Planting Together in Nepal

And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Nobody climbs Mount Everest alone. To accomplish great things, we all need team-mates and a supporting cast to pick us up.

My wife Bimala and I returned to Nepal having completed the Discipleship Course at Smithton, Tasmania, Australia in early December 2009. We then took a few weeks to pray for the Lord’s guidance regarding where to start our work of evangelism. During this time of waiting, the city of Pokhara came to mind, and we made a trial visit to it. This visit gave us confidence to settle there. The Holy Spirit was guiding us, through God’s Word and circumstances.

During the initial stage, we went through a big humbling period in which all our human zeal, experiences and resources were proved worthless. Our education, professional experience and skills failed and we did not know what to do. The Lord performed spiritual surgery on us, and we went through a painful time.

Pokhara Assembly

At the point where we felt completely written off, it was then that God’s power began to work through us. God started using the dead kernel of our “Self“ to produce many new seeds. As a result, Pokhara Christian Assembly was eventually established on 11th September 2010. Although we thought it was too early for us to cover an area outside Pokhara, the Lord’s timing and will prevailed, and the work expanded both within Pokhara and outside.

Thapathana Christian Assembly

Another new church plant called Thapathana Christian Assembly in the town of Thapathana, 60 km south west from Pokhara, was established on June 14th 2014. Our prayers resulted in the unexpected miraculous healing of a demon possessed man here, and the Lord used this to open up the way for the gospel. Many follow-up visits proved fruitful and new people got saved. The family of Mahalal and Bipana are currently leading the assembly.

Dedgaun Assembly

Yet again, the Lord’s work further expanded to another town, this time in Dedgaun, 60 km south east from Pokhara. A third church plant was established here on 22nd January 2022. This is the hometown of Brother Padam, who was saved in Pokhara. He has a burden for the people of Dedgaun. The regular prayerful outreach and visits to the area resulted in the salvation of locals. Padam and Laxmi are undertaking the role of leadership here, having received the call of God.

Blessings in Disguise

The coronavirus pandemic turned out in the end to be a blessing in disguise, as God opened up a new mode of evangelism – online gospel meetings to new contacts from distant areas. At present, two groups are hearing the gospel through zoom. The first group consists of Nepalese working or studying mainly in Japan, but also a few from other countries. The other group consists of students from distant local towns.

The production of the YouTube Gospel Series and a number of doctrinal videos as a joint work with another two leaders from Kathmandu (Br. Bir Bahadur and Br. Jitendra – Former GLO students), was another positive result from the long isolation periods enforced during the pandemic.

Ministry partners

Now, as before, we are mostly focused on personal evangelism and online evangelism. Teaching, training, shepherding, and publishing are other dimensions of the ministry we are involved in. We understand that all the work God has accomplished through us is the result of the contribution of our many seen and unseen prayerful ministry partners.

The Korean missionary Br. GM Choi, who initially shared the gospel with us, is our spiritual mentor.

GLO too has provided us with practical skills for the ministry and connected us with many supporting prayer warriors. We always feel that as a part of the GLO team, we are in a caring family of God-loving saints.

Thirteen years have now passed since God took us to GLO for evangelistic training in 2009. We are really thankful to the Lord for making us a part of this passionate team of GLO, which solely exists for the glory of God.

We also praise the Lord for the generosity of the saints from different areas of the world who help support our work because of their love for Him.

Challenges Faced

The anti-Christian sentiment and pro-Hindu activism throughout the country is the first challenge that we face. New believers often face persecution from their families. These families might also bring legal action against the church, in line with the government’s anti-conversion laws.

The lack of employment in the country and severe poverty forces many educated Nepalese saints to migrate to foreign countries to find work. This results in a poorer Christian environment for those left behind.

The lack of harvesters as described in Matthew 9:37-38 further contributes to the difficulties faced.

Fulfilling Our Calling

However, our prayerful aim is to prepare as many leaders as possible to live for the cause of Christ and His gospel. We aim to achieve this by sharing our passion for Christ through regular teaching and fellowship. We intend to continuously use the church in Pokhara as a base for all future work- preaching, teaching, training, and sending.

We ask that you pray that the Lord will enable us to fulfill His call for our lives. We also pray that poverty-stricken saints may find encouragement in the Lord, and that He will continue to raise up passionate leaders who will share the gospel of Christ far and wide.