Chin Diaspora Christianity in the United States *

Abstract

Living in much of the borderland between modern Burma and India, the ethnic Chin discontinued the practice of their old religion and massively converted to Christianity after Christian missionaries evangelized and Christianized them in the twentieth century. There is a high cost to be paid by the Chin for practicing Christianity. Persecution, repression, and exile have defined their existence and history, and tens of thousands eventually left Burma and resettled in the United States after they had lived in India and Malaysia as refugees for years. Their stories, both challenges and opportunities, are, however, overlooked, and this article, thus, explores their lived experiences in the United States.