In an effort to empower compassion-driven community outreach initiatives and bolster the church-planting movement among the thousands of refugees from Myanmar (Burma) in the Northeastern Conference (NEC), the North American Division (NAD) Myanmar Adventist Ministries recently organized its annual NAD Myanmar Adventist Convention. Held under the theme, “Fill with the Holy Spirit,” the convention took place from July 31 to August 4 at NEC’s Camp Victory Lake in Hyde Park, New York, United States.

Led by Aung Latt, NAD Myanmar Adventist Council/Ministries president, who drove over 1,000 miles from Jacksonville, Florida, to attend the convention, church members, volunteer lay pastors, and pastors from across the NAD came together for prayer, Bible reading, worship, reflection, fellowship, learning, and capacity-building initiatives, all with the goal of Total Member Involvement (TMI). Notably, all NAD Myanmar Adventist Council/Ministries ministry leaders are volunteers who receive no salary for their services.

Over the past several years, a large number of refugees from Myanmar (also known as Burma) have come to the United States. According to the Burmese-American Community Institute, more than 195,000 Burmese refugees have been admitted to the U.S. since 1990. Many make their home in Minnesota and Indiana, and several thousand live in New York. The Karen people are one of many ethnic groups in Myanmar, and the Atlantic Union has five Karen-speaking congregations in upstate New York.

The convention featured morning and evening devotions led by John Kitevski from Melbourne, Australia, Lalrammawia Vuite from the Ontario Conference, Samuel Ngala from the Indiana Conference, and Orathai Chureson, General Conference Children’s Ministries director. Pierre Omeler, General Conference vice president, delivered the Sabbath sermon, inspiring the audience with a call to koinonia—fellowship and communion with God and one another through Christ’s work and the Holy Spirit’s leading. He also dedicated all believers, lay leaders, and pastors to serve as workers for the Lord in the North American Division, including outreach to people from the 10/40 Window. The convention’s highlight was witnessing three individuals’ baptisms on Sabbath morning.

One of the key contributors to the convention’s success was Suphan Kanchanasingkhonkun, a NEC pastor who previously served as a full-time pastor in Thailand before moving to the United States. For the past 15 years, he has served in the NEC territory, initially as a volunteer pastor with ASAP Ministries and, more recently, as a part-time pastor of the Albany Karen mission in Albany, New York. He has also overseen a Karen church plant in Hartford, Connecticut, for the past two years. With support from other Karen and Myanmar-speaking Adventists in New York, the Albany congregation played a significant role in hosting the convention.

As attendees returned to their homes, they carried with them the call to be part of an Adventist movement of church-planting missionaries, reaching out to refugees and immigrants from the 10/40 Window who now call the NAD home.

The original article was published on the Atlantic Union news site, Atlantic Union Gleaner.