A Report from Nepal

St George’s College is a place of gathering. It is also a community of connections. It’s called the Global Church.

When the Reverend Chuck Linquist of Minnesota, Lutheran clergy and director of the World Mission Prayer League, approached me at the end of a Palestine of Jesus course last February, wondering if I would be interested in volunteer teaching opportunities at their partner seminaries, I never doubted that the experience would be extremely beneficial to my own professional formation.

After Chuck sent word of my availability through his network, I soon received an offer by the Reverend Ram Kumar Budhathoki, principle of the Nepal Ebenezer Bible College (NEBC). Based in Kathmandu, NEBC was the first Nepali college accredited by the Asian Theological Association and remains the leader of Christian education and ministry formation in Nepal.

Last summer, the Reverend Honey Becker, then the Minister of Hospitality, told me that a pastor from Kathmandu, Tik Magar, had previously been on a Palestine of Jesus course. My email greeting to Tik was immediately answered by an invitation to preach at his church. I did so earlier today. It was a blessed morning full of music, worship, and preaching in the capacity-filled small hall of Bethel Church. He asked about Honey, Dean Graham Smith, and other staff at the college. He spoke appreciatively of how the course had strengthened his ministry.

In Nepal, Christian worship is on Saturday, and today was the second Saturday that I preached in a Nepali church. Last week, Principle Ram assigned me to a church about 10 km away on the outskirts of the city, and I took a taxi there with two students from NEBC. Upon arrival, I met the Reverend Prem Tamang, an MDiv graduate of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, the same seminary attended by Ram, my host. Prem’s church, only four years old, is a poor Christian community meeting in a small rented redbrick hall adjacent to the construction site of their new church building. Pastor Prem quickly showed me the site, explaining his vision for a medical clinic inside the church building. Then he looked at me rather strangely, and said that he recognized me. At first, I did not acknowledge his words; every shopkeeper in Jerusalem says that they know you! “No,” he said, “I have been on the St George’s College website.” Then he continued by naming Dean Graham Smith, registrar Genia Stephan, and talking about the Palestine of Jesus course, which he hopes to one day take.

St George’s College has visibility in even the most unexpected alleys of Kathmandu! Christians around the world want to take our courses; they want to come of Jerusalem. We, too, want to widen our doors to the world-wide Anglican Communion and the Global Church. As a center of Christian formation, one vision of St George’s is to equip Christian leaders to strengthen, develop, and nurture the worldwide Church. It is happening in Kathmandu.

Before arriving that morning, I had not realized that Pastor Prem Tamang is Anglican. He is under the diocese of Singapore and will be ordained in May at Singapore’s St Andrew’s Cathedral. Beginning in June, he will hold a three-month leadership training course for approximately 15 pastors linked to the Anglican network here in Nepal. Once they are trained, he will prepare for a second cohort. Between this and his commitment to integrating Christian ministry with medical missions, Pastor Prem envisions church life in terms of the Kingdom of God.

Prem’s Living Hope Church is also Anglican. More accurately, they are a contextually-relevant Christian community in Nepal. Weekly worship is in the evangelical style of music, worship and preaching, but once a month they use the Anglican liturgy for communion. For Prem, the liturgy best expresses the mystery of God.

Before going to the Living Hope Church last week, the Reverend Dr. Gloria Mapangdol, the dean and principle of St Andrew’s Theological Seminary, the only Anglican seminary in the Philippines, emailed me about college business. I met her in Jerusalem last September at a reception given by Archbishop Suheil Dawani for the International Commission of the Anglican Orthodox Theological Dialogue. Conversations with Gloria has quickly led to a budding partnership between St Andrew’s, Philippines and St George’s, Jerusalem with one of her senior faculty members coming to Jerusalem this summer to take a Palestine of Jesus course.

When I emailed her back I asked if, by chance, she had any Nepali students in her seminary. I had not realized that she, too, was a graduate of Trinity, Singapore. Two days later, she replied: “When I was at Trinity, I had good friends from Nepal; Ram Kumar and Prem. Maybe you have met them.” I replied, “I am staying at Ram’s house and preached at Prem’s church yesterday!”

Once I posted photos of Prem’s church, the Reverend Charles Tewer of Singapore, who was on the January course along with the Reverend David Lee, both graduates of Trinity, posted this on Facebook: “Hey, that’s my friend’s church!” Strangely, Asia seems like a tiny place!

Connections are not new to the Church family, and I am admittedly indulging in the revelations of my Nepali experience. But the following are certainly true:

1. I did not expect these connections when I decided to come to Kathmandu.
2. St George’s College is proudly committed to developing its Asian regional network.
3. You can help St George’s College realize its vision to equip Christian leaders of the worldwide Church through your designated gifts to our global scholarship fund. Christian leaders around the world want to come to St George’s. Maybe it is time to be an armchair pilgrim, vicariously experiencing the Holy Land through your gifts and generosity so that someone else can walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

For more information on our global initiative or how to make a contribution to the scholarship program, please contact me at rodney@sgcjerusalem.org.

Finally, last night over dinner, I was asking Ram about the Nepal Ebenezer Bible College’s various partners. When he mentioned the Church of Scotland, I was initially surprised. I spent two years in two different parishes working as a Church of Scotland pastor. Then I realized that Ram’s contact person with the Kirk was obviously the convener of the Asia Committee of the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council; someone I first met in over twelve years ago!

We no longer live in a denominational world; we live in a Global Church! Thanks be to God!

Postscript: Thanks to a generous donation from the Diocese of Texas for scholarships, the North American Committee hopes to fulfill Prem’s desire to take a course at St. George’s College in the coming year.