Despite Severe Persecution, Nepal's Christian Church Growing Rapidly
by Allie Martin
May 9, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An interdenominational Christian organization that works to advocate for religious freedom and raise awareness about human rights abuses against the Church has launched a campaign to help the persecuted Christian minority in Nepal. Last month the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning, urging Americans not to travel to Nepal due to civil unrest there. Recent reports say Hindu extremism is on the increase in that country, and those who convert to Christianity face persecution from local leaders and the government.
Nat Moffat is chairman of Christian Freedom International (CFI), an organization that is involved in distributing food, medicine, and Bibles and providing legal assistance to Christians in Nepal. On a recent visit, he says his group spent time with members of the nation's underground Christian church and observed the conditions they are facing.
"House churches, as in many other places, are illegal," Moffat notes. "We visited one at an undisclosed location in Katmandu and found 26 people in a seven-by-ten-foot room -- that's about three square feet per person. They meet each Saturday, and there are dozens and dozens of churches just like this one."
According to the U.S. State Department, Hindus make up 81 percent of Nepal's population, while Buddhists make up 11 percent and Muslims make up 4.2 percent. Christians, on the other hand, make up less than 1 percent of the population. CFI officials report that Christians living in the majority Hindu state are facing increasingly harsh treatment, yet Moffat says the Christian community is growing, despite opposition from local Hindu leaders and government authorities.
"One of the pastors we talked to at this house church -- and we can just call him by his initials, D.K. -- has noted that the persecution is getting worse for Christians," the CFI spokesman notes. He says the house church leader has pointed out "that there are pastors in custody, and that many Hindu leaders don't want Christianity to spread, but he says it's spreading fast."
In a way, what is happening in Nepal is "a good news-bad news situation for Christians," Moffat observes. "Yes, they are being persecuted terribly," he says, "but the community of believers is growing fast."
Christian Freedom International has launched a number of new operations to help Nepal's persecuted Christians. In addition to providing the needy with medicine, food, Bibles and legal aid, he notes, the organization is involved in micro-enterprise and other development programs.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
