Emerging Church Leader

Nabin Samal

Nabin Samal

The “Nepali Anugrah (Grace) Church”, consisting of almost 50 members, has been worshipping at St. Johns Lutheran Church in urban St. Louis, for almost five years. It is led by Nabin Samal, and here is his story.

Nabin was born in the Bhutanese village of Kafley Tar in 1986. A few years later, at the age of five, Nabin and his family, together with 150,000 other Nepali ethnic Bhutanese, were forced to leave the country over personal freedom issues. They fled to Nepal where they were placed into seven refugee camps. Nabin and his family were sent to Beldangi 3 (Camp 3), where they remained for the next 18 years.

Though safety was no longer an issue, life in the camp was difficult. The refugees could not be employed outside the camp, so money was scarce as was food, along with all the basic necessities of life. Though there were only a few schools, education was free through grade 10, which is as much as any of the refugees could ever hope to receive.

Approximately a year after their arrival, Nabin’s mother became very ill, and the local shaman informed the family she would probably not live more than a week.  As the family was grieving over this a pastor happened to stop by and inquired why they were crying. Immediately he began to pray, explaining God could heal her, and invited them to church. God listened to their prayers and Nabin’s mother lived. Believing this to be a miracle, Nabin’s entire extended family (approximately 35 people) accepted Jesus as the Son of God and their Savior, and were baptized.

Though the refugees were Nepali by ethnicity, they were never well received in Nepal. During the early part of this century the Nepali government became actively engaged in the resettlement of these refugees to other countries. Nabin and his family arrived in St. Louis on October 12, 2009. The story of their acculturation to life in St. Louis, as well as their association with St. Johns Lutheran Church, will appear in the May issue of CFNA E-News.

TO BE CONTINUED…

By Rev. Al Buckman with Rev. Michael Tanney.