explore how faith serves as both a target of persecution and a cornerstone of community, examining the massive growth of ethnic Baptist conventions in states like Minnesota, Indiana, and New York. She also discuss the complex journey of refugees seeking religious freedom and the vital role of advocacy groups in supporting these new American communities.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/fulleraachi/p/faith-in-flight-the-resilience-of?r=22nhbn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

"If we only rely on one pocket of voices, we end up with an anemic discipleship." 📖 🌊

Part 2 of our deep dive with Daniel Mok and Dr. Scott Wall is LIVE! In the conclusion of this two-part series, we explore the unique "layers of experience" that shape Chinese Canadian young adults in the Greater Toronto Area.

In this episode, we discuss:
⚾️ How a 6-team league grew into a massive 1,500-person community anchor.

👨🏼‍🏫 The Theological Elders: A look at why Neo-Reformed voices like John Piper resonated so deeply with the 2nd generation.

🗣️ Multivocal Faith: The importance of drawing on diverse voices to strengthen the church’s witness today.

Scott’s insights on "identity negotiation" are a must-listen for anyone navigating faith in a multicultural world.

🎧 Catch the conclusion: https://fulleraachi.substack.com/p/part-2-softball-theology-and-the