The Significance of James'

Abstract

"Roman Catholic missions began in Myanmar (formerly called Burma) in 1554, with Protestant Christianity coming in 1807. According to Myanmar church history, Christians began to divide into two groups following a revival that occurred in the 1970s. Some, mainly from the mainline churches, began to focus on social ministry at the expense of meeting the spiritual needs of the people, based on James 2:26 (NIV): “. . . so faith without works is dead.” As a result, non-believers have little opportunity to hear the gospel from those churches. On the other hand, the evangelical Christians emphasized being saved by faith alone, based on Romans 3:28 (NIV): “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law,” and are less concerned about “doing” Christian charity."