Fellowship and community are especially vital for the small number of Christians in Bhutan, a landlocked, South Asian country.
By Caroline Anderson
SOUTH ASIA–It’s disco discipleship. Two couples, Ugyen and Chimi Thinley* and Rash and Namita Kencho,* share life together − often to the rhythm of the bass line.
After long workdays, the Kenchos and Thinleys trade in their ghos and kiras, the traditional dress required for men and women in Bhutan, and divide their time between the Kenchos’ home and the Thinleys’ apartment above a discotheque.
The men share a love for watching wrestling and discussing their favorite Western artists, Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. As their wives chat about work while preparing dumplings for dinner, the men pluck out notes on an electric guitar and sing worship songs.
Fellowship and community are especially vital for the small number of Christians in Bhutan, a landlocked, South Asian country.
Friendship is how Bhutanese hearts are won. When the couples get together for evenings of fellowship, they invite non-Christian friends. Their friends learn to enjoy Christian fellowship − they hear Truth in the worship songs, they see love in the families’ interaction, and they discover what church is all about.
The Thinleys and the Kenchos will be the first to say that fellowship is important, because Rash Kencho discipled Ugyen Thinley. Now both are key leaders in their church.
For the Thinleys and Kenchos, participation and ownership are important ingredients in church life. They encourage their church of around 35 households to grow in these areas.
“When believers have ownership, they grow more,” Kencho says. “Many of our members were disheartened, I think. They were not given the responsibility in the church, so we thought, in order to prepare them spiritually, we’re going to have some sort of responsibility in their own life.”
After receiving training from a well-known pastor in Bhutan, their church learned to share power. Before training, Thinley says, the pastor was responsible for all of the decision-making, whereas now their church has started a teaching rotation schedule.
“I love teaching about fellowship, why fellowship is so important for Christians,” Kencho says. He explained it as important for the nourishment of believers and for sharing with new believers.
Leading by example, the couples changed their church atmosphere to encourage more participation from members.
Recently, the families invited two women, whom they pray will accept the Gospel, to join their weekly time of fellowship. The women have heard the couples sing songs about God’s grace and share about how God answered their prayers at work and at home.
This model of sharing life and Jesus’ love – sometimes to the sound of a guitar – is an integral part of the Thinleys’ and Kenchos’ hope to see even more believers fellowshipping in their church and in Bhutan.
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* names changed