by Jon Konnerup
This past October, I visited Nepal for the second time in my life. The trip brought to mind memories of my first visit nine years earlier.
I remembered how the smoke and smell of incense permeated the air. Clanging bells, whose purpose was to catch a god’s attention, sounded from different directions. Prayer wheels spun. Angry looking gods made of stone and people lighting candles and smearing flowers to appease them were everywhere. Lines of young men being trained as monks walked the streets as other religious leaders with painted faces offered counsel and raised funds for their temples. Rivers flowed with the ashes of the dead who had just been cremated.
The stench of death hung in the air where animals were being sacrificed for various religious purposes. Streets were crowded with people and motorcycles in the hustle and bustle of an ordinary business day. There didn’t seem to be much joy or peace on people’s faces. Even children seemed to have that empty look of desperation in their eyes. That day, my first day in Kathmandu, Nepal, with all its sights and sounds will always be etched in my memory.
It was December of 2000 and I had never been in a city or with a people where I felt such a spiritual heaviness and darkness. Bob and Ann Baird, Otis Nixdorf, and I were in Nepal to meet with David and Karen Freeman, who had recently been sent there from Taiwan. Having just arrived from my first visit to China, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My mind was full of all I had seen in China, and I was still contemplating all the opportunities that were available there. However, what I saw in Kathmandu, Nepal, put all those things on hold as I was reminded of what Paul saw and explained in Act 17:16:
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
The next day was not as bleak, as we visited a converted family who had given their lives to Jesus Christ through the testimony and evangelism of the Freemans. We met in their home for dinner and ate a delicious Nepalese meal (I might add that it was so good I had to have seconds). On that evening, I began to see a glimpse of hope for Nepal as Jeevan and Usha Sharma, along with their children, shared how they believed God wanted to use them to reach their people with the truth of the gospel and plant a church along with the Freemans. From that time on I began to pray for Jeevan. He is from the highest level of a caste system followed in the Nepalese culture. He is not supposed to participate in any way with the “untouchables,” and yet he shared how God was calling him to reach all classes of his people.
Nepal is one of the most interesting countries in the world. It has always been a mysterious place that only religious zealots or hippies knew much about. This is where the Beatles got their final indoctrination in Eastern religions. Nepal is famous for having the highest point on earth, Mount Everest. For hundreds of years it was a Hindu kingdom that kept the gospel of Jesus Christ at bay through a rigid system of religious and civil laws. It was illegal to be a Christian in Nepal until 1991. Persecution of Christians has always been a reality in Nepal, and still is today.
Yet in this small, mysterious, closed-to-the-gospel Himalayan country, the Lord opened the door by using Jeevan and Usha, along with the Freemans, to establish a Baptist congregation in 2002. The church quickly grew from weekly Bible studies to an organized congregation. Meeting in rented facilities, the church rapidly developed the need for their own building, so they began a building project in 2004. Eventually, in 2007, enough funds had been raised (partly through the Missionary Projects Offering) to erect the building, and it was completed in December 2008. Because of civil unrest caused by the rebel communists, it was unsafe to visit at that time. But, in October 2009, I had the opportunity to return to the country on my way back from Japan.
Joy filled my heart as I saw what God had been doing since my first visit in 2000. Yes, there is still great spiritual darkness, but there is now a strong light shining through many churches where the gospel of Christ is now being preached. I had the opportunity to speak for a leadership seminar where 35 pastors plus 20 church lay leaders attended. Kathmandu Bible Baptist Church has grown as many people have been pulled away from false religions and their sins and brought to the light of Jesus. An AWANA program was started which brought many children and their families to salvation. On average, 75 children per week attend church.
I gave a challenge to the people from the book of Nehemiah prompting a greater dedication of them to the Lord and to a future work for Christ. I urged them to remember, “This building is a gift from the Lord. You now have the great responsibility to use it for His glory in Kathmandu, Nepal, and to the uttermost parts of the world.” The banner painted for the dedication briefly states the mission of the Kathmandu Bible Baptist Church: “For the glory and honor of Jesus Christ in Kathmandu.” Their prayer is that God’s glory will fill the earth starting in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Since the Freemans first went to Nepal, it has been difficult and almost impossible to get a permanent permit to live there. However, some new opportunities are presenting themselves whereby the Freemans, and perhaps others God might be calling to Nepal, may be able to remain in the country on a permanent basis. There are many other cities, towns, and villages scattered throughout the Himalayan Mountains where there is little or no gospel witness. May the churches of the BBFI rise up and send missionaries to this mysterious, spiritually dark country that is beginning to see some light — the light of Jesus Christ.