Early 70's at Ramghat Church

By: Peter Bisset, 

When I arrived in Nepal in December 1969 Ramghat Numbered about 30 Nepalies and 30 expatriates/ foreigners. The church building was where the present church stands but at that tieme church was made of brick and thatch. Debu Singh Dahal was the pastor and Church was run by a committee. One church member was an expatriate. Church was held on Sunday and everyone walked to church form where they lived whether Green pasture or Bagar (The Shining Hospital). Once a month the service (with communion) was held at Green Pastures. For those of us living near the Shining Hospital it was a long walk to Church (for  expatriates) and seemed even longer on the way back!! –so rice was eaten at about 2pm!

During the immediate years before I arrived some of the expatriates and Nepali Christians had been coming into the experience of 'the Baptism of holy spirit' and u (with others) entered into a new experience of the Spirit, and of worship and waiting on God, during the next few years. I can remember the Sunday when one matured Nepali believer was giving testimony of his experience of being filled with the Spirit a few days previously. He was a transformed man! So radiant and overflowing with 'the joy of His salvation'. At the end of the meeting it was suggested that any who wanted to touch form God should put their hand up and they would be prayed for. I put my hand up and after prayer by one of the church committee a fresh sense of God's Presence and acceptances filled my heart.

Regular Bible studies and prayer meeting were held at Ramghat and also at Green Pasture and the Shining Hospital- the main areas where the Christians were living. Also a youth fellowship/Bible study was held weekly in Bagar.

Pastor Devid and Premi Guru Ama arrived back in Pokhara form Nautanwa (India) in 1069 A.D. just before I arrived in Nepal, supposedly to retire! However soon Debu Singh resigned as Pastor to concentrate on evangelism in West Nepal and they found themselves pasturing the Church again. I still remember Pastor David's impassioned preaching in his effective 'question and answer' method, but I could only understand some of it as I was still learning Nepali.

It was very costly to  become a Christian in those days as there were waves of persecution in the 70's with people going to prison for periods of a few month to up to one year. One Ramghat member arrested by police for giving out tracks on a bus to Syangja and was in prisin for Nine months. He was one of the few Thakalies who was believed. The TRhakali young man's Name was Lal Bahadur Sherchan. He died a few years later form TB but was a fearless believer whilst he lived.

In around 1972/3 I attend the Annual NCF Conference, this year held in Tansen, with some other believers form Ramghat, at which 300 came from all over Nepal. The police found out and took everybody's names but the meeting weren’t stopped and nobody was arrested. On the last day, at the communion service God brought a 'spirit of conviction of sin' on the meeting through an Indian brother (who is still serving in Nepal). Many believers repented before God. We sang all the back to Pokhara. The next day, rejoicing in what God had done and in His protection! Later I shared about this meeting in a church in UK and it become a time of reconciliation between believers in that church too.