Mara Evangelical Church, or MEC in short, is one of the churches in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, formerly

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, founded by English missionaries Reverend and Mrs. Reginald Arthur Lorrain in the year 1907. It is one of the oldest churches in

Chin state Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Ma ...

, Myanmar. It was part of the unified Mara Church among the

Mara people The Mara are the native inhabitants of Mizoram in India, native to northeastern India, primarily in the Mara Autonomous District Council of the state of Mizoram, where they form the majority of the population. The Maras are related to Kuki and ...

until it had to become independent after

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and Myanmar attained independence from the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

in 1947. The Mara Church in India became the Evangelical Church of Maraland and Congregational Church of India, Maraland (CCI-M), while the one in Myanmar became MEC.

Headquarters

Mara Evangelical Church (MEC) has its headquarters at Lialaipi (Lailenpi) and Sabyhpi (Khihlo) in Chin State, Myanmar. It has its mission headquarters at

Sittwe Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers empt ...

, previously known as

Akyab Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emp ...

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Ben ...

. It also has an office in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, the largest and former capital city of Myanmar.

History

English missionaries Reverend and Mrs. Reginald Arthur Lorrain (brother of missionary

James Herbert Lorrain James Herbert Lorrain, or Pu Buanga, (6 February 1870 – 1 July 1944) was a Scottish Baptist missionary in northeast India, including Mizoram, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh. He and Frederick William Savidge reduced the Lushai language (a Co ...

) founded Lakher Pioneer Mission in London in 1905 to engage in mission work among the Mara people in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, which included modern-day Myanmar. Finally, the missionaries arrived at Saikao, a village in southern

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...

on September 26, 1907, and started spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ among the Mara people who inhabit today's

Saiha District Siaha District is one of the eleven districts of Mizoram state in India. The district is bounded on the northwest by Lunglei district, on the north and west by Lawngtlai District and on the south and east by Myanmar. The district occupies an ...

in Mizoram, India and the southwestern part of Chin state in Myanmar. The church grew rapidly. In 1960 the church became fully self-supporting. In Chin state, the area inhabited by the Mara people falls under three townships –

Thantlang Thantlang (, ; also Thlantlang or Htantlang in Burmese transliteration) is a town and the administrative center of Thantlang Township in Chin State, western Myanmar (formerly Burma). Names Thantlang was formerly known as Thlan Tlang ("Cemete ...

, Matupi and

Paletwa Paletwa (, ) is one of the westernmost towns of Myanmar, in Chin State 18 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh. Its population in 2014 was about 97,000. Demographics Rakhine is the Lingua Franca of the region, while Kuki-Chin languages a ...

. When India and Myanmar attained independence, Mara-inhabited areas were divided among the two nations. The church founded by the missionaries was also divided. Thus, the Mara Evangelical Church (MEC) was born in Myanmar, while the Evangelical Church of Maraland and its sister church Congregational Church of India, Maraland (CCI-M) were born in India. The Maras embrace Christianity today; 87% of Mara Christians are members of the Mara Evangelical Church.

Association/Membership/Affiliation

Mara Evangelical Church (MEC) is: * a member of Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) since 1985. * a member of

Christian Conference of Asia The Christian Conference of Asia is a regional ecumenical organisation representing 15 National Councils and over 100 denominations (churches) in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, ...

since 1989. * a member of

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

since 1993. * an associate member of

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

since 2001. * a member of

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

since 2010. As of 2004 the church had more than 17,200 members and almost 100 congregations in Myanmar in 2004. , according to its website, the church has 21,573 members, 87 congregations, and 9 preaching points with 27 pastorates. The denomination has a theological seminary and Private Mission middle school and Center of Maraland Education.

References

External links

* Church websit
Mara Evangelical Church Official website , Jesus Christ is the LORD
{{coord missing, Myanmar Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Churches in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Chin State Christianity in Asia