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Mizo Fellowship a vital congregation

By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

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“I dam em?” “How are you?” It’s a question the people of the Mizo Fellowship of the Baltimore-Washington Conference have been asking each other for the past nine years. Responding to the needs that arise with the answer to that question has created a vital, growing and unique church.

The Mizo people, who speak Mizo or Mizo tawng, come from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and the Mizoram state of India.

When the 14 members began meeting at Ager Road UMC in Hyattsville, most of them were asylees, who had fl ed the threat of human rights violations in their homeland.

For many years, Myanmar was reviled for welldocumented incidents of ethnic cleansing, genocide, the use of child soldiers, human traffi cking and a lack of freedom of speech.

The Ager Road group searched for a leader and found the Rev. Biak Chhunga, who was ordained in the Methodist Church in Burma, and who was working on his second doctoral degree, in systematic theology, at Duquesne University.

He agreed to assist them, driving every weekend from Pittsburg to D.C. to attend to the needs of the new faith community.

“They kind of persisted to ask me to lead here, and eventually I felt that, well, if I could be an instrument to help one person to grow in the grace of God, that would be worthwhile for me,” he said.

Th e Baltimore-Washington Conference agreed, giving the group a $10,000 grant for three years and consecrating them at the 2004 annual conference as a fellowship.

Chhunga then moved to the D.C. area. Over the years, the fellowship grew. Th ey now meet at Faith UMC in Rockville and have 170 members. Recently, even though they are still a conference “mission church,” the fellowship members started a satellite fellowship for Mizo people in Moorefi eld, W.Va., which has grown to about 20 people. Th e new faith community meets at Duff ey Memorial UMC.

Serving as pastor of a fellowship of immigrants, Chhunga’s ministry extends far beyond the church on Sunday morning. He often assists people in finding employment, translating at hospitals and in the court assisting people as they make sense of American culture.

The Sunday afternoon worship service is in Mizo, although Chhunga will translate for visitors who speak only English. The prayers of the church are lively and loud, but the highlight is often the music.

There is an old saying from a missionary in India, said Chhunga, which goes something like this: “As long as the Mizo people keep loving to sing, the singing of gospel songs will never die.”

Chhunga testifies to this love of music. Each week, 30 to 40 young adults meet in his basement for choir rehearsal. “They are wonderful,” he said.

Chhunga is a third generation Christian. His grandfather, he said, was an animist.

“Until the 1900s our people were uncivilized,” he said.

“They lived in the secluded mountainous area between Burma and India. They were known as headhunters.”

Presbyterian missionaries came to Mizoram in 1894. “There was a Great Awakening in the land and, within 60 years, all Mizos became Christians,” Chhunga said. Today, many people in the Mizo community hold strong, biblically based views about evil, salvation and the eschaton.

As a United Methodist, Chhunga also teaches them about grace, social action and creating God’s heaven on earth. The congregation has become very missionoriented, sending 10 percent of its funds to ministries in India, Thailand, Nepal, Burma and places across the globe.

Chhunga looks forward to a time when the church has a space of its own. Members are currently involved in fundraising efforts for their own facility.

Sometimes he looks at the events in Myanmar as a lesson in hope. In recent years, human rights and quality of life conditions have improved greatly.

In May, Thein Sein became the first president of Myanmar to visit the White House in 47 years and President Barack Obama praised the nation’s efforts along the path to democracy.

This kind of hope may be a part of the Mizo spiritual character, Chhunga said.

In Mizo culture, there is a word that’s a bit untranslatable: “Tlawmngaihna.” It means an obligation of all people in a community to be hospitable, kind, unselfish and caring to others. It sparks service. It also can be a foundation for a fellowship of United Methodists committed to making disciples and transforming the world.