First Sabbath Offering for the Bhutan Church Building

Bhutan, officially known as the Kingdom of Bhutan, is in the Eastern Himalayas in South-Asia, bordering China to the north and India to all the other sides. Bhutan has a population of about 750,000 and a land area of 38,394 km2. Thimphu is its Capital. In 2008, Bhutan transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

Bhutan is a Buddhist country with over 81% of its population following the Vajrayana sect of Buddhism. The major remaining percentage thereof is mostly the Hindus. Christians are a fractional minority group in this country, mostly Catholics. Evangelism cannot be done openly. Nonetheless, hard work has been done applying different restrained modes of evangelism.

A couple of years ago, a family visiting North India happened to hear about the message of Reformation. They nurtured the message for some time and upon returning to Bhutan started to worship the true loving and living God. The family spread the good news to others in Bhutan. This has aroused strong interest amongst some of these souls.

The need of the hour is a place of worship. We first need to acquire a parcel of land and then build a chapel for the Lord. To accomplish this task, the brethren have endeavored to raise the funds needed from among themselves. A portion of the funds required has been brought into the treasury of our Heavenly King, but we are still in want of a large part of the requirement. We are now appealing to our church family around the world to help us with this noble project.

“Our church members should feel a deep interest in home and foreign missions. Great blessings will come to them as they make self-sacrificing efforts to plant the standard of truth in new territory. The money invested in this work will bring rich returns. New converts, rejoicing in the light received from the Word, will in their turn give of their means to carry the light of truth to others.”—Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 49.

We pray that the Lord may touch your heart to give generously towards this project so that the work of the Lord here in Bhutan may go forward, and the Second Advent of our Lord and Saviour be hastened. Amen.

Your brethren and sisters from Bhutan