FACE-TO-FACE
The Story Behind the Burmese Christian Baptisms
Connections sat down with College Church member Emmanuel Tahear, a long-time activist for the immigrant and refugee church. Emmanuel is both a missionary and ministry associate for missions at College Church. As a missionary for 25 years, Emmanuel has a clearly defined mission when he meets people. “My mission is to reach out to them on Christ’s behalf,” explains Emmanuel. “Ever since I came here from Ethiopia, I have been working with different ethnic groups.” These groups have included Sudanese, Liberian and Arab immigrants. “In fact, I have been working with the Liberian church for ten years now,” Emmanuel recalls. When the Burmese church first began meeting at Compass Church (then Wheaton Evangelical Free Church), Emmanuel was involved, willing to preach or do discipleship training. He has also served the Vietnamese church in similar ways. As a ministry associate for missions at College Church, in pre-pandemic times, every Thurs-
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day morning, Emmanuel had a coffee/teatime for the refugees in the ESL classes held at church. “We did this to get to know them, and once a month, we had a table with Bibles in different languages to give away.” Emmanuel said. “We also had an international fellowship once a month. We would gather to worship, and I would bring a short message.” Emmanuel’s hope is that this would turn into an international church. About 11 years ago, Emmanuel met a group of Burmese believers at World Relief. They asked him for help. “They were meeting in a home for worship,” he pointed out. “Thirty of them, and I asked why they didn’t look for a place to meet? “At the time the Evangelical Free Church was one of my supporting churches, and I asked if the church could host them.” About two years into helping this small church, Emmanuel made a discovery, “I found out how many different tribes and languages exist in Burma. About 30 of them in the Chin
