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Country Focus Nepal
 The church in Nepal has been growing rapidly in recent decades, but Ram Prasad Shrestha remembers a time when becoming a Christian was synonymous with becoming an outcast.
Raised in a Hindu home, Ram began questioning the family (and at that time the national) religion when he was a teenager.
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Church in Nepal
CMS in Nepal “I became a Communist during high school. I was involved in terrorising people. I always had a bag with me, in case police came to arrest me. Once, I had to flee to India for six months to escape arrest.”
But a friend in college sowed a seed of faith in Jesus that grew despite Ram being ostracised by his friends and family and a severe illness taking one of his lungs.
Ram’s faith grew and he was eager to be a missionary in his own land. CMS invested in Ram by funding his training. During his studies God gave him a vision that would become the Missions Commission of Nepal.
Now this indigenous organisation, founded by Ram, trains and sends at least 10 outreach workers a year into Nepal and sometimes beyond.
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Present-day Nepal is a country of diverse ethnic communities descended from Indian, Tibetan and Mongolian migrants.
Despite its position between India and China, the two most heavily populated countries in the world, Nepal has never come under colonial control. It was ruled by a series of dynasties from the 4th or 5th century AD through to the 20th century.
Change began in 1951 when the Nepalese Congress, supported by King Tribhuvan, overthrew the centuries-old system of rule by hereditary monarchs and introduced a cabinet system of government.
However, the next king, Mahendra, took back power and outlawed political parties in 1962. Reforms to establish a multi-party democracy, within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, only came in 1990 under King Birendra, who succeeded to the throne in 1972.
Tragedy struck the royal family in 2001 when Birendra and eight other members of the royal family were gunned down by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, before the prince turned the gun on himself.
The late king’s brother, Gyanendra, succeeded him and in 2002 sacked the prime minister and assumed executive powers.
A military campaign by Maoist rebels had been spreading throughout the country since 1996. In 10 years it took more than 10,000 lives. As public pressure grew for peace, a deal was agreed in 2006. Negotiations between the parties finally resulted in the abolition of the monarchy in 2008, when elections were held. The peace process seemed successful but the resignation of the Maoist prime minister in 2009 underlined the fragility of the new republic. The country that was until recently the world’s only Hindu kingdom aims to implement a full new secular constitution in 2010.
The Church in Nepal has grown from about 30,000 in 1970 to over 600,000 today, reputedly the fastest growing national church in the world.
The Church was born in a period of persecution but a new constitution in 1991 brought greater freedom of religion. However, conversion to another religion was still outlawed and for many years believers could risk imprisonment fro their faith.
Church growth has happened mainly through the witness to the gospel of nationals rather than through Western missions. Now the Church in Nepal is forming its own mission movements.
Working alongside indigenous mission movements means CMS has been breaking new ground in Nepal.
The Missions Commission of Nepal was founded by Ram Prasad Shrestha, a ‘co-mission partner’ whom CMS also sponsored through his degree studies. MCN trains and sends Nepali outreach workers – at least 10 a year, some of whom are partly supported by CMS – to work in unreached areas of the country and sometimes abroad, especially to India. Each MCN worker is expected to have established a new worshipping community within three years.
Jargon Buster
Co-mission partners:mission workers from another part of the world jointly sent out by CMS and the local church
CMS has built a strong relationship with the young growing churches of Nepal and together we have been developing our co-mission partner programme. As well as Ram Prasad, there are now six other co-mission partners.
Manoj Pradhananga heads the Leadership Training Department of the National Churches Fellowship of Nepal (NCFN). Po Kau Tang from Hong Kong is involved with Manoj in providing practical training and leadership skills to emerging leaders of the fast growing churches.
Lalramthara Marama from Mizoram in North-East India and Dev Kumar Khadke from Nepal are helping the Missions Commission of Nepal to develop a project with marginalised youth of the Kathmandu Valley. Bhibin Shakya, whose studies were supported by CMS, is now initiating a new project tackling issues of addiction, HIV & AIDS and other social issues with the National Churches Fellowship.
Lalruatdiki is a new co-mission partner, again from Mizoram, working as a nurse in a community health project based in Lamjung Hospital run by Human Development and Community Services, a Christian NGO.
CMS is also a Supporting Partner of the United Mission to Nepal (UMN). Its multicultural teams, made up of Nepali nationals and volunteer expats, work in the name of Christ alongside local organisations in less developed areas of the country. They build partnerships that lead to healthy, strong and empowered individuals, families, and communities.
Mission partners Jason and Tracy Day with Ruby work with UMN based at Tansen teaching hospital, where Tracy teaches nursing and Jason is the area support services officer for the UMN team and teaches English.
Jean and Paul Dobbing with Jennifer work with a UMN team in the south of the country, Jean supporting educational work and Paul implementing IT systems and training to help local organisations be more effective.
Stephen Edison from Delhi is in the second of two years on a CMS Share placement working with UMN in Doti in the remote far west of Nepal as a conflict transformation officer – vital work in the aftermath of a civil war that divided the nation.
Christine Stone OBE (retired mission partner and now CMS Salt partner) continues to develop text books for Nepal schools and conduct teacher training programmes through Human Development and Community Services.
CMS has also been investing in Nepal Ebenezer Bible College – both in training students and developing the college and for development of the college, the ongoing development of the Missions Commission, and church management and leadership training programmes run by the Nepali organisation Promot Nepal.
If you would like to contribute financially to the life-changing work of CMS in Nepal then please click on the link below.
Alternatively, please send a cheque made payable to Church Mission Society to CMS, Income Team, Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ, clearly stating that this is how you want your donation to be used.
For more information on specific mission partners highlighted here, please contact julie.whitfield@cms-uk.org and for project information, please contact chris.woo@cms-uk.org. Thank you!
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