Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

God Closes One Door and Opens a New Door in Kathmandu, Nepal
It was with great sadness that the BOE had to decide to terminate our support and relationship with the ministry at Hilltop, Philippines after more than 30 years of collaboration since the days of Rev Dan Ebert III, Rev Timothy Tow and Dr SH Tow. The support of all ministries, near and far, has always been conditioned upon the ministries’ and minister’s faithfulness to the veracity of the perfect Word of God. That is why God gave us the text in 2 Timothy 2:2 to warn us of the importance of seeking faithful men in every generation to pass on the work of God, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” This means that every generation of believers must be evaluated on its own faithfulness to Christ and the perfect Word of God and we must not lean on the past faithfulness of our founding fathers.

To this end, CPBPC, by the grace of God, will be taking over the support of Kathmandu B-P Church in Nepal from Tabernacle B-P Church upon their request. Due diligence has been done to ensure that this ministry and the preacher of this ministry, Preacher Rajan Shrestha, are one with CPBPC in doctrines and purpose. Please read below the testimony of Pr Rajan’s salvation and calling into the fulltime ministry, including a brief description of the ministry of the church thus far. Pr Rajan is a graduate of FEBC.

Testimony of Salvation
My name is Rajan Shrestha. I was born in Letang, Morang, East Nepal and brought up in a strong orthodox Hindu family. Nepal is a country where the people worship 30 million gods and goddesses. I was once a believer of these gods and goddesses as my saviours. But I did not have hope and life through them. My turning point in life came in early 1987.

One day an evangelist shared with me about Jesus Christ and he told me about true life in Christ. His name is Pastor Kubirdhan Rai. He was a pioneer preacher of God who shared the gospel. In those days, it was not easy to share the gospel. It was a crime to share the gospel. But he shared the gospel anyway. He read to me from the Bible, Mathew 11:28, Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". By believing in the gospel, my life was transformed. It filled the emptiness that I had. My life changed after I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.

The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins. I prayed and confessed my sins to the Lord with all my heart asking for forgiveness. I thank God for sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for me in order to deliver me from the bondage of sin, Satan and the world.

Accepting the fact that I was a sinner was never difficult for me. In fact, I felt that I was too great a sinner to be accepted by God. No matter how much I worked to please Him, I could not experience peace in my heart until I accepted Christ. What a blessing to realize that it was not by my good works, but by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus that I could be saved!

With a new life in Christ there also came a new purpose for living and the assurance of heaven when I die. I thank and praise God for His grace which allowed a sinner like me to have forgiveness of sins and the opportunity to serve and have fellowship with Him both now and forever! I now have peace and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of God.

In 1989, I was baptized by Ps Dilip Thapa. I have been attending Prashansa Church Letang, East Nepal since then. I served the Lord as a secretary in Prashansa Church Letang for 10 years. I also served as secretary in the Eastern Regional Youth Commission of Nepal from 2000-2004. My heart overflows with thanksgiving and gratitude to our Saviour for His wonderful way.

After baptism I attended the Sunday School training. I began to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I served among the youths. I attended three National Youth conferences in Nepal. I also served three years among Christian students of college through Nepal University Christian Students Fellowship.

As I was attending discipleship training, the Lord placed a burden in my heart to share the gospel. Deep inside my heart there was a commitment to preach the gospel to the lost especially among the young people.

Calling into Ministry

I always had the desire to serve God. But at the same time, I was hesitant to serve God full-time as I was not sure of my calling. Meanwhile, thoughts about serving God again came to my mind. But I was in a confused state as I had ambitions for a good career.

I began to look out for a suitable Bible College where I could begin my theological studies. Though there are many seminaries in Nepal, I realized that none of them teach reformed theology. I knew Brother Khadga Bahadur Thapa, an alumni student of FEBC, and I expressed to him my desire to study theology and inquired about the Bible colleges in Singapore, and in particular, about FEBC. He encouraged me to apply to FEBC. After much thought and prayer, I applied to the college and God opened the way for me to study in FEBC.

I am grateful and indebted as I count the many blessings I have received from my alma mater where I spent four years (2005-2008) of my life in theological training. FEBC has really equipped me for my Nepal ministries. I thank God for His servant the late Rev Dr Timothy Tow, founder of FEBC, whom God used to start FEBC to produce faithful servants of God. I thank the Lord for the classes and the faithful lecturers who teach sound doctrines based on the Word of God, from cover to cover. I love the doctrine of the perfect and authoritative Bible that FEBC teaches and defends and upholds. FEBC not only believes in Verbal Plenary Inspiration, but also believes in Verbal Plenary Preservation, showing that it is the best Bible College for teaching sound doctrines and to lead faithful servants of God until Jesus returns. FEBC is a Bible college where we can study to show ourselves "approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15).

I am very grateful for the valuable opportunity given by God to study at FEBC. During four years at FEBC, by God's wonderful way, He led me to worship at True Life BPC. Before joining FEBC, I was impressed by the charismatic movement and I think about 95% of the churches in Nepal is somehow influenced by the Charismatics. There are very few churches that are fundamental. After completing my four years at FEBC, I returned to Nepal and again served at Prashansa Church as Administrator. This is an evangelical Church, and it was my prayer also that God willing I could establish a B-P Church in Nepal and teach God’s Word correctly, especially all the reformed doctrines that I learned at FEBC.

First of all, I would like to thank God and Elder John Leong of Tabernacle BPC, Rev Shachen Pradhan, Pr Ko Lingkang, and Rev (Dr) Jeffrey Khoo, who really encouraged and helped me to establish the first B-P Church in the land of Nepal. In April 2011, the seed to start the first B-P church was sown. I thank God that I had the same burden for a BPC in Nepal and was willing to leave my hometown to move to Kathmandu to serve the Lord as the preacher of the BPC. My wife and 2 teenage children were also willing to follow me to settle in a new home and school.

With God's leading and provision, my family and I moved to Kathmandu in June 2011. We rented one floor in a building with a few rooms near Syoambhu, Kathmandu city for the family to stay in and also for the Church worship service. The Church premises is on the 3rd floor with a room for me and family, a worship hall for about 25 people and a kitchen cum dining all. It is a humble beginning for the new BPC. Thank God that from July onwards, a few of us started gathering together with me for worship. In Nepal, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday. The worship service is held on Saturday mornings.

15 October 2011, by the grace of God, saw the inauguration of Kathmandu Bible Presbyterian Church in Nepal. This is the first BPC in Nepal which the Lord has raised for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to earnestly contend for the faith. Indeed it is the Lord who has built His Church. To date by God’s grace, we have a total of 25 members and the regular attendance ranges from 16-25.

Ministries of Kathmandu BPC

Worship Service
Kathmandu BPC holds its worship services every Saturday (Lord's Day), 11:00 am to 12:30 pm at Buddha Park Soyambhu, Kathmandu. The pulpit is jealously guarded, with only preachers of the same doctrinal persuasion invited to preach the Word.

Children's Ministry
The children are ministered to through the children's Ministry. They join the church Worship Service with the adults at 11:00 am and proceed to the next room for their worship after the offertory prayer.

Prayer Meeting & Bible Study
Prayer Meeting & Bible Study are held every Wednesday 1:00-2:30pm at Kathmandu BPC. The Bible study and prayer meeting are led by me, followed by a season of thanksgiving and testimonies where the faith of members are fortified by hearing how the Lord has been good to the brethren.

We have yet to start a Family Bible Fellowship, Ladies Fellowship and Young People Fellowship. By God’s grace, we plan to start the Ladies Fellowship and Young People Fellowship soon.

VBS and ABS
The Vacation Bible School (VBS) and Adults Bible Seminar (ABS) are the ministries of Kathmandu Bible Presbyterian Church (KBPC) to children of ages 4-15 and adults from age 16 and above. The objectives of the VBS are to evangelize children with the Gospel of Christ and to teach them the Word of God. This is the fulfilment of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. Every year, usually in October, we have a VBS and we invite children of KBPC as well as non-Christian children who live nearby to attend in VBS. Usually we have around 40-50 children. Non-Christian children attend VBS and hear the gospel and so it is easier to reach out to their parents and others through them.

Concurrently we conduct ABS for about 25-35 adults. The ABS is attended by members from other churches including graduate Nepalese students from FEBC.

Conclusion
I thank God for the joy and privilege of serving Him in Kathmandu B-P Church as a preacher. God has been gracious and faithful to KBPC and has richly blessed and prospered the ministry over the past 6 years with a growing congregation. As the first B-P Church in Nepal we would like by God’s grace to focus on teaching and preaching God's Word correctly. Please pray for us.

Once again, I would like to thank God for leading us to co-labour with Calvary Pandan BPC. May we encourage one another to serve God faithfully according to 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

All glory and praise be unto our most high and loving God! Amen.