Buthanese exiles plant churches in refugee camp

By Joel News

JNI 596 - Planting churches is forbidden in the small Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, but a church planting movement is now spreading among an exiled Bhutanese community living as refugees in south easthern Nepal.

The main refugee camp is home to 150,000 Bhutanese exiles - more than 10 percent of the population of Bhutan. The repressive Bhutan government is quick to jail and then expel anyone charged and convicted of political or religious infringements.

Two church planters, John and Ashok, both imprisoned for a year or longer for openly testifying about Jesus, have been exiled and are now living in the overcrowded refugee 'city' of bamboo, wood and tin huts in Nepal. In the past 18 months they have won many to Christ and planted 50 informal fellowships among the Bhutanese refugees. DAWN associates from India are currently helping the church planters from Bhutan and Nepal with training.

Also in this edition: Growing 'ecumenism of the heart' in Europe, First prayer mountain in mainland China?, Praying for the peace of Baghdad, Prayer request for Pakistan.

THERE IS MORE!
This was a free excerpt. To receive the full reports in your mailbox, we invite you to subscribe to our weekly e-zine. Thousands of Christians all over the world read Joel News for inspiration and to stay well-informed on the global advance of God's Kingdom.

Posted on May 22, 2007 by JN | Comments Off

SOURCE: http://joelnews.squarespace.com/