January 01, 1996 by Luis Bush

Nepal offers a model of “a church for every people and the Gospel for every person"

The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights" (Habakkuk 3:19 NIV).

God is moving mountains in the Himalayan region and prominently so in the country of Nepal. From 25 known Christian believers in 1961, the church in Nepal has grown to an estimated 200,000 to 300,000. From almost no churches then, to some 2,000 local churches today! In the last five years especially, the country of Nepal has been literally saturated with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Churches have been established among the distinct peoples.

Notes on Nepal

Most people know the Himalayas as the place of the highest mountains on earth... the Top of the World. What is not so well-known is that these mountains are supremely sacred to more than one-half billion people in South and Central Asia.

Many people know of Nepal as the Hindu Kingdom. What is not so well- known is that Nepal is experiencing a spiritual harvest unlike any other country of the world.

Many people know of Nepal as a place where few missionaries have gone. What is not so well-known is that missionaries are being prepared to take the gospel from Nepal throughout the Himalayas and beyond.

History of Key AD2000 Events

Most of these remarkable facts on Nepal became known to me personally through HIM-COE '96, the AD2000 Himalayan Congress on Evangelism. More than 2,000 Himalayan church leaders came to Siliguri, India on January 15, 1996 by bus, plane and even on foot. Siliguri, in the state of West Bengal, is strategically located at the northernmost tip of India bordering Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. Already a number of key events in the region have raised the banner of Jesus.

One of those key events (upon whose shoulders HIM-COE '96 stood) is the Nepal AD2000 Congress on Evangelism held in October 1994 with 1,200 key Nepalese Christians with the active involvement of Dr. Thomas Wang, International Board Chairman of the AD2000 & Beyond Movement. HIM-COE '96 was also influenced by the Global Consultation on World Evangelization (GCOWE '95) held in May in Seoul, Korea with 4,000 participants from 186 countries with a good number of people from the Himalayas.

At HIM-COE '96, key participants from India not only rejoiced at all they observed taking place in Nepal, the Indian leaders shared in workshops and plenary sessions about the state by state and district by district harvest networks emerging to reach the unreached peoples in North and East India, networks which were encouraged through the GCOWE '95 process.

HIM-COE '96 was the first major AD2000 sponsored meeting following the launch of Joshua Project 2000 in December 1995 with participation from 77 countries. Joshua Project 2000 is a global cooperative effort to establish a church-planting movement among the remaining unreached peoples of the world. What has occurred in Nepal in the last five years demonstrates that perhaps the most effective way of reaching the unreached peoples in a country are by Christians from that country working together in country-wide AD2000 initiatives.

What are the Himalayas?

The Himalayan (Sanskrit for "abode of snow") mountain system in South Asia comprises a series of parallel and converging ranges forming the highest mountain region in the world. More than 30 peaks of the Himalayas rise to heights of 7,620 meters (25,000 feet) or more, and one of these, Mount Everest (8,848 m/29,028 ft), is the world's highest mountain. The vast Himalayan complex extends in an arc of about 2,410 kilometers (about 1,500 miles) from the Indus River in northern Pakistan eastward across Kashmir, northern India, part of southern Tibet, and most of Nepal, and Bhutan; the system covers an area of about 594,400 sq km (about 229,500 sq mi).

Participants to HIM-COE '96 came from Himalayan tribal groups, including 600 who came from the northern Indian state of Sikkim. The Sikkim Deputy Minister came as a special guest with the Chief of Police. In his remarks, the Deputy Minister spoke of his personal commitment to Jesus Christ. He indicated in a conversation afterwards that he estimates between ten and twenty percent of the people of Sikkim are Christians. In the evening cultural programs at HIM-COE '96, members of the different peoples celebrated the redemptive work of God in their midst through drama, music, poetry and dance. This was almost entirely a non-western conference in initiative, participants and finances (funded one-third from the participants and their churches, one-third from Chinese churches and one-third from Korean Christians).

A powerful, pictorial portrayal of the dramatic advance of the gospel in the Himalayan region was displayed in the harvest dance by the Tamang people of Nepal. Alternating men and women dressed in beautiful native garb began slowly moving around in a circle, casting seed on to the land. As the dance progressed, the tempo increased and climaxed with a dramatic harvest. Who would have imagined just ten years ago that this people movement toward Christ, would embrace village after village, with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 today being followers of Jesus Christ.

As I watched the Tamang harvest dance, I asked myself the question, "What are the influencing factors in a country where a church for every people and the Gospel for every person is becoming a reality in such a brief period of time?" The remarkable spiritual breakthrough in Nepal was addressed by Nepali leader Niconor Tamang: "We have experienced a supernatural visitation by the Sovereign God. There is just no other human explanation." In discussion with participants, missionaries, historians and those who have observed the amazing advance of the gospel, the following were the most pertinent points.

Contributing factors toward a successful national model of "A church for every people and the Gospel for every person."

1. Goal setting by faith in a unified effort by national Christian leaders

This can be especially effective if goals can be conceived and articulated in conjunction with the projected overall welfare of a country and the vision of its leaders.

In 1987, the King of Nepal declared that the standard of living for Nepal would be along the lines of all Asia. When the Christian leaders heard that statement, they decided to try and cooperate with the King in his objective. These Christian leaders included Tirpa Thaka, who then served as the general secretary of the National Evangelical Fellowship of Nepal, and the current general secretary, Rev. Dr. Mangal Man Maharjan. They set goals by faith including: 1) making the gospel available to the more than 20 million people of Nepal with 2) the expectation of seeing at least 2 million of them coming to Jesus and 3) the establishment of 8,000 local churches.

2. Willingness to pay the price for faith in Christ One person who has paid the price is Reshem Raj Poudel. He came from Pokhara, Kaski in West Nepal from the high caste (a Brahmin). He

became a Hindu Priest and a trainer of Hindu Priests. He learned the Hindu Scriptures thoroughly. He could quote many texts from memory, including Gita 4:7-8 which reads, "I Krishna come to seek and destroy the sinner." Then one day he was in his library reading through a resource book, the New Testament. He came across the verse in Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (NIV).

Impressed by the compassionate character of the God of the Bible, Reshem gave his life to Christ. It was 1962. Kicked out of his home, he found himself in prison two years later. Every two hours he was beaten by the police. He had no food for four days and nights. His leg was broken as he was kicked in the beatings. And this was but the beginning. He was severely persecuted for his faith twenty-two times in police custody, thrown in jail three times, and spent a total of two years in jail, yet he persevered. Reshem says, "We paid the price for our nation, now the nation rightfully belongs to us. "

3. Awareness of the supernatural powers that be In Nepalese culture the people have been instructed about Himalaya, the King of the Mountains. Numerous shrines can be found among the mountains to invoke deities and spirits of the area. Hindu mythological texts speak of the "glories of Himachal" another word for Himalaya. It is obvious that the supernatural is integrated into the Nepalese world-view, without anyone conducting a conscientious spiritual mapping exercise for that region. As the people of the Himalayas come to Christ, they come with an openness to the supernatural demonstration of God's power that encourages a simple faith that "moves mountains."

Norman Beale is an Episcopalian advocate for the one million West Tamang people who live north and northwest of Kathmandu and has ministered among them for many years. He has observed what could be called "a people movement." Says Beale, "It was simultaneous, decentralized and coordinated with minimum foreign missionary influence." He attributes this to signs and wonders, the withstanding of persecution and the release from fear of demons.

4. Intercessory prayer Many people have been praying for the country of Nepal over the years. Among those was a group of God's people who joined together from around the world in October 1993 in Praying Through the Window I. At least 4,700 intercessors were reported to the Christian Information Network office who prayed for that country. Twelve prayer teams, consisting of 180 team members, traveled to Nepal. One prayer team reported an amazing incident that occurred. They set up a medical clinic in one Nepali city. A Hindu priest brought in his five-year-old daughter who had been paralyzed on her right side for three months. The doctors could do nothing for her, but the team believed the Lord could. Team members asked permission and prayed for healing. The girl stood up and walked across the room healed! The priest and the doctors all received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and the priest even handed out gospel tracts outside the clinic.

5. People group thinking Although there are many similarities among the peoples living in Nepal, there are some 100 distinct languages and people groups. There is an awareness of the need to take the gospel cross-culturally to other people groups. John Robb of World Vision, coordinator of the AD2000 Unreached Peoples Global Network, held the first unreached people seminar in Nepal in 1989 with ninety percent representation of the key leadership of the church. It was the Nepal Christian Fellowship at the time. They trekked for four days to get to the seminar. At that meeting, Robb observed that the Nepalese captured the people group concept and the need to go cross-culturally in the country. In 1991, a second seminar was held.

People group thinking pervaded HIM-COE '96. Titus Long from Hong Kong, who has served in recent years preparing Asian cross-cultural missionaries out of Singapore, observed as he left the Himalayan meeting, "HIM-COE '96 was the start of awareness of the call and potential to send missionaries to other peoples of the Himalayas and beyond. We are looking forward to a strong emphasis on missions at the next conference, HIM-COE '98."

Participants endorsed the HIM-COE '96 Declaration, which was entirely prepared by a group of local participants and which included a strong emphasis on action steps oriented toward the evangelization of the other peoples. This emphasis could be especially seen in the last four of the seven resolutions:

1. To establish a "Research [and] Resource Center" to serve the churches of the Himalayan region, to study their present situation and needs, to find out the unreached people groups and communities of the region, and to facilitate communications and cooperative efforts between the churches of the Himalayas to bring the Gospel to every person and to see new churches planted among every people of the Himalayas. 2. To encourage the development of different levels of training, including theological colleges and a cross-cultural Missionary Training Center to meet this great need of the churches, and to train as many committed leaders and cross-cultural missionaries as possible. 3. To get involved in world evangelization by all possible means, specifically by developing programs to reach the Himalayan Region, and by encouraging the maintenance of brotherly love and unity among ourselves. 4. To form regional bodies within the Himalayas, to work in cooperation with existing national bodies for the fulfillment of the goals we have set at this congress among the various church groups and organizations represented.

6. Encouragement from outside Christians without developing dependency

In the story of the revival and mass Christian movement in Nepal, you will discover a notable absence of the dominant influence of outside missionaries. At the same time, there has been a contribution as others have come in as servants to encourage the church in Nepal, such as veteran missionary Cindy Perry. An Oxford University trained Ph.D., Cindy Perry, author of two books on Christianity in Nepal and Christianity among the Nepalese, has served fifteen years in Nepal. She served as the international coordinator of HIM-COE '96.

Indian-born John Richard, Associate International Director of AD2000 & Beyond, visited Nepal in 1991 and reported on the remarkable goals of Christian leaders. Chinese-born Thomas Wang, from the Great Commission Center and Chairman of the International Board of the AD2000 & Beyond Movement, played a major role in both the October 1994 Nepal Congress on Evangelism, at which 1,200 church leaders participated, and HIM-COE '96. Argentine-born Luis Palau spoke on Easter 1994 and saw some 1,600 inquiries. Billy Graham's Global Mission registered close to 900 decisions for Christ.

7. Systematic and geographically-based evangelization efforts

Nepal has been literally saturated with the gospel in five years. >From the time the constitution was changed in 1990 to allow for greater religious freedom to the present, almost every village in every district has had gospel witness through local evangelists, national teams involved in Christian literature distribution, the "Jesus" film, gospel recordings, radio and other means. All fifty-one peoples of Nepal listed in the Joshua Project 2000 list of least evangelized peoples could now be said to have had the gospel preached to each person!

Solon Karthak, Director of Every Home For Christ (EHC) Concern, has distributed Christian literature to all but 8 of the 75 districts, where 22 million Nepalese people reside. In the process EHC has received more than 180,000 decision cards, which is but one indication of the remarkable responsiveness of the Nepali people today.

Reshem Raj Poudel has visited 72 out of the 75 districts, mostly on foot, giving his testimony and preaching in 6 different languages. He established the Gospel Outreach Center in 1987, which includes a Bible correspondence course, follow up and church-planting ministry. By December 1995 the number of students enrolled passed 50,000. Many of them have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. At least 526 groups of more than 15 believers now exist, plus 80 local churches.

East Nepal Evangelism 2000, coordinated by Campus Crusade for Christ's New Life 2000 program, targeted six million people in that region. They sent 116 evangelists during the month of March in 1995. Joshua Tiwari has trained 130 church planters. His goal is to saturate the rest of the country.

Effective Follow-up Plans

One of the major emphases of HIM-COE '96 was the follow-up program. The 2000 delegates came mainly from eight different regions of the Himalayan area, namely, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Darjeeling Hills, Jaipalguri, Northwest India and Northeast India. Eight Regional Committees were formed for the responsibility of follow-up coordination and evangelization work in their regions.

Each committee met by themselves for two afternoons to hammer out concrete and practical follow-up plans for their own regions. On the last day of the Congress, each chairperson of the committees were given seven minutes to report their regional follow-up plans for the entire congregation to hear and to learn from each other.

The climax of HIM-COE '96 came at the closing session which was a commissioning service for the eight regional committees members who marched to the front of the huge tent with banners held high to receive thunderous prayer and goodwill from the 2000 delegates. It was an historic moment!

The closing session also saw the formal announcement of the election of a central follow-up committee chaired by Rev. Adon Rongong, Director of Campus Crusade For Christ in Nepal, for the coordination of the entire area and also for the preparation of HIM-COE '98.

With the overwhelming endorsement of the Siliguri Declaration by the 2000 delegates, and the subsequent formation of a research committee with Dr. Cindy Perry as its mentor, HIM-COE '96 concluded on a high note of forward-looking expectancy. But in all reality, HIM-COE '96 was not a conclusion, but rather the second stage of an accelerating rocket hurtling towards HIM-COE '98 and GCOWE '99 for 5000 Christian leaders in New Delhi and of course AD 2000 and beyond!

Conclusion Nepali Christian leader Niconor Tamang, on the way to the airport following HIM-COE '96, spoke of the strength of the meeting: 1) All came under one umbrella which was Christ. There were no apparent divisions evident. 2) The people at the meeting represented the Who's Who in Christian circles in the Himalayas at this time. 3) There was a forward-leaning vision. "What will happen in the future is more important than what happened at HIM-COE '96. Significant plans were prepared by the participants from each of eight different Himalayan regions."

God is moving mightily in the Himalayan region and very notably in the country of Nepal. What has occurred in Nepal in just five years can stimulate Christians from any country of the world to expect great things from God and to attempt great things for God. The incredible growth of Christianity in Nepal has been promoted by previously mentioned factors. These factors, plus others which may be revealed, can be replicated in other countries.

Praises be to God for what was seen and heard at the Himalayan AD2000 Congress on Evangelism '96. It is only through His might and power that we may continue to hope and believe for "a church for every people and the Gospel for every person."

Luis Bush is the International Director for the AD2000 and Beyond Movement. You may contact them at

AD2000 and Beyond Movement 2860 South Circle Dr. Suite 2112 Colorado Springs, CO 80906 719-576-2000