Appendix II: CHURCH AND MISSION RELATIONSHIP IN NEPAL ‐ FORTY YEARS AHEAD

Abstract

The executive director of the United Mission to Nepal (UMN) commented on church and mission relationships in Nepal, saying, We are about forty years other countries! My response was, Why not say, 'Forty years ahead?' I believe behind and ahead are two adverbs that can truly describe church and mission relationships in our country. Historical background The present church in Nepal is barely forty-four years old. This is surprising granted the fact that Roman Catholic Capuchin missionaries entered Nepal in 1720 AD. They had educational and medical services in the towns of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhadgaon. In the 1700s these towns were three kingdoms ruled by separate kings. I believe the history of Nepal would have been different had the missionaries been allowed to continue their work. In 1760 AD the Roman Catholic Capuchin priests and the first Nepali Christians were expelled by Prithivi Narayan Shah, a king from Gorkha, west Nepal. Prithivi Narayan Shah unified the petty, warring kingdoms and thus gave shape to the present country of Nepal. However, by expelling the Capuchin priests, he threw out modern education, medicine, and new ideas so vital to progress. Had he allowed the missionaries to remain, perhaps Nepal would not have been the poor, backward country it now is. Roman Catholic missionaries entered the country again only in 1952! For the two hundred plus years after the first missionaries were expelled, the governments of Nepal maintained their suspicion of Christians and Christian missionaries. Even during 1950-1960, when Nepal first experimented with parliamentary democracy, the Civil Code of the country punished a convert with at least a year in prison, and a converter, like a pastor or an evangelist, with six years in jail. When I was baptized in 1972, there was a Nepali pastor and an evangelist in a jail in west Nepal. Later, I heard of a Christian who died under police torture. In 1984, I, along with thirteen others, landed in a prison in Dandeldhura, a town in the extreme western zone of Nepal. When Nepal, in 1990, became a democratic state after about five hundred martyrs had given their lives, a British member of parliament had to come in person to ask the interim Nepalese government to release the sixty Christians still in jails. Last year, eleven Christians were arrested and released from a prison in east Nepal after serving sentences of about six months. Officially, the new constitution allows all religious groups to register with the government. In practice, very few Christian organizations have managed to do so. Nepal Bible Ashram, started in 1981, was shut down by the dictatorial Panchayat government in 1983, ran underground until 1993, returned to its original buildings in 1994, has tried to register itself with the government since 1995, and has not yet succeeded. Although the present democratic government of Nepal is not officially anti-Christian, the society of the only Hindu kingdom of this world is. Christian missionaries working in Nepal since 1952 are tolerated for the expertise they bring in education and modern medicine. Some have even received medals from the king. However, the suspicion against Christians and missionaries, first shown in 1760 AD by the founder-king of modern Nepal, continues. Transition from non-denominational to denominational churches Up until the late 1970s, churches in Nepal could still gather under one roof. The early missions to enter the country after Nepal opened its borders in 1950 were the International Nepal Fellowship (1952), the Jesuits (1952), and the United Mission to Nepal (1954). The Jesuit Roman Catholics ran the best schools in Nepal - St Xavier's and St Mary's. They deliberately followed the laws of the country against proselytism. The Protestant missions interpreted the government's ban on proselytism as conversion by force or financial/material benefits, and did not hesitate to share the gospel when asked in their hospitals, clinics and schools. …