St. Paul Friends Church, St. Paul, Minnesota
CLICK HERE to view and share a short video about the work of St. Paul Friends Church with your congregation!
Pastor Kaleb (Kumar) Tamang lives in the northeast St. Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota along with his wife, Sabita, and their two sons, Amrit, and Samuel. Kaleb was born in Bhutan and did his ministerial training in Nepal with John Van Lal and his team. Soon afterward, Kaleb cast a vision to plant a church.
Pastor DB Tamang of Living Friends in Ft Worth, TX introduced Kaleb to EFC-MAYM.
After the initial assessments, a Partner Advisory Team (PAT) was recruited to oversee the new work which became St. Paul Friends Church. They met monthly using an internet conferencing platform. The PAT members pray for the church plant and provide support functions. This includes interim leaders to provide the functions of the elders, presiding clerk, recording clerk, treasurer, as well as a missional coach to walk with the church planter.
I (Walt Mills) have had the privilege of being a missional coach to Kaleb. Missional coaching means to walk beside (in person or over the phone) a church planter as they go thru the process of the Journey to Maturity to eventually reach full church status. A coach assists by asking questions to gain understanding. They are also concerned with the wellbeing of the church planter, their family and as a confidant. This can create lifelong friendships. As a coach I commit to pray for the church planter, their family and their church daily, along with any specific requests.
If you are interested in the role of a Missional Coach, join us for an orientation via Zoom on September 25, 2021. Details and registration can be found HERE.
Kaleb and the St. Paul Friends Church have struggled through these very trying times, as we all have, during this pandemic. The congregation has been able to continue to meet over the internet using the Zoom video bridge. At the end of June 2021, the church members had an outdoor gathering at a nearby park. In July of 2021, the fully vaccinated church members started meeting in person for Sunday worship fellowship. They continue to have prayer fellowship every Saturday from 10am to 11am on Zoom. This summer five of the new believers requested and were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Lake McCarrons near the church.
Some of the outreach examples are:
- Beginning in April they continued their outreach ministry in cooperation with the Galilee and Rose Hill Alliance churches of St Paul. Most of the church members have vegetable plots and they register their vegetable gardens and other willing neighbor’s gardens. This allows them to distribute the produce and gives them an opportunity to witness to the current non-believer neighbors.
- On the 1st of August 2021, Pastor Kaleb and his wife Sabita celebrated their 25th Wedding anniversary with a gathering at the church. Many of the non-believing neighbors, friends, relatives and church members were there and listened to the word of God.
- St. Paul friends church sent support for the fire victims in the Bhutanese Refugee Camp in Nepal and also support for the rural area in Chitwan, Nepal with the assistance from one of the local churches in Nepal in the month of March 2021.
During the 2021 EFC-MAYM Yearly Meeting/Ministry Conference the St. Paul Friends Church was proposed and approved for full church status. We celebrated with a pizza party and a time of fellowship with those who were attending Ministry Conference.
If you or your church are interested in getting involved with a church plant as a possible PAT member, prayer partner, coach or financial partner, please contact the Home Missions Board. You can reach home missions the following ways:
Website: https://www.efcmaymhomemissions.com/
Facebook: EFCMAYMHomeMissions
Instagram: @homemissions
Or you can go directly to the site to find out how to get involved at:
https://www.efcmaymhomemissions.com/partner
Consider supporting the work in St. Paul TODAY with a one-time gift to the EFC-MAYM Sesquicentennial Fundraiser HERE. Please make sure and put “Sesquicentennial Fundraiser” in the Add Special Destination box in PayPal or on the memo line of your check.
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