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HIMALAYA - New Zealand Christians secretly meet with Bhutanese Refugees in a forest clearing for fellowship and baptisms |
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By Vic Francis, November 2008
The cooks sneak out of their refugee camp under the cover of darkness at 3 o’clock in the morning.
This is a big day for Bhutanese believers from two of the seven United Nations refugee camps in eastern Nepal. A team of seven New Zealand Christians are arriving to share communion with them and baptise a dozen of their newest converts.
The refugees of the Lhotshampa tribe have languished in the UN camps for 17 years since being evicted from Bhutan and dumped in the forests of Nepal, but in that time they have seen a remarkable revival take place.
With virtually no input from the West, the number of believers in the refugee camps has grown from just a handful when they were evicted in 1991 to over 10,000 today who worship in 53 churches.
But while the refugee believers can now meet in small groups without threat – in the early days they were regularly beaten for their faith – they are still not allowed to gather in larger groups, particularly outside the camp.
And so as the cooks leave the camp at 3 am to a clearing in a nearby forest, they know that they, their families and fellow believers who will soon follow are taking a big risk.
If they are caught outside the camp they may be punished. The jungle nearby has long been a stronghold of Maoist rebels. A stream near where the baptisms will take place was recently poisoned, resulting in at least one death.
The New Zealand team, meanwhile, are travelling for three days to be with the refugee believers for just a few hours.
The team, from the Shore Vineyard Churches in Auckland, are teaching during the first two weeks of a five-week training programme in Nagaland, 16 hours by train from eastern Nepal.
The Autumn Rain Bible school, which International Christian Concern, Shore Vineyards and Autumn Rain International funded together, has nearly 80 students from throughout the Himalaya region – including about 15 from the UN camps and another 30 or more from Bhutan itself, one of the most persecuted countries in the world.
By 2pm the food is cooked, hundreds of believers have gathered and the New Zealanders finally arrive – late because of traffic congestion and hold-ups at the border crossing. Their meeting with the Bhutanese refugees is emotional, powerful – and far too brief.
A welcome, a song, a short presentation by Shore Vineyards pastor Vic Francis on how these believers are “forgotten seed” which has flourished and it’s time for the baptisms at the nearby stream, a hasty lunch and communion before the team is hurried away because of rumours that a local tribe has called a strike and may harass travellers on the way back to India.
Even as the team return to the India-Nepal border, though, there is an incident which highlights the risks the refugees take for their faith.
Vic Francis, Brother Robert from Jesus Loves Gospel Ministries in Nagaland and a refugee pastor, Karna, secretly enter one of the camps. There is time for a couple of photos, but within minutes their presence has stirred a group within the camp and as they hasten away in their vehicle they pass a party of armed guards running at the double towards where they had been just moments before.
The New Zealand team slip away unnoticed, but as they head for the border they pray for the believers they have left behind who they fear may have encountered those same guards on their way back into the camp. Later, mercifully, they hear that no incident took place and the refugees returned unharmed.
As the New Zealanders leave Nepal and re-enter India, Karna tells them his story of faith. His testimony is like that of Saul – he was a persecutor of Christians and a violent man who became a believer when a young boy passed a tract through the bars of his prison cell. The tract had just one verse on it, John 3:16, but it was enough to draw Karna to Christ.
An expected seven or eight-year prison term ended miraculously after just 15 days when Karna, a changed man, was released unexpectedly.
But this new life in Christ wouldn’t be easy. The persecutor became the persecuted and Karna was regularly beaten for his faith.
Nowadays the pressure has been relieved somewhat and Karna and other pastors can hold small meetings openly, although the ministry within the camps is still severely restricted.
When Karna, whose fourth son, Rakesh, was born on the back of one of the deportation trucks back in 1991, became a Christian he searched the camps for fellow believers and only found a handful.
But since then revival has taken place, and with the camps beginning a five-year process of being disbanded – with the refugees being repatriated to Western countries or possibly even returning to Bhutan – the seed God has sown is about to spread all over the world.
Back at the Autumn Rain Bible school, the New Zealanders are joined by a team from Autumn Rain International and teach about the kingdom of God, evangelism, preaching, healing, the Holy Spirit, worship and the Bible. For most of these students, many of whom are pastoring churches with little formal biblical knowledge, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn.
The Bible school, from October 27 to November 28, is the third training course that Jesus Loves Gospel Ministries and Autumn Rain International, with support from Shore Vineyards, have conducted over the past four years for the Nepali-speaking believers of the Himalayas.
Brother Robert wants to equip the church so the Gospel can spread throughout the region, and particularly in his native Bhutan.
And these are a people ready to sacrifice for their faith.
There’s Elima, who sold her business in Bhutan so she could be equipped for effective Christian service.
There’s Yogesh, a 19-year-old who has been in the refugee camp since he was 2 but longs to return to Bhutan to take the Gospel to the most remote villages.
And there’s Amos, a Bhutanese pastor and father who has been imprisoned for his faith but continues to preach the Gospel, and has brought nearly 25 young leaders to be trained at the Bible school.
“These men and women are heroes,” says Vic Francis, from Shore Vineyards in New Zealand. “They will take the Gospel where we from the West can’t. We have resources and biblical training to offer. They will do the rest. Together, this is the most rewarding, effective kingdom work I have ever been involved in. What a privilege it is for us in the West to contribute to the work of God in the tough places of the Himalayas.”
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