Anyone asking the question “why?” either knows that the answer is very simple or is fully convinced that there is no answer in this side of eternity.  As a Christian and particularly as a person involved in the missions of the kingdom of God, one thing that constantly compels me to ask the question why is when I see conmen so easily being trusted with huge resources that would eventually be squandered.  If those resources fall into the hands of faithful ones; it could have done wonders for the expansion of God’s kingdom.  Lately the question came to my mind when an American friend of mine said how the Lord provided a helper for his ministry.  When he told the name of the person, I was dumbfounded!  I had to work hard to hide my reaction to that news.  It was so unreal to hear.  About five years ago that same person was with our ministry, but did a great damage to his own life and also to the lives of the other believers.  Finally he left the ministry all together and became so debased that he deliberately would contact our fellow believers and explain to them the number of prostitutes he had visited that week.  He never returned to Church.  But now he is one of the main leaders into this new ministry with full financial assistance.  You may think that he must have repented and confessed his sins…and he may have done so.  But the records and his own confession revealed that he had had this problem from years gone by and never seemed to be free from it.  I wished my friend a good luck without telling him anything about the person…sometimes wonder whether that was good or not…but again who am I to judge.  At least the fellow has a good paying job.

The issue is more complicated when it comes to missions in country like ours.  I know some of my friends who are so sincere and are taking great pains to make through the day and still faithful to carry on the ministry the Lord has called them for.  With great difficulty they are able to send their children to some very ordinary schools.  They cannot even afford to buy a bicycle for transportation, and live in one room along with their children.   Because they do not have the financial freedom, their ministry potentials remain unfulfilled.  These brothers and sisters are some of the most dedicated and gifted servants of the Lord when it comes to preaching and teaching of the word.  They have dreams and vision to see their homeland won to Christ.  But due to the terrible state of the nation, they do not have the resources to achieve their dreams of seeing this nation come to Christ.  When the going gets so tough, they wish to partner with some churches or mission agencies from the affluent nations that could have alleviated their sufferings with minimum of contribution.  With fraction of assistance from some of such partners, they could have affected the destiny of so many souls.  With prayer and fasting they do contact with some of these mission agencies not only for their personal needs but also the needs of the work of God; needs of the their fellow ministers.  But to this day I have never seen such people being trusted by the so called mission agencies or churches.  They are always given a cold response or an outright rejection.

But to our dismay, after rejecting to work with some of the most committed and faithful individuals, these same agencies or churches easily trust a crooked person to establish their national headquarters making such conmen as their national supervisors, directors and so on.  They start pumping the resources helping their national leaders to live in luxury; building houses for them and buying most expensive cars.  The same question comes, why?  Why is it that these mission agencies love to work with a crafty person than faithful ones?  Why are swindlers, frauds, and adulterers trusted in missions than genuine individuals?  Is it because the mission is now no longer a thing of the kingdom of God?  May be the mission agencies have now completely moved away from God the Holy Spirit who guides and have made mission purely a human enterprise.  Because it is purely a human enterprise, it is possible that they need such cleaver and cunning partners in the mission fields who can provide a good return for them.  But to me, it is still a mystery, but a mystery that is fully revealed and yet the question keeps coming back.  In the biblical language, I have to join with Habakkuk and ask God “why are the wicked prospering?”, and the answer comes back, “the righteous shall live by faith”, for “without faith it is impossible to please God”.  May be the Lord allows his genuine servants to go through the hardships in life so that they will remain faithful to him knowing that there is no one to trust apart from Him.  “The righteous shall live by faith” because man does not live by bread alone.  With this many answers, the question “why?” remains.

It has been more than a month that I signed in to Xanga.  Time is running fast and my Thesis is still very stubborn to move ahead.  The supervisor is equally helping the lazy thesis to remain where it is.  And to make matters more complicated, my room mates have decided that they will never sleep nor leave the room; and library, don't ask about it.  The hard chairs make my back ache like anything and my laptop has begun to act like a windmill sending the low wave of noise that everyone in the library thinks that I am some kind of insensitive creature disgracing their brand new laptops; "if everyone can bring the noisy laptops to library, why should we spend the money to buy a new one?"

The weather has also decided to help my thesis; the economic crisis has sent an allergy for the airconditionars and fans are no match to the Korean heat.  By the end of this month, the dorm where I live is going to be demolished to give a way for a new building, and have no idea where they will store me after.

But the good news is that God is not bothered by anything at all.  Sorry that I had forgotten to mention to my xanga friends that on May 23, a church in Kathmandu was bombed, three killed and many seriously injured.  The Hindu group wants to vanish the Christians out of the country.  They had begun to serve the notice to many churches.  But yesterday morning, the police have nabbed the terrorist who placed that bomb in the church.  A 27 year old woman...can you imagine that a woman, the symbol of mother, care and nurture, safety and protection would step up to do the heinous act of killing the innocent in the name of Religion.  A mother and her 15 years old daughter along with another young bride who was in honeymoon to Kathmandu from India were killed in that blast...very sad day for the church in Nepal.

I am now almost four months away from home, family and church.  Family is doing all right but the fear and apprehension without the husband and father, specially when there are groups that are there to attack can be very worrisome.  Church is doing great too.  This will they will baptize a new group of members after I had left.  This gives me comfort that God works regardless of who leads the church.  The Succor team of our church lost to another team, but the boys were still complaining as how even in Christian sports there can be bias from the referee. 

I hope to catch you up sometimes soon again...please hold us in your prayers.

Introduction

Nepal is a small nation with about 141 thousand square kilometers of land stretching from west to east like a sausage nestled between two huge loaves; China and India.  Nearly 30 million people live on the 30% of the land and the rest is covered with high mountains and Himalayas. The nation is divided in 14 zones and 75 districts with diverse people groups. Majority of the population is comprised of Brahmins and Chhetris, who consider themselves as the real Hindus and are known as Aryans along with others castes among them. The remaining groups are made up of many tribes and ethnics. They look like Mongol-Tibetan tribes. Originally, they were not Hindu, but the conquest of the mini state-like kingdoms of medieval Nepal by a powerful Hindu King forced them to follow Hinduism. Today, majority of these Mongol-Tibetan groups are becoming Christians, possibly due to the political conquest associate with Hinduism, and also their animistic worldview makes them better prepared to accept the reality of a maker than a Hindu who is philosophically closed minded; for a Hindu, this world is not real, its only illusion and therefore, a quest for a maker is also illusory.  The other major hindrances for a Hindu to accept the teachings of Christ are the ancient claims of polytheism and pantheism in which either Jesus is one of the gods or everything is god and therefore, there is no need for one to change one’s religion. 

Apart from the worldview or the philosophical hindrances, the political psyche is equally a major cause of resistance to the gospel.  Historically, Nepal had to withstand the onslaught of invasion from the most powerful empire of the modern world.  After their repeated failure to conquer, the British were forced to make a peace treaty with Nepal, which they had rarely done in their attempt to conquer other nations.  This treaty would also help the ruling class in Nepal to hold on to power for generations to come in the expense of justice, freedom and equality for the subjects.  Nepalese were brutally oppressed and barred from the modernization of the world for nearly two and a half centuries.  Enlightenment, modernity and post modernity came and went from Europe, but Nepal remained in the medieval life.  The brave Nepalese who fought for their country and people, who stood against one of the most advancing armies of 19^th and 20^th centuries, and became successful in doing, were later hired by the British Empire as mercenaries and palace guards.  They earned the name Gorkhas and were considered to be most loyal who would defend their masters with ferocity of a lioness for her cubs.  But they did it only for the sake of money without the national dignity, and without the freedom in their homeland for their people.  Many received bravery awards, but one can imagine the irony of fighting for someone else’s country while your own country remains under the bondage and oppression.
         The Hindu King (Prithivi Narayan Shaha), who united Nepal and stood successfully against the British invasion, is considered as the father of the nation, to some extent by all, but especially by the Hindu nationalists.  He expelled the then residing Catholic missionaries in 1769 along with their native converts from Nepal, branding them as conspirators of the colonial powers ravaging India.[1]  The King then closed the door for any outside influence, especially Christians, and remained closed for two centuries.  To make matters worse, from 1848, the Rana prime minister usurped the king making himself as the hereditary dictator until 1950, and kept the doors closed for their own political advantage.[2]  Rana family not only closed the doors of the nation for outside influence, they also, in the age of reason and enlightenment, prohibited the public from education, learning and freedom, pushing the country back to the dark ages.   With such a political backdrop, in the earlier period of kings’ rule, Christians were considered as conspirators of the colonial powers, but when the Ranas took power, the British were seen as the friends of the most repressive regime in the history of Nepal.  This gave a false impression that the Christians and the colonial powers were one and the same; missionaries and their sympathizers were perceived as foreigners who had no regards to the plight of people, and therefore, Christians (white people) ought to be shunned by nation and freedom loving Nepalese.    

But the demise of the British Empire in India brought a new kind of dictatorship in Nepal which went back to the founding father in making Hinduism as the state religion and king becoming the god to be worshiped.  The doors for the outside influence were opened but not for Christianity.  However, Christianity could not be shutout and with the initiative of the native Nepali Christians living in India and the encouragement of a handful of mission agencies stationed there, the gospel entered, churches were established and a new Christian community emerged without much input from the outside world. Along with the Nepali Christians from India, several Christian INGOs also came in from various backgrounds, but these foreign entities were compelled to keep a distance from a newly emerging church, primarily because of the government restriction on their activities.[3]  The newly emerging Nepali Church was persecuted by the state and denied of their rights as citizens of the nation, but that did not hinder their zeal, commitment and passion to see their homeland evangelized. 

Until 1990, the missionaries and the mission agencies took a back seat and provided all the help they could to the national church leaders without interfering with the affairs of the local churches (at times, without the burden of accountability as well).  Denominational walls did not exist because; on the one hand, the missionaries could not be involved directly in the organization of the church due to the government restrictions, and on the other, the Nepali Church leaders were not trained in any formal theological schools or seminaries and had to lead the new church, and the only way to run the church for them, was the New Testament model cemented by the similar bedrock of persecution as in the book of Acts. 

But after the revolution of 1990, all the cementing factors came crumbling down.  Freedom to choose one’s religion was granted but proselytizing was punishable by imprisonment.  Nepali church found new way of adapting the new found freedom and began to grow in spite of human short comings.  The year 2006 saw another remarkable development for the history of Christianity in Nepal when the government declared Nepal a secular nation, abolishing monarchy, and along with it, Hinduism as a state religion. The election of the constituent assembly for drafting a new constitution has given the Nepali church a new breath of fresh hopes and aspirations (the precise nature of the new constitution is yet to be figured out).  “New Nepal” is the common phrase heard and seen in many places across Nepal these days and nothing less is expected from the Christian community which preaches the new life in Jesus Christ.  Yet, one has to be equally apprehensive to the actual nature of the church in times like these, and particularly, as seen from the post 1990, the signs are not very encouraging.  The infighting among the church leadership for power and resources has opened the floodgates of all kinds of attacks of the devil, and the church is losing respect in the eyes of non-Christians neighbors.  D.L. Moody’s statement “of one hundred people, one reads the Bible and 99 read the Christians” has become a nightmare for the post 1990 church in Nepal.  Bitterness, immorality, embezzlement of mission funds, deceptions and false reporting have become a norm for one to succeed in Nepal as a successful minister (of what?). If the post secular Nepal church does not want to become an obsolete body of weak minded, bread seeking, broken back, and paralyzed people of no power and influence, the following principles need to be prioritized and given ample attention.   

1.      Biblical foundation

For those who simply dismiss the value of a denomination may not have taken into consideration some of the heart wrenching issues facing the leadership in the formative years of any particular denomination. Issues like lawlessness, disorder, division, danger of cultic and unbiblical practices are but a few that most denominations would agree as why they came under one body to have discipline, order, unity and protection of a likeminded community.  Yes, indeed, over the course of time, the denomination itself loses the sight for its very existence and becomes the cause of stagnation instead of momentum.

        The church in Nepal is proud to have begun without any particular denominational badges, but is this pride really worth cherishing?  Nepali Christians banded together from various backgrounds and formed Nepal Christian Fellowship (NCF) in 1960 in order to give guidance and structure to the newly planted churches across Nepal.[4] It was an attempt to provide a covering and protection to various churches without interfering with their autonomy.  However, due to the absence of denominational missionaries and trained theologians, this fellowship failed to come up with the biblical identity of a national church, and the intended unity never materialized, neither in structure nor in doctrine.  Adding to their impotence was the increase in persecution and missionaries’ attention to their plight. Sympathetic missionaries attempted all they could to minimize the suffering of the persecuted brothers and sisters; making their case known to the outside world, and supplying the material needs.  This dynamic relationship of persecution and sympathy from missionaries shifted the focus of the Nepali church leadership from that of the book of Acts to the glorification of persecution and missionaries’ attention.  Some church leaders boasted about how they went through persecution and were willing to die, making the foundation of their churches on the suffering and persecution. Suffering for Christ became a badge of honor and respect leading to pride and arrogance.  The other group capitalized in the persecution as a whole and began to tap into the missionary attention with the hope of material gain.  This group laid the foundation of church on material gains.

        However, now the persecution is gone, and so the foundation of persecution.  But the other foundation of material gain has prospered even more after the 1990. The secular new Nepal appears to be more promising for these mammon seeking church leaders who are becoming successful in making the church a laughingstock in the eyes of a watching world.  There is no remedy for such men and women because their aim is not heaven or the eternal life; there is no fear of God in them.  So long as they get what they want, they will continue to fool the giving world with a form of godliness.

        But those who had laid the foundation of the church on persecution or some other foundations need to rethink of coming back to the Biblical understanding of the Church.  “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” is such a promising assurance, but this needs to be the case for the visible local church in Nepal.  Too many churches and leaders are laying perishable foundations like the foolish builder in the parable of Jesus.  Money, personality cult, political and ethnic persuasions are also becoming the foundations of the church in Nepal.  “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward” (1Cor. 3:11-14).  We need to pray for a day when the fire of God’s judgment should begin from the household of God. “For it is time for the judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God” (1Peter 4:17). Mammon seeking church leadership in Nepal may not fear God, but their indifference to God does not mean that God will continue to allow them to disgrace his holy name.  David responded the mockery of the wicked, “when the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?” by reminding them that “the Lord is on his heavenly throne” (Ps.11:1-7), ready to pour out judgment on the wicked. In order to lay the biblical foundation for the church in Nepal, the old materialistic foundations need to be shaken and destroyed by God’s own intervention.

        Therefore, the church in Nepal needs to examine its foundations and affirm the biblical foundation for everything that it does in the name of ministry and missions.  A church cannot be based upon the human needs such as poverty, sickness, oppression, and even the need for evangelization.  The Church needs to exist for the glory of God, and this is possible only when the foundation of the church (local churches) is laid in line with the reveled truth disclosed in the Holy Book.  Jesus pointing to the need of a physical place where believers can come together said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”; a place where God is sovereign and every activity is directed to glorify him, a place where human needs are met by divine intervention in answer to the prayers of the people of many nations. This was a direct fulfillment of Solomon’s prophetic prayer when he first dedicated the temple where God would manifest his presence and hear the prayers of his people.

        Paul put a new definition of the temple of God when he said that the believers are the temple of God where God dwells by his Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20). In this new definition, individuals as well as the communities are the temple where God chooses to manifest his glory.  The oikos of the New Testament is a picture of a spiritual house being built by the living stones for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1Pet. 2:5).  In this new priesthood, every stone matters and plays an important role for the final structure of the building.  For those who do not fall in line with the spiritual principles of this new building, the cap stone becomes a grinding stone, but for those who choose to follow the leading of the cap stone, they become “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (2:8-10).  Nepali Church needs to remind itself that it is not man, who builds the church, nor does it exist for man, the church exists, by God and for God. Once this biblical foundation of the church is laid, the rest of the following principles find their proper expression, but if the very foundation is not right, then the rest of the other principles become obsolete. 

2.      Doctrinal honesty

Lack of doctrinal clarity and conviction is another characteristic of Nepali church, the product of an indigenous approach to Christianity without a clear relationship with the global church.  This was a church based upon the testimonies of God’s merciful works of healing, deliverance and miracles.  Prayer was a driving force, but the lack of proper introduction to Christian faith was evident in the opposition for theological education from the part of the pioneering leadership.  They highly elevated the simple and prayerful reading of the biblical text without being contaminated with the theological garbage.  If the state persecution of the Christians had lasted a few more generations, this pietistic and devotional approach to Christian life and ministry could have become a powerful positive influence, but the premature end of persecution ended all the positives that could come from this and opened the floodgates of all that was unhealthy and harmful for the growth of the infant church. Today the church in Nepal finds it hard to state its convictions.  Flow of money determines one’s doctrinal conviction and pastors who once worked for Baptist denomination can leave for the extra amount and join the Presbyterian denomination with no hesitation of preaching against the baptism by immersion. So is the case with the Charismatic and the non-Charismatic.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues can be settled by the amount of money it represents. 

         If the Church has to make a positive impact within and without, it has to be honest with its doctrinal stand, not only on the major issues, but also the minor ones that actually give each church a distinct identity.  A Baptist must be a Baptist out of his conviction, and so is the case of Pentecostal, Charismatic, or non-denominational.  Often times, it is the non-denominational the cause of concern.  For them, it appears, as if because they are non-denominational, they can believe anything, change their doctrinal position anytime depending the profit of changing. It is through these non-denominational churches that we see the cultic, fanatic and all kinds of winds that blow outside of Nepal coming in, riding in the power of money and greed.

         But if the church has to mature and leave a lasting legacy for the posterity, the time has come to demonstrate our doctrinal honesty, with ourselves and also with whomever we are associated with. Our values and statements of faith need to match with what our lives speak.  Believers need to be taught and educated on the basis of biblical foundations for holding to one’s doctrines without becoming segregated and fanatical.  

3.      Ethical maturity

Spiritual and ethical maturity is the outcome of the biblical foundation and doctrinal honesty, but the power of the flesh to destroy our spirituality is never to be minimized.  As in the case of Nepali church, ethical boundaries have nearly vanished.  First, because of the persecution, Christian leadership took it for granted that since they have suffered, God will allow them to have a little bit of their own flesh to enjoy.  It was as if they deserved a break and have a little party with the material gains that came along with the persecution.  Second, the apparent growth of their ministries seems to justify their actions, although the actions were not biblical.  The ends began to justify the means.  Some of the blatant unethical actions visible in the church in Nepal are; false reporting of their ministry to their donor agencies, deception, bribe, embezzlement of mission funds, and betrayal of their fellow Christian leaders, sexual immorality, and so forth. By looking at the state of these so called established Nepali churches and their leaders, the corrupt politicians and the government looks rather saintly!  Unless the church as a whole in Nepal addresses these unethical issues of its leadership, it is bound to fail. 

                 But who will address these issues?  This is a question hard to answer.  Some of the possible solutions are; gradual growth of the influence of some of the major denominations, the awareness from the grass root Christian community and the intervention by the government. By whatever means, if the ethical maturity is achieved, the church will be stronger as a viable option for change and development in new Nepal.  It is only by demonstrating our Christian life that we shall win our non-Christian brothers and sisters for Christ.

 4.      Financial transparency

Ethical standard and financial transparency are very much connected with each other.  Without achieving the first, the latter cannot be possible.  Corruption in mission is much more widespread than it has ever been acknowledged.  Fake boards are formed, fake audit reports are produced, fake receipts printed and so on. David Hesselgrave cites a cartoon caricature of a missionary who was about to speak to his donors.  As he leaves the pew to go the podium, turning to his missionary colleague whispers, “shall we tell them the truth or keep them happy?”[5] “Keep them happy” has been the policy over the decades of mission work in Nepal.  This epidemic is more widespread in missions and Para church organizations that are supported by so called native sponsoring missions.  The giving constituencies never really get the actual picture of the mission work and the receiving constituencies never have a clue to what and how much has been given in their names.  It is the middle man, either a foreign missionary or a native leader, who has the absolute control of the money by the power of his or her fake boards and auditors. In the spring of 2008, a Portuguese lady in her late 30s entered the writer’s church unannounced on a Tuesday afternoon.  Aggravated as she was, the discussion lasted about one hour and finally allowed the writer to see into her wounded heart.  She had faithfully supported an orphanage run by a Christian man for many years, and one day decided to come and see for herself the children she had only seen in pictures.  The nightmare started when the man whom she had known never came to the airport to pick her up.  Eventually, she came to the knowledge that she was deceived and fooled by a man who she thought was doing a great philanthropic work. It turned out that the pictures were regularly stolen from another orphanage.  This typifies the actual mission work as well.  A sponsor in the US gets a family picture of a native missionary pioneering a church in rural Nepal.  By looking at the picture and the documented reports of hardship this family faces in winning the lost, the sponsor decides to send a hundred dollars a month.  But the donor and the recipient are not allowed to have direct contact with each other; and therefore, it is the middle man who decides whether the money should be given to the country pastor or how much of those hundred dollars should be given.  In the absence of the board, the middle man decides for himself.  This is the hall mark of many so called native missions without denominational oversight.  So many of the rural congregations are bought and sold many times over, and probably belong to as many sponsoring agencies as there are in the country.  Even the local church resources are directly under the control of the pastor or his personal appointees.  

         If the church has to be the guiding light for the nation, then there has to be a genuine attempt from the part of national church leadership to address this issue of corruption in missions and ministry.  The local church needs to be given due respect in deciding in matters of financial issue collectively.  The outside donations need to go to the local church and with the decision of the local church; the support of the national pastors should be distributed. A single handed leadership style must give place for the team work in order to achieve proper financial accountability and transparency.

 5.      Message of the Cross with Global Perspective

The church in Nepal ought to shift its focus from itself to the otherness in the body of Christ in which there is mutual reciprocity. It has to get rid of the dependency mentality of recipients who always think that they deserve to be given by those who have.  The material help it receives from outside ought to be taken in a broader ecumenical understanding of the body of Christ in which there is no superior and inferior because the Cross of Christ stands in the gap not only between God and man, but also between man and man.  Once there is a biblical foundation of the church guided by a clear conviction of one’s beliefs attested by the ethical examples, the material foundations crumble, giving rise to the character and intellectual maturity.  In proportion to the character and intellectual maturity, the Church in Nepal will develop and widen its perspectives to see itself as a part of the global community of the believers, not just a nationalistic, oppressed, and poverty stricken band of people.

         The believers who come from the oppressed backgrounds with abject poverty as their lot ought to be taught and ministered with the view of widening their horizons to see themselves as the citizens of the world where God their maker rules with his sovereign power. Once they were not his people, but now they belong to him.  Once they had no hope of liberation from their oppression and poverty, but now they stand in the threshold of God’s mighty power to deliver them from all bondages.  Their liberation does not depend on man; it squarely depends on the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ who has delivered them from all the curses and the bondages of the law, tradition, and spiritual forces that kept them in darkness.  Therefore, the focus should not be the needy self, or the affluent donors, but the focus should be the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ who is equally sufficient for the needy as well as for the affluent. 

         The church needs to open its eyes and see the harvest beyond its immediate needs.  Vast areas of North India and China (Tibet) border Nepal where the church is struggling to find a foothold.  Especially in north India, the above mentioned malpractices in missions have plagued so much more than it is the case in Nepal.  But a strong Nepali Church with God given confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit can become a catalyst in transferring this boldness to the brothers and sisters in these parts of the world.

P.S. The next step will be to look for ways in which the outside church can help the national church to achieve these principles.   

 Southern Asia Bible College, Bangalore, India (1988-91)

Becoming Christian the way I did has many challenges.  Not knowing anything about church, denominations and seminaries I landed in a Bible College at the age of 20.  Coming from a Vedic tradition of Hinduism, my idea of religious education was that of an Ashram (monastery type where you learn from one teacher). 

Prior to the admission process, there was a bitter fight between two groups of Christians over me attending SABC because; after my baptism in India, I was associated with one group that detested the Pentecostals and now I was seeking admission in the very denominational school which they defined as AG (Against God).  But the AG brothers stood the test of that trial and eventually helped me to get the admission there.

Born and brought up in rural Nepal, I began to learn the English alphabets in SABC, a premier theological school of the Assemblies of God in Asia where most of the faculty were international individuals with various English accents.

Sitting in the class after class without understanding a single sentence of English was very depressing and many times decided to return back to Nepal.  But a friend from Nagaland (Njalo Kath) kept me grounded there with his tireless efforts to teach me English.  I will forever be grateful to that friend.  As the final exams for the first semester came, I had nothing to study because I could never take any notes in the class.  Just a few days prior to the exams, I asked a Tamil friend if he could show me his class notes for a particular subject; his reply shocked me, and the words still ring in my ears.  How could it be; in the same school, same class, one friend was willing to do anything possible for me to succeed and the other hated the very thought of being asked for a help?  By the mercy of teachers, I just managed to pass that semester, but those bitter words from that Tamil friend put in me a new kind of determination for the rest of my theological education.  Second semester went without much fanfare and I was managed to get C average grade. By the beginning of second year, I was able to talk to some people and even be able to ask questions in the class!  That was a good feeling.  Dr. Ivan Satyabratha once asked me to pray in the class, and as I finished praying, he said, "Brother Bhatta, I like your way of praying and the English accent".  That was a great boost! My academic future was falling in line.

But financially, life was a nightmare.  Coming from a non-AG background and having no one to sponsor, I had to work on campus. My job was making chapatti from 4Am to 7Am.  But that was not how my financial needs were met.  Once, I could not have haircut and a friend made a rude comment about my hair.  Straight away, I went to a nearby bush (we had a dense bush nearby the campus) and asked God to vindicate me from that negative remark and show me the way in which I could cut my hair.  After spending few hours in the bush, I returned to my room, and an envelop was on the floor pushed from under the door.  As I opened, to my amazement, there was sufficient amount for the whole year for my pocket money.  I was able to remain clean and shaven.  After several months, on Friday (every Friday was chapel when they took the offering for mission) I went for morning prayer in the nearby bush and when I came back, it was chapel time.  I had the Bible with me but I needed to get back to the room for the offering.  Just before climbing the staircase, I found a one rupee coin on the ground.  I picked up and thought, "Praise God; I do not need to go to my room for offering".  Straight, I went to chapel. SABC's chapel is what I enjoyed and still miss those wonderful times of worship, challenging preaching.  That Friday, as the offering bags were on the way to where I was sitting, I tried to pull that one rupee coin from my pocket.  I tried one and the other pocket as well, but the coin was nowhere to be found and my heart began to pound.  In my life, until then, I had never stopped putting an offering whenever there was an opportunity.  The offering bags came and went past me and I was still looking for that stupid coin.  And the voice of the Spirit hit me so hard.  He said, "Son, did I not meet all your needs for the whole year when you asked me and do you think that I needed that lost coin from someone to put into my offering?"  It was as if someone had struck on my nose with a baseball bat and I was passing out.  They had finished taking the offering and the benediction was made but I was still glued to my seat, asking God to forgive me for my stupidity.  There I promised to God that the next Friday, I will bring all I have and put it into your offering.  The week was so long, I could still hear the voice of the Spirit and finally Friday came and I fulfilled my promise and felt a great leap of faith rising in my heart.  The second year was a success and I had achieved A in most of the subjects averaging A- in the aggregate. 

When the third year began, I received a scholarship from Christian endeavor in Bangalore and I did not have to work anymore.  I devoted to read as many books and biographies that I could lay my hands on.  As the result of my reading, English improved greatly, and was able to share my testimony in the chapel and in other places.  I even gave a try to learn guitar.  My relationship with faculty grew deeper.  Dr. A.C. George, the president, became like a father to me.  Every vacation, they left their home to my care.  Rev. Yesudas was another inspiration.  I worked with him to supervise the construction of many of the new buildings in the campus.  Dr. Jacob Cherian was a good friend and I maintained his garden.  Dr. Balasingh was my spiritual hero who had influenced me even before going to SABC.  By the end of that year, I was diagnosed with appendicitis, and had to go through surgery.  Every friend and faculty was wonderful in visiting me in the hospital, but the care of a friend like Neil from Jabalpur, I can hardly forget. When I was discharged from the hospital, the bill shook the ground from under my feet.  The school's regulation was that unless one clears the due, he or she will not be allowed to sit for the final exams.  My name was on the list board because the school had paid to the hospital and now I had to pay to the school. I had spent enough time in prayer but no answer had come, but the exams did come and I decided to stay back in the room and forfeit the exams.  Fifteen minutes into the exams, the office clerk came to my room and said that the money was sent for my bills, but because the bank delayed, they could not know in time.  I rushed back to my exams!  Until today I have no idea who sent that money. 

Fourth year, I was given the academic scholarship from the school!  My Christian life had gone from infancy to boyhood in just the matter of three years.  That year, a beautiful but a quiet lady from Manipur came.  For the first quarter of the year, I could not dare to speak to her, only admired her from a distance.  As the year began to come toward the end, I had to take bold steps (one has to keep in mind the Indian customs).  With the help of another friend, we were able to go for a date and on the second date I asked if she would like to marry me.  The answer was, if go to her parents and asks, and then she will.  That was tough. 

I graduated with gold medal in the academics and straightaway went to Manipur to ask from the parents.  They agreed, and we were engaged in Manipur.  I returned to Nepal and my fiancée to SABC to complete her M.Div. before we could marry.  This is but a brief glimpse into my experience with SABC. To be continued with other schools.

A friend of mine asked me "why don't we hear talented and anointed preachers and speakers from poor countries?"  The question came in the context of listening to Ravi Zacharias.  Of course my precious friend did not know that Mr. Zacharias "was" an Indian.  Yes, coming from the Indian subcontinent, I am proud to listen to men like Zacharias, Mangalwadi and D'Souza.  But my pride goes so far only when I realize that they are also basically the product of western connection and particularly indebted for their immigration to the west.  Of course we can not take away anything from the powerful and penetrating voice of Zacharias filled with the gems of truth as he takes us vividly from the pages of history, philosophy and science into the pages of Scripture.  We can not add to the depth of the knowledge and the philosophical clarity of Mr. Mangalwadi.  One will sit and wonder at the genius of Dinesh D'Souza when he debates the toughest atheistic philosophers of our age (rumor has it that Richard Dawkins does not want to face Mr. D'Souza). Men like these are a rarity not only in the east but the world as a whole. 

But that thought provoking question from the friend makes me wonder whether we would still be talking about these three men if they did not have the privilege of building their lives and pursuing their dreams in the west?  Had they stayed in India (Vishal does live in India) and attempted to do what they have achieved without first going to the west, I wonder where they would be today.  Why is it so hard to see many others like them?  Certainly there is no shortage of individuals who posses great knowledge, conviction, and they have the intelligence that is required to achieve success in the academia.  There are great pastors with thousands of members in their congregations.  There are mission leaders who command large followings.  Some of them have produced great literary works as well.  Yet, when it comes to speaking in large conferences of international nature, why is it that we do not see speakers and preachers from the poorer nations?  The question is not limited to the large conferences of international nature only; it goes even deeper than that.  A small congregation in the wealthy nation feels hesitant to give the pulpit to a pastor who might be very successful in his nation, but comes from a poor country.  Now, the hesitation from the part of that congregation might be related to race, but not all the time.  Also, this hesitation is not a sudden change of attitude because the preacher comes from the poor country, but it is due the cumulative effects of decades and if not centuries of interactions between the rich and poor.  

With few exceptions (if there are), when a preacher from a poorer nation travels for the purpose of ministry or preaching to the affluent part of the world, the aim of the preacher is than not the preaching of the Word, but it is sharing of the suffering and the lack of needs in his native land and particularly in his own personal life and ministry.  The sufferings and the needs in his native land are real, but when he presents these realities; the aim is to somehow generate pity in the listeners so that he or his agents (who invited him) will receive good offerings.  A pastor I know in my country lives in more than half of a million dollar villa and rides a Japanese Pajero, was speaking in a church in the United States of America (I happened to listen via Internet).  My ears could not believe what I was hearing!  That man told that congregation that he suffers even for food at times!  What a pity!  If I was in that congregation, I would have emptied my wallet for this poor little man who was somehow trying to help God to evangelize Nepal.  Not a word of knowledge or wisdom or faith was given to that congregation, and if another Nepali preacher comes to their town, they will make sure that the poor country preacher must be given the time to share his suffering, but surely not the entire time of the preaching of the word (sermon).

A church in South Korea still talks about a Nepali preacher who once asked for ten minutes to share about his ministry and took an entire hour and the pastor nearly lost his job.  Once in a southern state of America, two Nepali pastors happened to visit the same church on the same day and did not know what to speak because all they had prepared to say would be said by the other as well!

There is no doubt that there is great poverty in nations like ours and the needs are too many.  Lack of finance impedes our success and progress in life and in ministry.  Dreams and hopes are dashed due to the lack of resources and life gets old very quickly.  Against this backdrop, materialism invites us with both arms wide opened and the American Dream becomes our ambition.  Whatever the talents and the ability God had gifted us with; we use them, not for his glory but for our ambitions of achieving financial success.  In order to achieve financial success, we dramatize, exaggerate and even fabricate all kinds of reports of our ministry and the sufferings.  Whenever we get chance to preach in the affluent nations, we beg.  Soon, such preachers lose all sense of the Call of God in their lives and their tormented conscience drives them away from knowledge and nobility.  Some keep on visiting the west in order to gain more (still faking as ministers) and others, after accumulating enough, fall in the sensual pleasures of this world and soon they disappear from the scene.  So many gifted and talented men and women of God have squandered their influence and future just like the prodigal son.

Therefore, to answer my precious friend's question, first; it is hard to invite a preacher from poorer nation because no one knows whether he will preach or beg.  Second; when given the chance, the preachers from poor countries fail to see this as a ministry unto God and begin to think that it is a ministry unto them; provided by God to raise much needed support.  Third; very few of them believe that they can minister to the affluent because the poverty has damaged the mind and the spirit in such a way that they accept their inferior place as God given.

But, then, what about Zacharias, Mangalwadi, and D'Souza?  Well, I have only met Malgalwadi and he is not into the ministry in the way we mostly understand.  He began as a social reformer and he did very well in my opinion.  As most philosophers, I think he recognized the futility of material gains alone.  Zacharias?  He immigrated to the west while he was still young.  He probably did not suffer the same financial hardship of an Indian pastor or a preacher.  And, D'Souza is too wealthy to fall into the kind of temptations I have mentioned above.  His one lecture or a debate can fetch him a life time of salary of an India pastor.  And of course this he is able to do because he too abandoned Indian nationality for a better one.

Will we ever be able to hear a preacher from a poor nation proclaiming the powerful words of life?