Bhutanese-Nepali leaders improve culture, relationships at Northwest Columbus church

When First Alliance Church hired Pastor Monu Shinchoury as its new children's ministry pastor three years ago, Lead Pastor Josh Franks had a sense that her influence would stretch far beyond serving kids and their parents.

"God was going to do something beyond that," he said.

And that's exactly what happened.

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Shinchoury, a native of Bhutan, was instrumental in making connections that led to a new church that ministers to people from Bhutan and Nepal finding a home in First Alliance's building on the Northwest Side.

She introduced church leaders to Pastor Mishael Bhujel, who moved to Columbus from New York at the end of 2018 to begin Home Church and whom she knew from the refugee camp where they both lived in Nepal.

First Alliance church's denomination has history of welcoming immigrants

The journey to partnering with Home Church and having Bhujel and Shinchoury be part of First Alliance's church community officially started three years ago, when the approximately 125 members of First Alliance realized that if God was going to use them, they had to be intentional in their leadership and outreach, Franks said.

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But, reaching back well before that, the church's denomination has a long history of welcoming immigrants.

First Alliance Church is a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Christian denomination that recently moved its headquarters to Reynoldsburg from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The denomination was founded by Pastor A.B. Simpson in 1881 after members of the Protestant church he pastored weren't supportive of how he welcomed immigrant dock workers to worship with them.

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"There is a unique strength and beauty to any organization or community that respectively works and lives with people of diverse backgrounds," the Rev. Rosilio Roman III, assistant vice president for the church advance office and multicultural ministries at the Christian and Missionary Alliance, said in a statement. "The church, in its leadership and membership, should lead the way in modeling this kind of organization and community."

Finding the right people for church's diverse ministry

As First Alliance searched for a children's ministry pastor three years ago, they prayed for help finding the right person, Franks said.

"We had to be intentional in knowing that our community was very diverse and multiethnic," Franks said.

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Then they found Shinchoury, 30, who was resettled in 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. She spent most of her childhood in a refugee camp in Nepal and found Christianity there, through a friend who introduced her to Jesus.

She grew up in a Hindu family but was never satisfied by its answers to her questions about faith. She said she found answers through Christianity and eventually attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

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While in Kentucky, she saw the need for Nepali leadership in congregations, especially due to a language barrier between English-speakers and those who spoke native Nepali languages, she said.

When she heard about the position in Columbus — which she knew had the largest population of Bhutanese-Nepali refugees in the nation, at an estimated 30,000 — she visited the church and felt instantly connected.

"I saw their heart for all nations and all ages, and I also saw space for women in leadership," Shinchoury said.

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She became the children's ministry lead, and, soon after, Home Church was able to move to the church.

Home Church's pastor, Bhujel, was a reluctant Columbus transplant, having lived in Buffalo, New York, since arriving in the United States as a refugee in 2012. He also found Christianity in the refugee camp and attended Elim Bible Institute and College in Lima, New York.

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Once he graduated, he said he yearned to focus not only on the people who attended church, but those who didn't. He read a Bible verse from Luke Chapter 15 about a shepherd who had 100 sheep and lost one. He left the 99 to search for the one, and that's what Bhujel wanted to do — to seek the one nonbeliever and introduce them to Jesus.

God pointed him to Columbus and its large Bhutanese-Nepali population, he said.

He started Home Church from his home and it grew. Now its small group of attendees, about eight families, meet on Sunday afternoons at First Alliance Church.

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The addition of Shinchoury and Bhujel to the denomination and First Alliance community has changed the church, Franks said. Now, there's more awareness and effort when it comes to understanding others and other cultures, he said.

"There's more relationship" among the different congregants and their cultures, Franks said.

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Shinchoury has noticed it, too, especially as the Bhutanese-Nepali population grows and members of it buy homes. Congregants who have lived in Columbus for years are beginning to ask her questions about their new neighbors.

"They come to me and are like, 'Hey, good news, I have a Nepali neighbor now. How can I build a friendship? How can I love them?'" she said. "People come to me and say, 'How can we understand the culture? Understand the people better?' ... Which is really fun."

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Franks said he has seen church members shift from a mentality of being the "American rescuer" of new neighbors to partners with them.

And more Bhutanese-Nepali people have been introduced to Jesus, Bhujel said.

"Our main reason for the Home Church is to build people to be who they are called to be," he said. "We believe God has a unique calling for every believer."

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bhutanese-Nepali leaders impact Northwest Columbus evangelical church