Preparing Myanmar Women for Purposeful Ministry
“Where are their wives? Can I meet them?”
When Tiffany asked if she could reach out to the spouses of students at the Expository Preaching and Teaching Academy (EPTA), faculty were initially unsure. Myanmar women are naturally reserved, they told Tiffany—not to mention the language and culture differences.
But Tiffany felt she had to try. She asked to borrow one of the school's classrooms, set up plates of watermelon and cookies from the local market, and waited.
Then 12 Myanmar women trickled into the little room, joining Tiffany in a circle of plastic chairs. They could hear their husbands being taught just upstairs.
Tiffany introduced herself as a pastor’s wife from the United States. With the help of a translator, she shared her own testimony of salvation.
Then, more as a courtesy, she asked, “Would any of you like to share?”
Tiffany didn't expect a response. But one woman spoke up, with great animation and warmth, about her salvation. Then another, and another.
“From that moment on, I could not stop them from sharing,” Tiffany said. “God ordained that meeting.”
That encounter in 2017 revealed an opportunity for women's ministry that would support the work EPTA was already doing.
One Woman's Changed Heart
Tiffany’s husband, Jon, has been pastoring a church in Vacaville, California for over 25 years. For the last ten, their church has also partnered with TMAI to support EPTA and its faculty.
The connection started when Jon met EPTA’s director, Isaiah*, at a conference in Myanmar in 2016.
Tiffany remembered Jon returning from the trip and saying, “We have to get involved with this guy. He’s doing great things for the Lord.”
After the next trip, Jon told his wife, “You have to go.”
Tiffany had her hands full with domestic ministry at home. She didn't feel any inclination towards going international. What could she do in Myanmar?
But as soon as Tiffany landed and met the team at EPTA, she recognized God's hand at work in the school.
“I instantly had a love for these women that I could not explain,” she said. “That has deepened every single time that I go.”
In its context, EPTA's systematic, structured model of training stood out to Jon and Tiffany. The school was small—just a few years old at the time—and so was its faculty team. And yet students were being equipped with a high caliber of theological training to teach through Scripture, verse by verse. In a nation that is 90 percent Buddhist, EPTA was producing effective pastors, church planters, and evangelists.
But because of her experience as a pastor's wife, Tiffany sensed another opportunity for EPTA to further its ministry. They didn't have a program for students' wives. They hadn't recognized such a need yet.
Then, at that first meeting in 2017, Tiffany saw the unexpected openness of the women. Many of them were well-educated and capable but didn't know how to use their spiritual gifts rightly.
“I just felt that they needed encouragement in preparing for the ministry, in supporting their husbands as pastors,” Tiffany said. “But they need training to be shown how to study the Bible, how to disciple, how to raise their children in the Lord.”
The next year, Tiffany offered to meet with students' wives again. This time, 35 came. Tiffany knew that God had not only given her an opportunity but had changed her heart.
“I instantly had a love for these women that I could not explain,” she said. “That has deepened every single time that I go.”
A Shared Vision for Women's Gifts
When civil war broke out in Myanmar in 2021, forcing many missionaries to leave, Jon and Tiffany didn't stop their yearly trips to support EPTA. They understood that more than ever, Myanmar's pastors needed to be equipped with the hope of the gospel. And more than ever, women needed to be prepared to disciple, counsel, and teach one another.
This fall, with Jon and Tiffany's continued support, EPTA took the next step of launching a Master's in Ministry program for women pursuing these biblical responsibilities.
Isaiah*, EPTA's director, said, “We’ve been praying about it for a long time and developing a plan for what the curriculum would look like.”
Students of the Master's in Ministry receive Bible and theology training through EPTA's existing courses, while Tiffany lectures online on topics including inductive Bible study and biblical counseling.
In tandem with their focus on training men to shepherd the church, EPTA seeks to equip women to teach and encourage other women, as Titus 2 describes.
Isaiah said, “For us, it’s an opportunity to help women see a biblical outlet for using their teaching gifts, because we know God does gift women to teach, and He gives them the responsibility to teach."
After almost a decade of ministering in Myanmar, Tiffany has seen women change. Even those who once were opposed to expository preaching are now supporting their husbands in ministry. As they serve as disciplers, counselors, and teachers in their congregations, these women could have a profound impact on a nation crippled by conflict.
In some ways, this is a story of God bringing the right person to the right opportunity. But as we consider EPTA's journey, this is also the natural fruit of any biblical training ministry: men and women growing in holiness for the building up of Christ's church.
**names changed for security purposes
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