by Shekhar Subedi (Nepal)

Hi I am Shekhar from Nepal. I live in Kathmandu and serve with the Leadership Training Department (LTD) of National Churches Fellowship of Nepal (NCFN) as a training consultant. I focus on the capacity building of church leaders in rural Nepal who lack access to formal theological training. In all that I do I desire to contribute towards personal and collective growth of Nepali church leaders and the churches.

To be honest, I did not know what to expect from AGT initially, except for the information that it was a training for an intercultural ministry exposure. So, I when I heard about AGT, I just thought of it as a training for some basic approaches to intercultural ministry in Asian contexts. In this way, my vague goal in joining AGT was to find some ways to do ministry cross-culturally and interact with people from other places who might contribute to my personal growth in both the perception and practice of what might ministry look like in a rapidly evolving scenario in the Asian contexts.

However, beyond my expectation, AGT provided me with the context to explore cross-cultural ministry as the embodiment of the nature of Jesus in unfamiliar situations with people not like myself. The training helped me understand cultural ground realities with empathetic eyes and has given me tools to see biblical faith rooted in contextually relevant manner.

Moreover, during the training, I felt more relaxed, felt at rest and have enjoyed a generous hospitality of our hosts at STM. In a nutshell, AGT has helped me to see mission in an integral manner with sensitivity towards others while translating my life missionally in the contexts that I encounter in my life. In this regard, AGT has been of great help to me for my personal development.

Once I go back, I would like to serve in a more Jesus-like manner in carrying the nature of humility towards others and raise awareness regarding cultural sensitivity as I work in the ministry.