The Changing Face of Missions

Bhutanese Refugees

Far from Canada, a people group in Bhutan with Nepalese heritage, were being forced back to Nepal. There they were rejected again and placed in refugee camps just inside Nepal.  Three hundred were allowed to come to BC.   Five years prior to this, Pastor Kamal Ghamal arrived in Canada from Nepal with his wife and two sons. He joined our Fellowship and began to minister at Richmond Baptist Church. In the past two years Kamal has made contact with the Bhutanese refugees through a Christian doctor who spoke Nepalese.  A small group Bible study began that has grown to 35-40 meeting each week in Coquitlam.  Several have come to Christ and early this year eleven were baptized. Their passion for evangelism, and love for Christ, is evident as they share with other refugees. Could it be that God has brought these people to our shores so they could come to faith and then take the message back home to a country closed to church planting missions?

Hispanic Migrant Workers

Three years ago a farmer, a Mexican pastor, and the Fellowship’s Director of Ethnic Ministries, met to discuss the need for ministry to 3,000 migrant workers from Mexico and Guatemala working in southern BC.  Today, an army of volunteers serve 120 - 150 workers most weekends through soccer, ESL, food, evangelism, and discipleship.  None of the young men has ever heard a clear presentation of the gospel.  Pastor Carlos Carrion works full-time leading this growing ministry. One hundred and seventy-five have professed faith, all of whom have gone back home and many have shared their faith with their loved ones. Now whole families are coming to Christ. The vision for church planting in Mexico is embedded in these new believers, many of whom come from small towns far from big cities.  Could it be that God is using the migrant worker program to bring young men to Canada to hear the gospel and then to return home to effectively plant churches in Mexico? 

—Dan Chapman is the Fellowship Pacific Region's Director of Ethnic Ministries.