Tibetans in the Neighborhood Mark J.H. Klassen and Eric Geddes Names have been changed for security and privacy reasons.
Kora lives in a Tibetan neighborhood where she serves as a youth worker. It’s where she first encountered a Tibetan boy named Champo. They met when Champo was about twelve years old. “He was kind and friendly,” recalled Kora, “but he was also filled with self-loathing and convinced that no one liked him. He told us repeatedly, ‘Everyone hates me.’” Kora and her team of youth workers kept speaking truth over Champo and asked if they could pray for him. “One day he said yes,” she said. “We prayed over him, and he began to change. Over time, we noticed that he stopped talking about hating himself. Then he told us one day that he knew God was real because he felt his presence inside him.”
“We prayed over him, and he began to change. Over time, we noticed that he stopped talking about hating himself.” When Kora asked him to share more about his newfound faith, Champo was hesitant. He was nervous about how his parents would respond. He thought they would likely perceive his relationship with Jesus as a rejection of Tibetan Buddhism and kick him out of their home. It was difficult for Kora and her teammates to know what to do. They understood that for most people within this immigrant community, to be Tibetan was to be Buddhist, even if they lived in North America. That’s right, Champo and his family don’t live in Asia— they live in one of North America’s largest cities, where there are, according to some estimates, as many as 10,000 Tibetan immigrants spread out across the city. 4 | witness
“There are over 4000 Tibetans in my neighborhood alone,” said Kora, “all within just a few city blocks. To my knowledge, that’s the densest population anywhere outside of Asia.” Kora grew up in Southeast Asia as the daughter of Multiply global workers, but when she moved to North America, she began to learn about immigrants from all over the world living in the city where she settled. She was especially intrigued by the large Tibetan population and saw both the needs and the opportunities within this unique Buddhist community. “Of those ten thousand Tibetans in our city, we know of only ten that are followers of Jesus,” she said. “They make up a very small fellowship, but they are meeting together regularly.” According to Kora, only a handful of Christians in the neighborhood are reaching out to the Tibetans among them. With some disappointment, she said, “In the whole city, I know of only one church among hundreds that is actively engaged in outreach to their Tibetan neighbors here.” “Most churches in North America still have the mindset that cross-cultural ministry is overseas,” concluded Kora, “it’s somewhere else, and it’s something only a few people are called to.” Kora hopes that this ministry among Tibetans will challenge churches in North America to embrace the idea that all believers are called to reach out to their neighbors, wherever those neighbors are from. “Because no matter where you live,” she continued, “most of us have neighbors now from other cultures. Maybe God brought them to our streets so they could hear the Gospel from us!” Kora is passionate about encouraging other believers to engage their neighbours who come from different cultures around the world. She hopes that they will be more
