The Church of Scotland General Assembly in May 2015 listened to Rev. Ram Kumar Budhathoki from Nepal recount his horrific experience of the devastating earthquake of April 2015. Church of Scotland wanted to help. 

“We are very pleased to report that so far we have raised an astonishing £135,000. We will continue to raise funds and have pledged to congregations to continue to update them with progress on rebuilding of communities and lives in Nepal. We hope to bring a few folks to Nepal in 2018 to see some of the work of UMN,” says Carol Finlay, Twinning & Local Development Secretary of World Mission Council.

It all started when The Church of Scotland General Assembly asked its World Mission Council to work with presbyteries and congregations in Scotland and their partner organisation UMN to provide some support. By September 2016, a project, “Let us Build a House,” was born and Presbyteries were challenged to raise money to rebuild communities in Nepal through UMN. The response was overwhelming as everyone responded with imaginative ways to raise the funds. 

As a part of the fundraising event, the Coldringham congregation drew a large picture of a Nepali house and sold bricks on it for £5 each. Ardnamurchan Parish Church, a small congregation on the edge of the west coast of Scotland, worked hard during December and raised over £500 for “Let us Build a House” project. “This may not sound like anything remarkable but with a winter congregation of around a dozen lovely folk, it’s a huge achievement,” they said. 

The congregation struggles to keep a roof on the church building, but decided to put their own concerns aside to help those with no roof at all. In only one month they ran a series of Advent Coffee Mornings and donated the money given together with that from the Christmas Eve service. With a population of less than 300, local folks joined in and also donated generously. 

“We pray that the homeless of Nepal will soon have roofs over their heads and we thank God that we are able to share our riches with others,” added Carol. 

UMN would like to thank and extend our gratitude to Church of Scotland and its World Mission Council for their generous support to Nepal.