Nepal (MNN) — Nepal is known for having eight of the ten highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest. The Himalayas crawl across northern Nepal, and the rugged terrain makes remote communities extremely difficult to access.
Recently in these mountains of northwestern Nepal, a Nepali Christian leader named Amir* climbed to the top of a peak with a group of fellow believers. Together, these Christians had a goal. They looked across to the next ridge of mountains and there in the fading dusk, they saw something that moved their hearts.
Galen* with Global Disciples shares, “As it was getting dark, the lights were coming on, flickering on in villages across the side of the mountain and they realized that no one has gone with the Gospel to those areas…. He said beyond that mountain there’s another and there’s another all the way to Tibet where there are many villages that have no witness to the Gospel, no believers, and no Church.
“So their goal is to continue to reach to the next mountain.”
Nepali Christians worshipping together. (Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)
Amir is from a remote community himself that just six years ago had no Gospel presence. But then a discipleship mission training program with Global Disciples decided to go share the news of Jesus Christ with his village and the surrounding area.
“When they got there, they realized the Lord had been preparing the way,” says Galen. “People were receptive [and] they prayed for a number of people who were healed.”
Now there are seven churches in that area working together to disciple new believers. Amir is burdened to take the Gospel to other remote villages across the mountains. Together with other Christians in nearby villages, that is exactly what they are doing.
Global Disciples equips Christian leaders like Amir to make disciples as they plant churches and share Christ. Those disciples then teach and train other new disciples, creating a spiritual ripple in the region. Global Disciples especially works in areas where communities are least-reached with the Gospel.
Galen explains, “The secret in making disciples is equipping those disciples to make disciples. So in the training programs that we help the local churches to develop, they select their own trainer — someone who has demonstrated the ability to make disciples who will equip others. So we have disciples going who are prepared not only to gather people in a new fellowship of believers, but are prepared to disciple those people so they will go onto neighboring communities and share the Good News.”
(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)
Only 1.4 percent of the Nepali people are Christians. Hinduism dominates roughly 82 percent of the Nepali population.
“There is increased resistance in many areas of Nepal due to some of the more radical Hindu movements. So there is a real need for prayer for those who are being sent out, to be able to relate with those who may resist their message in ways that communicate the love of Christ,” shares Galen.
“There is also a need for prayer that will enable those who are hearing the Gospel for the first time to see convincing signs and evidence of the power of God because all of them have their religious framework. It’s usually only through some sort of miracle or miraculous activity that their eyes are opened to the reality that Jesus is not just another God in the lineup of gods, but someone who really deserves their complete loyalty and worship.”
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*Names changed for security purposes.