Shankar Pantha, a Nepali church planter who was driven from his village as a child after contracting leprosy, shared his remarkable testimony as an invited guest of SVK Mission at the Evangelical Free Church of Finland's summer festival — his first ever visit to the country. Pantha attended the festival together with his wife Bishnu and a church volunteer, Bir Nepal.
Pantha's story traces a journey from profound rejection to Christian leadership. Growing up in rural Nepal, he lost his father at a young age and later contracted leprosy as a child. In a context where the disease was widely misunderstood as a curse, villagers drove the young boy from his home. "I felt the hatred and fear the villagers carried toward me," Pantha recounted. His life changed when he reached a Christian-run leprosy hospital several hours from his village, where he received both medical treatment and encountered the Christian faith that would reshape his future.
Today Pantha leads church planting work in Nepal, a country where Christians remain a small minority. SVK Mission, which has longstanding mission partnerships in Nepal and across Asia, hosted the delegation as part of its international guest programme at the denomination's annual summer gathering. Pantha's trajectory — from outcast to indigenous church leader — highlights the long-term fruit of medical mission and the growing leadership of local believers in the Global South, themes central to the global free evangelical movement's current mission priorities.
(Originally published in Finnish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Suomen Vapaakirkko / Suomen Viikkolehti — svl.fi
