Emerging Church Leaders

Martin (front center) and the CFNA Tutors

A year ago, four LCMS pastors committed to participate in a CFNA sponsored Leadership Training Program designed to equip emerging New American church leaders for enrollment in Concordia Seminary’s EIIT (Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology) program. In addition to Revs. Matt Clark (Ascension LC), Mike Tanney (St. Johns LC), Stanish Stanley (CFNA) and Al Buckman (CFNA), Mike Okine (Messiah LC) also joined the group.

The program attracted eight Nepali and Eritrean candidates, all of them serving recently established Bible Fellowships attached to the above-referenced congregations. Recently, Martin Basnet, John Gurung, Ratna Mangar and Nabin Samal, all of them from Nepal, submitted applications for admission into the EIIT program. Subsequent issues of CFNA E-News will provide brief profiles of each of them. In this issue, we are pleased to introduce Martin Basnet.

Born in Bhutan and raised first as a Buddhist and later as a Hindu, Martin, together with his father (his mother had passed away) and six siblings, were driven out of Bhutan to Nepal. There, together with thousands of other displaced Nepali people, they lived as refugees. Martin was six years old at the time.

Martin’s father, who had been a farmer in Bhutan, now had no farm or employment of any kind, and the family was forced to live on whatever the various relief agencies such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran World Relief, were able to provide. In 2008, after living for 19 years as refugees in Nepal, the Basnet family was selected for resettlement and was subsequently flown from Nepal to St. Louis.

Martin Basnet

While in Nepal, Martin was somehow attracted to the words of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and though he began attending worship services, he was never baptized or confirmed. After arriving in St. Louis, he together with his wife Meena began attending various churches, but never felt entirely satisfied. Finally, after a pastor from Messiah Lutheran Church paid them a series of visits, they began to experience a feeling of peace. On August 2, 2011, Martin and Meena were baptized and confirmed. Their infant son Joel was also baptized.

Martin, who presently serves as an Elder at Messiah, also works full time as a translator at BIAS (Bilingual International Assistance Services). As a volunteer, Martin provides the same services for Nepali people seeking assistance through programs offered at Messiah or more frequently, at the CFNA Peace Center. In other words, Martin is already reaching out to other Nepali people to tell them about Jesus. As a high caste Hindu who became a Christian (a rarity), he finds that other Nepali people are often willing to listen.

Please join CFNA and members at Messiah in praying for Martin’s success as an EIIT student, and for the strength and courage, he and Meena require as they continue their witness to other Nepali people.

By Rev. Al Buckman, CFNA Board Chair