Bhutanese Refugees Pray for BTGMI Ministry in Bhutan

A small group of Bhutanese refugees now living in Sioux Falls, S.D., meet for worship in the chapel at First CRC, Sioux Falls.

The refugees come from the tiny country of Bhutan, a Buddhist hermit kingdom tucked in the rugged Himalayas on the edge of India.

During a period of ethnic cleansing in Bhutan in the 1990s, members of certain tribes fled to Nepal, where they lived in camps before receiving asylum in the U.S.

Rev. Kurt Selles, director of Back to God Ministries International (BTGMI), shared lunch with these refugees last November. “They asked me to talk about Back to God Ministries’ work in Bhutan,” Selles said.

He had just returned from a ministry visit to Bhutan, so he showed them pictures and shared the story of seven young people he had met there. These young people had heard about Jesus for the first time through BTGMI’s ministry in northern India and the Himalayan region.

 After a period of follow-up with BTGMI Bhutanese staff, the young people came to confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

All seven were baptized by the ministry’s producer in an icy mountain stream. “This is testimony to the power of media and, above all, to the power of God’s Word,” noted Selles. 

The Sioux Falls Bhutanese community has strong ties to their homeland. They expressed gratitude for the gospel outreach through media happening in Bhutan. “They were moved to see that God loves Bhutan,” Selles added.

Selles asked the group to continue praying for the BTGMI ministry in Bhutan. He is hoping that the ministry leader in India can go to Sioux Falls to meet with that group and with First CRC.

“When we prayed together before I left, we all felt a deep sense of blessing and gratitude for God’s work, for his power in using media and, above all, for the power of his Word to change lives, even in difficult places closed to the gospel.”

Please support the opportunities for sharing God’s love in Bhutan and many other places.