First of all we would like to thank God and you all of your valuable prayers for the blessing on 3 weeks Himalayan bible school. We really had a blessed & successful 3 weeks bible school.
Vision for HBS.
MTM has been holding 3-5 days conference for Pastors and Leaders in Nepal since past few years. And I got an opportunity to attend the seminar on 2010 in Kathmandu and also to help in interpretation work for Ps. Raymond & other guest speakers. During that time I could get well acquainted with Ps. Raymond and MTM also could have a blessed fellowship together. I found the MTM conference were very effective, emphasizing sound and Biblical teaching based on the word of God. I was really very excited on how God was using MTM in Nepal and I requested for teaching conference in Lalitpur district. By the grace of God I could co-ordinate 2 MTM conference with the help of some local Nepali Pastors.
Two yrs. ago, we (Me, Ps. Deepak, Ps. Ishwar) shared our vision with Ps. Raymond & Ps. Val Yoder that it will be better to extend MTM as a 3 weeks bible school for village pastors and leaders who have not have the opportunity to attend such Bible school so that they will be exposed more on the word of God and it will bring great impact in their ministry. We all prayed that God will open the door if it is his will for Nepal.
Then one year ago, we got a positive response from MTM for the possibility for 3 weeks bible school and we started forming the committee. During our meeting we named it Himalayan Bible School. As there was a need for facility for bible school, I suggested to use our church facility for bible school. but we didn’t have bedding for the participants. I shared about it to Heralds of Hope (HoH) ministry and also shared the need and requested to pray for it. During my visit to USA on Feb, 2014 on the warm invitation of HoH ministry, I could get a privilege to visit some churches and share about the planned bible school. Our God heard our prayer & through Heralds Of Hope God provided the fund for the bedding.
God Made the Vision Come True
The Himalayan Bible School started in Chhampi village in our church premises from 8-25th April, 2014 with 20 students who came from different remote parts of Nepal. Some of the students traveled one day walk and 24 hours bus journey to attend HBS. Most of the students were emerging young leaders like “Timothy”.
There were three guest teachers to teach the students. Ps. Raymond Burkholder taught on the subject “Kingdom of God”, how we can be Kingdom citizen and about kingdom living. Bro. Merle Flory taught on “Christian leadership” from 1 Timothy and Mr. Mark taught from the book of Hebrews “Run the race which is set before us.” They taught the students from the word of God as Paul taught to Timothy. So, it was a father (Paul) and son (Timothy) relationship in Christ in the class.
All the students were very attentive in the classroom sitting on the floor for 6 hrs every day and making notes. Bro. Amar who was the warden/in-charge noticed that the students were discussing, doing assignment until midnight. They all attended all classes except one who had to leave Bible school as his widow mother got very sick.
As the days progressed into weeks we could see the students having more and more spiritual hunger & thirst to learn once they started to get the taste from the word of God. This made the teachers filled with enthusiasm to teach with great joy.
As it was the first time experience of running 3 weeks bible school, we were little nervous on how we could make it successful. Our Dear God helped us everyday and gave us his heavenly wisdom and knowledge to run the bible school and to look after the students. During 3 weeks, all the students behaved well and lived in peace, unity & christian brotherhood and gave good examples by following bible school rules and regulations and helping and assisting us in many ways.
The HBS committee members also did excellent job to make it successful. Ps. Deepak helped in translation work. Ps. Ishwar looked after catering and Bro. Stephen took care of our guest teachers. Because of handling different department, there was less burden for each of us and we would work together in unity helping each other when they were in need and assistance.
On the Friday morning 25 of April, there was a graduation ceremony. 19 students received the achievement certificate for completing 3 weeks bible training. Ps. Raymond and the guest teachers distributed the certificate to the students. The students returned to their respective villages rejoicing and thanking God for the privilege they received to attend 3 weeks bible school. We are very thankful to our guest teachers for their loving heart for Nepal and their sacrifice to teach the village pastors and leaders. They stayed for 3 weeks and ate the same food with us and did not complain even though it was hot and spicy but always were cheerful even though some of them were unwell.
We are praying and planning for another bible school in September 2015. We had made a request to MTM Director Ps. Raymond for next year. We have got positive response and confirmation from MTM for 3 weeks bible school for village pastors and leaders for next year.
Lastly, we are very thankful to God and all those who prayed for us and for the Himalayan Bible School. Please kindly keep in prayer for the students for the effective ministry work as they serve the Lord in their villages.Finally, I thank God for giving me this wonderful privilege to be the part of MTM/HBS, Nepal. Ps. Raymond has been a spiritual mentor for us. We have so much to learn from him. We the committee members have learned a great lesson from HBS that if we work in the unity as a member in the body of Christ to glorify God, then God will pour out His blessing and make the work successful.
EDITORS NOTE; The above article was written by Pastor Anand Sinha who serves as the chairman of the Himalayan Bible School committee in Nepal. Pastor Anand also served the Lord faithfully by daily interpreting for us teachers. Our prayer is that the Lord would reward Pastor Anand openly for his labor of love in building God’s Kingdom in Nepal. Thank you my dear brother.
CLICK HERE FOR A PICTURE ALBUM OF THE MTM HIMALAYAN BIBLE SCHOOL
