Observations on Church in Nepal

[yeutter]

Recently, we came for a three week visit to Nepal. My wife is ethnically Brahman Nepalese but was born in Kachin State, Burma. She had never before visited Nepal.
One of the reasons for the visit, is a Burmese pastor who is a friend of ours had been contacted by a Nepalese pastor. The Burmese pastor thought my wife and I could be of some help to him.
We visited a congregation in Kathmandu on two consecutive Saturdays. Nepalese Christians worship on Saturdays, their day off, no on Sundays. About thirty men and boys were in attendance. They sat on one side of the room. About forty-five women and girls and babes in the arms sat on the other side of the room. My wife says almost all are tribal people. No converts from high caste Hinduism were present.
They had a lengthy praise, prayer, and music time that proceeds the preaching of the Word. This lasted a little more then an hour.
The music was accompanied by a guitar, drums, and a tambourine. My wife says that all the music with the exception of the Kyrie were paraphrases of Scripture. After the Prayer of Confession the congregation sang what I would call a variation of the Kyrie. Literally translated it says, 'Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon His Church, Lord have mercy upon Nepal, Lord have mercy upon her leaders.'
The praise worship leader suggested things concerning which to pray. First Adoration, then Confession, then Thanksgiving, then Supplication. The people pray out loud, all at once. Many are visibly very emotional as they pray. I found the praying out-loud simultaneously to be very distracting. I found the style of worship to be akin to Pentecostalism. My wife assures me that everyone was praying in Nepalese. Their was no encouragement to seek some second work of grace. The prosperity Gospel was condemned.
A collection was taken. The people are materially quite poor, but almost everyone contributes something.
The pastor then preached for about one hour. The homily was expository in its approach. My wife said it was strong on application.

 

[Steve Curtis]

Thomas,
I serve in both Burma and Nepal - what you describe sounds pretty similar to what I usually witness (especially the praying all at once - in the local language).

 

[yeutter]

Later we we south and west of Kathmandu to a small market town, and met the Pastor with whom we had previously corresponded. His congregation worships in a space about three meters by ten meters in size. The average between thirty-five to forty people on any given Saturday. This worship space costs them a little more then eighty dollars a month, which is a big expenditure for this small congregation. They take a cash offering an additionally every member brings a handful of rice for the pastor and his family for the coming week. This congregation is part of the Believer's Church denomination. Most of the members are tribal people, no high caste people have responded to the Gospel to date. The pastor is encouraged that the congregation has grown both in numbers and spiritually. A school principal is one of his ruling elders. Most of the members come from villages in the hills surrounding the town.
Later we visited a village near Lumbini, where the pastor and his wife grew up. The 19th and 20th century seem to have passed this village by. The homes are constructed of yellow clay mixed with dung. The people here are subsistence farmers. Most of the village is now Christian. Some have been Christian for some time many others have converted since 2006. A schism has developed in the local Church. The local pastor has fallen under the influence of a pastor in Kathmandu. He actively discourages women from covering their heads during prayer and worship. He no longer fences the Lord's Table and says it should be open to all who profess Christ, whether or not they have been baptized. The pastor seems to have imbibed some elements of the prosperity Gospel. A number of members have broken with the congregation including our friends family. They think the invitation to the Lord's Table should be to baptized confessing members of the Church who have assurance they are born again. Our pastor friend comes and celebrates the Lord's supper for those who have separated.
These separated people are poor and the things of this world but give evidence of being richly blessed by Christ. Our pastor friend has a vision of starting a congregation in that area, which is near Lumbini. He asked me many questions about the Anglican Church. His conception of Anglicanism is shaped by J. I. Packer and J. C. Ryle. I hope I can locate some contacts for him that can point him in the right direction. Sadly, the Anglican Church Archdiocese of Singapore has jurisdiction over Anglican outreach in Nepal. They ordain women.

 

[Cymro]

Hi, Thomas. Read your post with interest as there were a number of associated points.
There is a sister in our town who was for many years a missionary nurse at the
Shining hospital in Pokra,Nepal. Then there is a retired Presbyterian Minister in Australia,
Ps Colborne by name, whose father was a prisoner of the Japanese, and had to work on the Burmese
railway. He was indebted to the Karen people for his survival. Consequently his son felt on retirement,
that he would take the gospel to the Karens who were exiled to Thailand. He has established 5or6 Hostels
for boys and girls, and also visits regularly their churches to build them up on the most holy faith. He is a
WCF man. The churches are mainly in the jungle areas.
Also Prof Hanko of the PRC America visits Burma to assist the churches there, but I have not heard whether
he has visited recently as he is into his 4 score years. He was there two years ago and I have not heard since.
These are sundry observations which may or may not be of interest.

 

[yeutter]

I checked and the Shining hospital is indeed in Pokhara. Our contact pastors a parish about 60 km east of Pokhara. We visited Pokhara, a beautiful city. We traveled from our friends village by local bus. It took three hours to make the 60 km trip. Pokhara was the first city in Nepal in which a Christian Church was established. It must have been quite a challenge for the missionary nurse to labour there. Medicine in Nepal is still very third world.

 

[Hamalas]

Thanks for sharing! So Thomas and Steve, what would be some general points of prayer for the churches in this area? What kinds of challenges do they face and what kinds of opportunities has the Lord opened to them?

 

[yeutter]

Thanks for sharing! So Thomas and Steve, what would be some general points of prayer for the churches in this area? What kinds of challenges do they face and what kinds of opportunities has the Lord opened to them?

Steve is much better equipped to speak about this then am I. Allow me to offer a few observations.
In Nepal, Burma, & Thailand their is a need for faithful indigenous local pastors who will resist the false prosperity gospel that has found its way here from the States.
Missionaries and local Pastors also have to know how to contextualize the Gospel. This can be delicate. How do you speak the truth so they understand, without also appropriating pagan symbols or ideas into the presentation of the Gospel. For example, how do you speak about the incarnation of our Lord; in a way that is distinctive so the hearer will not think of the incarnation in the same way he thinks about the incarnation of Krishna.
In Nepal especially, the Gospel is thought of as poor peoples religion. The Lord has really opened up doors for the preaching of the Gospel among the tribal peoples. The flip side of this is they need to avoid the pitfall of only speaking to tribal people and also preach to high caste Hindus. We need to pray that the Spirit will guide the missionaries and local evangelists so that they preach the Gospel promiscuously.