The Zomi Theological College (ZTC) in Chin State, Mynamar, has put together an ambitious 100-year community development plan. Agriculturally focused, the plan seeks to address the three 'sins' of shifting cultivation, undisciplined livestock rearing, and deforestation.

In a country dependent on agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, the aim is to arrest the slash and burn method that destroys forests and makes the soil barren after years of use. The ultimate goal is to enable the communities to attain full economic independence by the year 2100.

Planned over four phases, the current phase is to ensure full education and awareness by 2020. Other phases will aim to improve agricultural methods and production by 2060, and increase sales and export beginning in 2080. By 2100, the end of the final phase, there will be a centennial celebration to mark the new "Land of abundance", which it is hoped Myanmar will be by then.

Do Sian Thang, principal of the 120-student institution which was formed in 1953, said the students are convinced of the need for the programme as most are from an agricultural background.

The graduates, trained to become pastors, also become community leaders, Thang said. Currently, the college has an integrated farming project just five miles from the campus.

Thang calls it "theological education in the classroom and theological education in practice", adding that the aim was to produce people for church ministry and Christian service.

Thang, who is on an extended trip to the United States, visited the offices of the Baptist World Alliance and shared his vision with staff. A special guest of Judson College in Elgin, Illinois, the man who has been associated with ZTC since 1981 believes that the initiative will spread to the Chin people, and will revolutionise their approach to agriculture and livestock rearing, as well as enhance their understanding of ecology.

Ruled by a military dictatorship since the early 1960s, Myanmar, which had its name changed from Burma in 1989, has a population of more than 50 million and is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia.

Largely Buddhist, only six per cent of the population is Christian, but the Myanmar Baptist Convention (MBC) is one of the fastest growing in the world, moving from a membership of approximately 500,000 in 1995 to more than one million in 2005. With 132 ethnic groups in the country, Baptist concentration is mainly among the Chin, Kachin and the Karen peoples.

The Zomi Theological College, which is affiliated to the regional Zomi Baptist Convention (ZBC) and the national MBC, has a relationship with the Myanmar Institute of Theology, the leading Christian seminary in the country which serves several ethnic and other denominational groups. Baptists in Chin State, the location of the ZTC, stand at an estimated 100,000 baptised believers and a total community of 200,000. There are approximately 1,000 local churches in 25 associations that make up the ZBC.

With its goal of 'Food always in the Home' (FAITH), the college hopes to have both a spiritual and economic impact on the country.

[Source: BWA]