introduction

The church in Nepal today is full of small village groups of believers desperate for teachers, preachers and pastors, to make disciples and provide the foundations for sustainable faith। Until fairly recently, training for such leaders was only available from a few organisations based in Kathmandu। When Itram Christiya Church in Surkhet, with help from local INF members, built a new enlarged premises 10 years ago, we did so with a vision for using the facilities for regional meetings and conferences। Some years later, I was contacted by an old friend Dil Bahadur Tamang, principal of one of these Kathmandu colleges, who had a vision for establishing a centre in the west, where candidates from the western regions could access training near to home। Two visions met: introducing Dil to Itram, the Himalayan Bible Training Academy was born.




God has blessed the initiative by pulling together the often fractious churches in the valley to form a joint committee to oversee the school, and provide experienced staff to facilitate the training। Recently, a Pune University theology graduate James Tamang, whose wife is from Surkhet, was commissioned as Principal of the new institute। Batches of 15-20 leaders are given an intensive 5 month training in theology and practical ministry। The first batch graduated in July in a joyous ceremony, and the second intake is well through their studies.

Give thanks for:
q God’s giving this vision to Nepalis for this Nepali institution
q Encouragement for the local churches who have all participated in this initiative
q James Chinnery and other INF members who have offered their input
Pray on for:
q Attracting the right calibre of trainee to the programme (both intakes already include women and members of different church groups)
q James the new principal and his team to settle and work well together
q More financial support to make the college self sufficient (more information from rod@macrorie.plus.com)