wfn.org | Presbyterians urged to pray for Nepal

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Note #7056 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

15-February-2002
02067

Presbyterians urged to pray for Nepal

by John Filiatreau

The leader of an ecumenical group working with a small but growing Christian church in Nepal urged Presbyterians last week to pray for peace in the Hindu kingdom.

Jenny Collins, executive director of United Mission to Nepal (UMN), said the mountain nation between Indian and China now has 400,000 to 500,000 Christians, who embody hope for a better future in one of the poorest and least-developed countries on Earth.

UMN is an ecumenical organization that represents 29 member churches and 25 related organizations in Nepal, a country of about 22 million people that wasn't exposed to Christianity until it was opened to the West in 1952. The Presbyterian Church (USA) was one of eight founding members of UMN.

Collins said the nascent Christian church in Nepal is "vibrant, alive and growing," although the country is still overwhelmingly (85 percent) Hindu, and evangelism is against the law. She pointed out that, until the early 1990s, when the ruling monarchy gave up power and instituted a democratic form of government, it was against the law for a Nepali to change religions or encourage anyone else to do so.

Collins said Christians in the country are working to improve conditions in public health, education and rural development, which since the coming of democracy actually "have worsened for the average Nepali" outside the capital of Kathmandu. Political dissatisfaction and complaints of governmental corruption have given rise to a violent "Maoist" insurgency that has reduced tourism, a pillar of the economy, by 60 percent.

Collins said UMN, which employs about 1,000 Nepalis and works through Nepali organizations, makes Christ known "by deed and life."

"In many places where we work, particularly in rural areas where we've had a project or a hospital or something, a church has grown," she said. "We are not able to 'proselytize,' although it's hard to know what that means, but the (Christian) church's whole focus at the moment as a young church is on evangelism and church growth. ... Since the mid-1980s there has been a proliferation of denominations."

Collins said the country has been politically and spiritually adrift since June 2001, when more than a dozen members of the royal family, including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, were killed in a bizarre attack at their palace in Kathmandu. According to eyewitnesses, the murders were the work of Crown Prince Dipendra, who was killed. The king's brother, Prince Gyanendra, who had been out of the country at the time of the attacks, was crowned king.

"I think the main thing you can do is pray," Collins said. "Pray for peace. Pray that the government will find a way to actually negotiate some sort of agreement with the Maoists."

The PC(USA) has several mission co-workers and short-term volunteers assigned to the UMN to provide support and training to Nepali staff and programs.
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