The fruits of local training

The fruits of local training

The need to train and equip pastors and church leaders is growing in tandem with the rapid church growth in Nepal, particularly in villages and other places outside the cities.

But grassroots pastors and leaders in Nepal usually lack theological education and formal academic training, putting them at a disadvantage to enrol in seminaries or bible schools. The Lord gave me the burden to reach those leaders in their local places.

After a year of prayers, we started a Modular Training for church pastors and leaders. Our pilot project was launched in Ghaighat, Udapur in collaboration with a local Christian society. In our modular course we have 22 male and female pastors from different churches like Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Believers Church, and the churches of NCFN.

In our first modular we were able to introduce “Spiritual Formation” and “Spiritual Leadership.”
Norbu Sherpa, who has finished his M.Th in Spritual Formation, took the Spiritual Formation class while I facilitated the sessions on Spiritual Leadership. The students were required to write journal, practise silence and solitude, and read reports and reflection papers for both subjects.

A local pastor from the Resurrection Baptist Church said that as a pastor, businessman and husband, he never thought about going to Bible college.

“But I was longing to be trained biblically to lead my congregation. God answered my prayer and today, I can join this Modular Class,” he said.

He said heavy rain, swollen rivers and muddy roads made the journey to the training venue risky but with his passion and by the grace of God, he was able to finish his first modular class.
I was very encouraged to see their genuine desire to learn and sharpen their leadership skills. In Nepal, we need more such local training to equip leaders effectively. It is good to go to the ground and equip them to be Christ-like leaders.

I believe for now it is more practical and effective to train and equip grassroots pastors and leaders in their own locations. This way they can use the learning outcomes immediately in their own context.

Please pray that God will bless us to start this modular training in other parts of Nepal in the future.

— Milan Kumar Magar, Nepal, Co-MP with AsiaCMS