SAN DIEGO, Calif. – At least 200 refugee families from at least seven nations in Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East were welcomed to Colina del Sol Park April 4 for Agape Myanmar Mission’s 10th annual Easter Community Outreach.
“The refugee families in our community came from different countries at different times,” Pastor Silas Thiang told Baptist Press. “Some of them have been here for two years, three years, five and even 10 years with limited resources and limited options. When we invite them to this kind of event, they are very happy. They feel God’s love and care, and most of all, they hear the Gospel.”
The refugees who attended this year’s Easter event included people from Burma (Myanmar), Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Syria and elsewhere, Thiang said.
The national attire they wore added to the multi-ethnic ambiance punctuated by attendees’ wide smiles even as they chatted with someone from an obviously different part of the globe.
Agape Myanmar Mission is a church that worships in Burmese. Started by Thiang in 2014, Sunday worship draws about 40 people, yet somehow they provided “a very beautiful and sunny day,” the pastor said, as well as fun, food, fellowship and games, gifts and the Gospel message.
“We had a wonderful time of fellowship with free pizza, lemonade, potato chips, hotdogs, popcorn, cotton candy, games and the bounce house,” Thiang said. “We were able to share the Gospel conversationally by using the Gospel wheel [evangelistic presentation.] With that, 22 people lifted up their hands to invite Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior after church members shared the Gospel with them.”
At the end of the day, 200 needy refugee families took home Easter care bags, each stuffed with toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body soap, dish soap, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, toys for kids, an Easter egg and a Gospel tract.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to show God’s love – and ours – for refugees in San Diego,” the pastor said. “We do this to show our love for God by loving our neighbors, fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”
Agape Myanmar hosts three major events each year for refugees living in San Diego. In addition to Easter, there’s a back-to-school community outreach in August that includes backpacks stuffed with school supplies and toiletries. In December there is to be another fun-filled Southern California Christmas community outreach.
The church of 40 people doesn’t limit its ministries to San Diego. Already calendared for 2026 are six major projects overseas that rely heavily on outside donors.
Burmese Bibles: Since this project’s start in 2019, about 18,000 Bibles in the Burmese language have been sent to Myanmar. (Burmese is the main language in the nation once called Burma.)
In 2025 alone, 2,000 Bibles were distributed in Myanmar. Agape Myanmar Mission church wants to send 2,000 Burmese Bible again this year. Each one costs $10.
Water wells: The church this year wants to drill four water wells in the driest areas of Myanmar. “Providing water and water that is clean is the most needed, which will lead to living water for eternal life,” according to the project’s description on the website AgapeMyanmarMission.org. The cost per well is $1,800, Thiang said.
Train pastors: Since 2019, Agape Myanmar has trained and financially supported 900 pastors and church planters in Myanmar and nearby Thailand. The goal for a training class in July and a second class in November: 120 more, at a cost of $250 per person.
This includes four days of training, three nights of lodging, meals, books and training materials, Bibles for their mission fields, and a backpack with writing material inside.
Meeting physical, emotional and spiritual needs: People ousted from their homes because of Myanmar’s civil war that started with a coup in 2021 are staying at self-built displacement camps in Myanmar and along the border with Thailand.
The need is acute. More than 3.6 million people in Myanmar are in displacement camps, according to the United Nations. “While much of the world views Myanmar’s war as a distant internal conflict, Russia and China see it as a strategic battlefield,” according to an April 7 article posted by the Ukrainer.net news service.
Agape Myanmar Mission plans in late July to buy medical supplies, food, blankets and basic first aid kits in Thailand, where costs are lower, and take them to the camps, plus a Bible for each family, and Christian storybooks for their children. Cost to share with a family of four: $30.
Then in early December, the church plans to return to the displacement camps with Christmas cheer for 1,000 families, including distributing items listed above, for the same $30/family cost.
“Christmas is the best time to share the Gospel and giving,” Thiang said. “We will celebrate Christ coming into our world and will present the Gospel message of hope.”
Supplying physical needs with a side of Gospel opens doors, the Burmese pastor said. Training new pastors and church planters spreads Gospel seeds.
“Our vision is to plant a church in every Myanmar/Burmese community in the United States and in Southeast Asia where there are no believers nor churches,” Thiang said. “Agape is a Myanmar/Burmese refugee migrant church that has a big vision given to us by God, we believe. We depend on God and He provides what He knows we need to accomplish for Him.”
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