Chinese believers visit Nepal to gain vision for reaching the unreached
The dusty roads of Nepal were bustling with motorbikes dodging pedestrians, stray dogs, and deep potholes. Our group of ten Chinese friends wandered these streets, taking in the new environment and culture. Small temples on every corner with small offerings of fruit and incense attracted locals doing their daily prayers as well as tourists snapping artsy photos. This place was a beautiful mix of multiple Asian cultures.
My teammate and I had brought a group of friends who had recently gone through their first Xplore study to Nepal. Our purpose was for them to learn in person the places they had been studying and have time away from their normal, daily life to see how God is working in other places in the world. Many of our friends had never been to a place like Nepal. We were proud of them for having a willing spirit to see how God would transform them in a place so out of their comfort zone. My teammate, Jordan*, was previously a missionary in Nepal, so we spent time with her contacts in local churches- hearing their stories and learning about the ways God had been working in the city.
We learned that Nepal’s population is 84% Hindu and is home to 275 different people groups. Although the Church in Nepal is small, it is growing! The pastors of the churches shared with us that it is imperative that people gain a missional heart to reach the people of Nepal with the Gospel. Many of the people groups in Nepal live within the Himalaya mountain range, making them difficult to reach. We now saw firsthand how there is a crucial need for more laborers for this harvest in Nepal.
One pastor even told us, “You are the first group of Chinese missionaries that have visited our church.”
Our group was surprised at how excited the Nepali pastors were to have them at their churches and in their homes. Many nights we would sit together on the floors of their homes sharing traditional Nepali meals and sharing stories. Our visit gave the pastors hope that future Chinese believers would gain vision to come to Nepal to share the hope of Jesus with those who had never heard. We had the privilege to share with the Nepali pastors all that is happening within the Chinese church and how the vision to reach those within China and surrounding China is growing. We also had the opportunity to pray over the pastors, their churches, and for both Chinese and Nepali believers to have a desire to reach the unreached within Nepal.
After we arrived back home, we had the chance to debrief with those we had brought on the trip. We all agreed that one of the ways God worked most within our time was our ability to give hope to the Nepali church as well as be encouraged ourselves. Our group was encouraged for the opportunity to worship together with people of other cultures as the body of Christ. Chinese brothers and sisters often spend their entire life surrounded by people just like them. It inspired unity in the worldwide family of Christ for them to have time with brothers and sisters from a place so different from their home. For many believers, unreached people groups can quickly just become numbers on a page or dots on a map in faraway places.
There is no better teacher than experiencing something for yourself. For many believers, unreached people groups can quickly just become numbers on a page or dots on a map in faraway places.
One of the most exciting tasks in mobilizing the Chinese church is showing them how close in proximity they are to the unreached. Within China there are several hundred people groups classified as unreached, who live in our city… Chinese believers just don’t know it.
But for these particular Chinese believers, they now returned with entirely new visions for their lives. We began to see how the experience of the trip dramatically kickstarted change in many of our friends’ lives.
One of the women has been praying every single morning for the unreached in the world. A married couple that traveled with us is praying for and now planning on moving to Nepal to help the church thrive there. Another woman who had been praying for a while about going to an unreached Muslim majority group is now certain that is what the Lord has for her in her career as a physician. All of this simply from getting face to face for a week with the need in a country right next door!
Join us in praying for more Asian believers to gain vision for expanding God’s Kingdom on earth. We pray that more believers around the world would begin to learn about other cultures and what God is doing in other places in the world, so that they may be encouraged and also know the vast harvest that waits for laborers like you and me.
*Name changed for security purposes.