Pastor David Mang Thang (Founder of Myanmar Harvest Churches Council)
A testimony of how I became a minister in the God's Kingdom Services
My Name is Pastor David Mang Thang. I was born in 1980 and raised in a 13-house small remote village (Ohn Village), Kanpetlet Township, Chin State in Myanmar. My father died when I was two years old, and I am one of seven siblings. I am the second-to-last child in my family behind my three brothers and three sisters. I currently serve as the organization's founder and chairman, Myanmar Harvest Churches Council (MHCC). I am a Senior Pastor of Yangon City Harvest Church, YCHC and the church's founder. I am also the founder of Harvest Theological Institute, H.T.I. My spouse, Pastor Ruth Shing Thang, and I have a 13-year-old son named Moses Thang Bet Mang and a 3-year-old daughter named Glory Awe Mang.
I was two years old when my father passed away! I was subsequently left with my widowed mother and seven siblings. After the death of my father, growing up in a jungle village with my mother and siblings presented significant challenges. Life was hard as there were health problems in the family. At that time, we were not yet Christians and my family was gravely affected by illness after illness. This resulted in the family losing rice supply and domestic animals. We were so poor that we had nothing to eat. The villagers thought that we were a family of curses, so much so that they did not even want to visit us.
The ability to read or write even one alphabet was beyond my widowed mother! In those days, academic education was not very prevalent in our village, and the villagers were not eager to send their children to school to be educated. However, to this day I am still puzzled why my mother decided to send us to school. There was no school in our village and, we had to travel 13 miles to another location to attend classes, via hills, mountains, and streams. My mother was so determined to send us to school that and she cleared the forest by herself to build roads. She then sent my youngest sister, who departed three years ago, and my brother, Pst John Kwee Thang, to school! In those days there was also no clinics or hospitals where we could seek medical attention. Furthermore, there were no free educational opportunities in my country because the military ruled it for many years! We had to pay for our education and the mounting cost was a heavy burden for my family. We lacked the funds necessary to cover such educational costs. Thus, my mum cooked alcohol, produced traditional wines, and sold them! From there, she made a little money, which she used to pay for our education! In 1989, when I was nine years old, I joined my sister and brother, Pst John Kwee Thang, in school! The school was far away from my villagewe had to go through mountains, hills, streams, and a jungle without any official roads! Every two weeks, after attending the school, we would return home. The three of us witnessed the struggles our widowed mother faced and we decided to go out every Saturday and Sunday to work in people's paddy fields to help cover some of our school expenses. Even though I was only 9 years old, I worked extremely hard and gave my all in the fields. People saw how hard I worked and felt sorry for me, so they gave me 5/10 kyats for my labour. As soon as I received the money, I put it towards my school costs, personal expenses, and necessities of life, etc.
There was no school to study in my own village and I had to travel 13 miles to study at my basic pre-school. We had different cultures, traditions, and beliefs in the area where I joined the school. During my time in school, I experienced a great deal of discrimination, child abuse, and torture! It was so horrible! Im glad I've been able to overcome these experiences. All Glory to Jesus!
In February 1996, I accepted Jesus and converted to Christianity during a Gospel Baptist Church crusade. When I was only 16 years old, I knew I wanted to be a pastor and spread the gospel. However, my mother dissuaded me, telling me I needed to finish high school first.
From 2003 to 2009, I enrolled in Bible Schools in India. These are my achievements. 1) Bachelor of Theology(B.Th) degree at Trinity Theological College in Hubli, Karnataka State 2) Master of Art(M.A) degree in Theological studies 3) Master of Divinity (M.Div) at Soul Winning Theological Seminary in Trivandrum, Kerala! 4) School of Theology (SOT) certificate 5) Pastoral and Church Planting (2 years) 6) Master of Theology(M.Th) degree at University of Jerusalem in Chennai, Terminadu, India! I returned to Myannar in 2009 and married Ruth Shin Thang, my beloved wife! Together, we continued the Ministry.