A desire to see the young people in their congregation connecting with God in meaningful ways prompted Melbourne Immanuel Baptist Church, a Chin speaking church, to start a new youth service in the English language. (Chin is the language spoken in the Chin State of Myanmar – previously known as Burma.)

The evening service started in 2023 and it has seen much fruit, both in spiritual growth and in numbers attending.

Assistant Pastor Kham Bawi Cung said: “I want our kids and young people to know God and to be saved, but when we preached in our native language they didn’t understand very well, and I noticed they were getting bored and disconnected. I decided that it was more important to put our kids’ salvation first, even though we know it is also important to save our native languages. As Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing the good news about Christ, I think it is helpful if we preach in the languages that they understand well. After seeing the effect this service has had on the kids many people have supported us and wanted us to have more English services.”

“At first, people were unsure about this service because they were concerned that we still needed to support our kids to learn and speak our native languages, but this service has been a great encouragement to the young people in their faith and many new people have been coming,” said Bawi said the service has been a great encouragement to the young people. “How happy they are to praise and worship God in the English service. Many young people have joined us every English service.”