The Apostle Paul was in prison and very aware that he was going to die, so he wrote to his protégé, Timothy, and encouraged him to continue the work in the church at Ephesus. Paul couldn’t reach everyone, and Timothy couldn’t reach everyone, so the ministry of multiplication had to be a priority. Paul basically challenged Timothy to do for others what Paul had done for him. By God’s grace followers of Jesus have continued this philosophy of ministry down through the centuries and it is the strategy we are implementing in India and Nepal today.
In their first year back in India, Ryder & Flory Kumar are focusing on training men who will plant healthy churches where they can train men who will plant healthy churches… To that end Ryder has already conducted several Teacher Training Workshops (TTWs) in different regions of India to equip and qualify men to teach the Bible Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) materials. Now these men will begin teaching the BTCP curriculum to men in their regions on a weekly basis. By teaching weekly (instead of two five-day conferences each year) they can teach through all ten books in about two years.
The current plan is to start training about 230 men to be new church planters. Imagine these men going out in the near future to each plant multiple churches. Then imagine these men each being trained to take ten or more new men through the materials and equip them to go out and plant churches in unreached areas. It is our prayer that the Lord will bless this and we will see hundreds of new churches planted in the next three to five years. On top of that, we are getting requests from all over India, Nepal, and Pakistan for the same training to be offered to them.
What can you do as a partner with STN?
The need is great and we are grateful that you are partnering with us to meet the need. Here are four things that come to mind:
- PRAY! Please pray for Ryder & Flory and for the men they are equipping to go out and multiply. Pray for spiritual vitality, physical endurance, and God’s wisdom. With so many needs, please pray for discernment as to what they should and should not do.
- GIVE! We currently have several pastors who need sponsors. You can fully support one of our 7 pastors in Northern India for $100 per month or one of our 6 pastors in Southern India (three that need $30 per month and three that need $60 per month). Or you can help support Ryder & Flory as they are currently about $2,000 per month short of their need. We are making up the difference out of our reserves but would love to apply those funds to other areas of growth.
- VOLUNTEER! We could use more volunteers to help us with administrative tasks, researching and writing articles for our Facebook page and newsletter, or serving on our Fundraising Team.
- SHARE! Please tell other individuals and churches about the ministry of STN. We would love to give them more details and have them join with us in this work in India, Nepal, and beyond.
Ryder Kumar is serving as our International Director. As one of the founding members of Shepherding the Nations, it was Ryder's vision to see pastors trained and equipped for ministry that became the foundation of Shepherding the Nations.
Shepherding the Nations has identified qualified and called men who are already working in unreached areas of India and Nepal. We are providing the training to better equip them and the financial resources to support them in their ministries.
Our directors have been equipped to teach our ten-volume training curriculum. These key men are training indigenous pastors and church planters while also providing accountability, resources materials, and support. 
During our training program, we provide our ten volume set of curriculum from the Biblical Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) in their local language. We also provide essentials resources such as Bible Concordance and Study Bible. We have been able to provide these books to all of our pastors through the generous donations of our donors. These books can be purchased for about $10 each or an entire set for $100.