Pastor Timothy is the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel Nepal, a church that was planted by my teammate Brandon's home church. He has an absolutely incredible passion for the Gospel and his church is spreading like wildfire. The past two weeks, we have preached at his church and have been welcomed as if we were family. Here is some of Pastor Timothy's story…
How did you discern your pastoral calling?
I have a passion for the Word and a passion for the Gospel.
When did you become a Christian?
In 1988. I was in Kathmandu and I had many, many difficulties. I slept on the road and I ate like street children ate. When I was 20 years old, one person gave me a tract and I read it and read the Gospel. I read that (Jesus is) the way the truth and the life. I was very hopeless at that time. I was thinking about suicide. God told me to read this whole paper and I read the whole story and one thing touched my heart– "I am the way, the truth, and the life." So I researched what was "the way, the truth, and the life." At that time, Christians were underground. I called people to come and help me and they shared the Gospel and I got Jesus Christ. Slowly, He changed my life.
Where did you serve before Harvest Bible Chapel?
When I started ministry, I came upon many difficulties in my life. We started a church and we needed some things. We needed a church building, Bibles, and teaching. We needed these things and people told me "we will help you," But they did not help. Some people though had given me small funds but had always pressured me. At that time, I got a United States visa and I went to Chicago. I thought that I had to contact some churches. Nepali people told me, where will your room be? Where will you stay? When I heard those kinds of things, bad things, they said "stay in the United States." But my passion is Nepal.
I went on the road in Chicago and as I was walking by, in 2008, I saw Harvest Bible Chapel and I knocked on the door. A lady asked if she could help me and I said that I would like to meet the pastor. The pastor had left to take lunch. I went back to Harvest Bible Chapel and I met the campus' pastor and he asked me what I wanted. I told him that I wanted to do the work of God. He gave me an address…the address of Kirk Van Manenn, the Harvest Bible Chapel's church planter.
Then, I went back to Nepal. He asked me, "Where are you now?". I said I was back in Nepal. He asked me many, many questions and I gave him all of the answers. After the questions, Kirk's assistant Dennis asked me so many questions also and I gave him answers too. We kept in touch regularly and I had given him reports and pictures. In 2010's November, Kirk and a team from London, Canada had arrived in Nepal. They had seen our ministry and church and got very interested. So, we started Harvest Bible Chapel Nepal in January, 2011. I had been waiting for a very long time– 3 years.
What was HBC like this January?
At that time here, we only had 40-45 people. Now, we have 120 people altogether.
Can you tell us about your ministry/outreach strategy?
First we pray and God will give us a place. Then we make a team of both men and women together. We go to the villages and we bring sleeping bags to the village side and 9 or 10 people will go to that village and stay there 15 days. After 15 days, some people, usually one or two families receive Jesus. Then, we start a home group.
A home group meets in the house and invites other families. Leaders from our church will travel to lead the home groups. After the home group meets, we start a cell group. After the cell group grows, and we baptize 20-25 people, we start a new church. Harvest Bible Chapel Nepal has 62 Cell groups and 40 churches. When Harvest Bible Chapel launched in Nepal there were only 4 churches.
What kind of accountability do you have?
FIrst, we select and train a local person. After we train him, he will lead that church and do ministry there. His position is called a Local Leader. Training lasts anywhere from a few months to two years, depending on how much they know so far. I love both educated people and uneducated people– uneducated people often bring big results in ministry where many educated Bible doctors have knowledge, but do not know how to practice it. Many people here have M-Divs, but they do not have life and do not change lives.
How can we pray for your church?
Pray that we get our own church building. We are in a hindu-rented building so when we worship, many people will come and tell us to stop worshipping. With our own building, we could worship freely. Also pray for our outreach ministry.
