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“Yesterday the Maoists (in Nepal) called another strike, the third one in two weeks, and everything was shut solid,” my friend Tom Williams (not his real name, for security reasons) e-mailed me early last March. “Monday is another called strike. There’s talk of 15 days of travel bans and blockades in different parts of the country. Throughout the nation the people cower and obey,” he said.

With the world’s attention focused on Iraq and Israel and the Palestinians, Nepal merits barely a blip in the media—unless, of course, the royal family is assassinated, as it was on June 1, 2001. However, missions observers recognize that a different revolution has been quietly taking place over the last 40 years or so.

Prior to 1960, the Hindu kingdom was tightly locked against any Christian presence. Christians were not legally permitted to live in this 25 million strong Himalayan stronghold. If outsiders went to Nepal in those days, it was to recruit Sherpa guides to lead the way to the summit of Mount Everest.

Despite persecution, Christians multiplied to an estimated 200,000 by 1990 and 400,000 by 2000. Patrick Johnstone, editor of Operation World, attributes this remarkable revolution to prayer, willingness to suffer for Jesus, dynamic Nepali leadership in evangelism and church planting, and God’s miracle-working power.

At the same time, however, Nepal’s political pot was stirred by Maoist guerrilla attacks that began in 1996. This movement has added to pressures on Christians trying to evangelize outlying areas. Combined with ongoing propaganda and violence inspired by militant Hindus, this makes a testy environment for both Nepali believers and Western evangelists and church planters.

Undaunted trekking teams The latest disruptions did not deter three international men’s teams from trekking into Nepal’s remote regions with Bibles and gospel literature. The ministry’s courage has remained undaunted through the country’s political and religious troubles.

“Two teams were to leave yesterday,” Williams told me, “but the strikes shut down the bus transport. They left today for the far west. One team is trekking to a remote place that’s about 12 days from the nearest road.

“This is the second time in a year that we’re trying to get there. Last year the porters were afraid of the Maoists and they sneaked away. Another team is heading east to another airfield. Both teams are in areas of heavy Maoist activity. The third team is going to the far northeast corner and reaching some villages we’ve never visited before. Maoist activity there, too.”

Williams developed this trekking strategy after democracy was established in 1990 and freedom to openly evangelize came with it. Besides recruiting interna-tionals for evangelism, the teams tapped into the Nepali church’s enthusiasm and zeal and used evangelism as an opportunity to train believers in a deeper walk with the Lord, ministry skills and the Scriptures.

Serving local churches During their three months of training, recruits do literature evangelism and open-air preaching. They also work on character issues through intense team relationships. Women are included. At first few churches were willing to take women’s teams, but now leaders often get specific requests for a women’s team.

The first program was ad hoc; teams went out with minimal training and planning. Since then they have gained a good reputation from years of practical service to the church.

In the early days, almost every person approached with Christian literature bought it. The lowest rate of purchase was a city in Katmandu Valley where “only” 99 percent of the people purchased Gospels or New Testaments. Many of those who participated in the first outreach program are in full-time ministry now.

After the first year, teams asked, “If the door to open evangelism were to close, which would be the hardest places to evangelize?” The far western region was the country’s most remote and unreached area, and became their first priority.

The highest rate of literacy, the greatest influence and the largest number of police (and thus potential problems if the government were again to crack down on the Christians) are in Nepal’s 94 administrative towns and cities. The teams’ goal was to reach all 94 within three years, targeting the far western administrative centers first. After 14 years of relatively open doors, they do not operate under that threat anymore, but it formed the basis for pushing evangelism to the lesser reached places.

Now, with significant church growth, the teams work almost exclusively by invitation from interested churches. Teams act as catalysts, partners and equippers for the church. They do not plant churches as such, but each year workers have seen at least one new fellowship born through a wide preaching of the gospel. These new churches are turned over to existing churches for follow-up.

Building strong leaders Training in enthusiastic and practical discipleship was the ministry’s next major need. A one-year training program was developed where young men were chosen out of the three-month evangelism program to live with a dynamic evangelist.

They spent three to four weeks doing outreach together, and then returned to Katmandu for one to two weeks of teaching, repeating this pattern for nine months. Then these men became the team leaders for the three-month outreach. This pattern is still followed today. Along the way workers have learned that they can place a lot of responsibility on the young people.

“It’s astonishing to see how courageous the young trainees have been in the face of significant dangers, and their ability to push through daunting physical obstacles to reach an objective,” Williams said.

After two decades in Nepal, Williams and his family will soon return to their home country. He recalls heart-pounding moments on treks in early years when the gospel was banned—escaping police arrest twice, months in prison another time, and “nearly drowning while crossing a rain-swollen stream.”

Beyond the border The trekking teams will continue to emphasize evangelism and enthusiastic mentoring. A similar three-month outreach program was started among the many million Nepalis living in India. Leaders want to see Nepalis evangelizing globally, and India is a first step.

Economically, it seems unlikely that Nepali churches will send Nepalis to Pakistan, Tibet, Afghanistan or cross cultures elsewhere. But, many Nepalis are traveling to the Persian Gulf or Malaysia to find jobs. Leaders would like to train them to evangelize among themselves and the local people.

Short-termers Part of Williams’ original philosophy was to recruit international teams for Nepal. “Partnership is more than just foreigners supporting local believers. Internationals gain a vision for whatever place they minister in. They will pray more effectively, hopefully mobilize others into missions, contribute funds and proclaim Christ.

“We have found there are some doors open to us that are not open to Nepalis. If we believe prayer means anything, then we need to take into account the large number of praying people behind even short-term teams. Properly orchestrated international teams contribute to the overall growth of the church,” Williams said.

Government/Maoist relations Relations with the government and the Maoists are occasionally sticky. The teams avoid direct relationships with the government. For its part, the government does not allow churches or overtly Christian groups to register. So as not to be mistaken for Maoists, team members carry identity cards showing they are ministering with a Christian group. They face few problems from the government, military or the police.

However, challenges arise when teams encounter the Maoists when doing ministry. Amazingly, no one has been beaten or hurt by the Maoists during the nine-year insurgency.

“On a few occasions they haven’t liked our message about Jesus and told us to leave the area, but on some occasions they have given their blessing to our work,” Williams said.

Teams work where Maoists are active and pray for opportunities to share the gospel with them. Since the Maoists aren’t targeting foreigners, leaders send foreign team members to areas where Maoists have a lot of sway.

Ethnically diverse believers Nepalis turning to the Lord are ethnically diverse and include many poor people, but also some middle class. Over the years the most significant conversions have been among a Tibeto-Burman group called the Tamangs.

But many Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Tharu, Newars and Magars have also accepted Christ. Unlike in India, many high caste Brahmin and Chetris, as well as low-castes, have believed in Christ. Even among Tibetan Buddhist peoples, believers among the Sherpa and Lhomi peoples have increased.

Twenty years ago a Christian among the Helambu Sherpa would have been hard to find. Not today. One Nepali believer described his visit with a Helambu Sherpa believer who owned a trekking lodge north of Katmandu. They were talking about the Lord when a German tourist, who understood the conversation, complained bitterly about how Jesus was changing the culture, and how it’s wrong to follow this foreign religion.

Whereupon the visiting Christian said, “Ten years ago this man was an alcoholic with nothing. Today he has this lodge, is educating his daughter, has given up alcohol, no longer beats his wife, his entire family is clothed, and they are happy.

“When you go home to Germany you won’t do anything to help them, but you will ‘tut tut’ how sad it is the way they live. Jesus has changed this man’s life, but all you’re going to do is show pictures of the local people and show them off as though they are in a zoo. You have nothing to say.”

The time of the Lord’s favor Why are Nepalis coming to Christ? According to Williams, “This is the time of the Lord’s favor. God’s providence is a major factor. There has been a wide ongoing spread of the gospel through literature, preaching, one-on-one witnessing, audio and visual media, spectacular healings and miracles.

“The fact that Hinduism has been found to be bankrupt, and the murder of the royal family (the king as deity was killed by his son who would be a future deity) are important factors—as is their disillusionment with democracy, communism and Maoism.”

Jim Reapsome is former editor of World Pulse and writes from his home in Wheaton, Illinois.