Christianity on the Other Side of the World

(Jesus in Yogi position)

One of the reasons I love traveling is to see how people view life differently than me, which is often represented through religions. In Nepal, I am surrounded by religions other than my own. The country primarily follows Hinduism (80%), then Buddhism (10%), Islam (4.5%), Christianity (0.5%), and other (5%). However, it’s not just the non-Christians that perceive Christianity differently than me. Even Nepali Christians perceive things differently than me. I’m not saying that these differences are right or wrong, but I would like to share with you some of these differences.

First, how non-Christians view Christianity. The people of this land were originally Hindu and Buddhist, and only heard about Christianity through evangelists from Western countries. Most Christians are 1st or 2nd generation here, which has caused a lot of breaks in the families and also causes struggles of bringing something “new” into a culture of many religious traditions. So how is Christianity viewed by these people who have never experienced it before?

1)Many people see Christianity as a religion that is only for the poor. And understandably, because Christians do aim to not exclude, feed, and clothe the poor. However, the caste system is huge in Nepal, showing favoritism only for those in higher castes, so people do not want to support a religion that even acknowledges the “untouchables” and lower castes.

2)Many people see Christians as money-givers and willingly become Christian because they think they’ll be given money. Understandably, because there are many Christian organizations (including the one I am serving with) that give money and volunteers to help causes such as education, rural development, food security, human-trafficking, AIDS/HIV, etc. They also know that many Western cultures, which often happen to be the wealthier and developed countries, are Christian. So they associate Christianity as wealth, and even convert to Christianity in hopes that they will overcome their poverty.

3)Many people see Christianity as not just a foreign religion, but also a foreign culture. It is difficult to separate a religion from a culture because many times a culture is based around religious rituals, traditions, and beliefs. For example, imagine a Hindu coming to you and trying to convert you to Hinduism (which wouldn’t happen because they only believe in being born Hindu, not converting to). You would probably have a hard time figuring out what parts of your culture would need to be replaced with Hindu rituals and which are okay to keep, such as wearing a sari or Western clothes, building a Hindi temple for Jesus, and using cremation for the deceased. It would be hard to separate the Hindu religion from the Hindi culture, as we often associate a religion with a culture. So it is hard for a Nepali to believe that he/she can become Christian without giving up his/her culture.

4)Hindus sometimes convert to Christianity because they find it easy to accept another god. There are hundreds of gods in Hinduism, nearly a god for anything! So they are used to hearing about different gods, their purposes, and how to properly worship them. So when they hear about Christianity, it is easy for them to say, “Yes, I accept this God and now I am Christian.” However, they don’t realize that this also means rejecting all other idols, which is ALL of the Hindu gods. I’ve actually talked with quite a few people who say that they are believers and followers of all religions. But obviously they are not true followers because in Christianity you can only follow God. I’ve also heard of some parents telling their children that they don’t care which religion they follow, as long as they follow a religion.

(ladies worshipping at a leadership conference)

Second, how Christians view Christianity. As mentioned in my Easter blog, there are still a lot of Christians in Nepal despite them being a minority. In Kathmandu alone I have heard of a lot of different churches. Even in the rural mountainous areas, there are Christians and churches. In fact it’s not unusual to hear about Christians who walk a full day through the mountains to reach a church, attend a conference, meet other Christians, or evangelize. So how is Christianity viewed by these Christians?

1)Christians here are united. Churches all work together. Pastors will travel to far destinations on rough roads to lead a conference for training Christian leaders. Easter books and DVDs were funded and sent to Christians ALL over Nepal. When a Christian meets another Christian they are immediately excited and very welcoming to one another. It’s like there is this giant web connecting all the Christians together in Nepal… always providing support, helping however possible, and uniting for the cause of Christ.

2)Christians are a minority. But as just mentioned, this seems to have united them more. I’ve come to believe that when a group is a minority, they unite together for a common purpose. But when a group is a majority, they divide from that original common purpose. It honestly saddens me how divided Christianity has become in the U.S. People put so much energy into fighting over “something small” which results in a divided church. Whereas those “something smalls” are the least of the worries to Nepali Christians who are instead putting their energy into fighting for the recognition of Christmas, or to have a burial ground for their dead to distinguish them from the Hindu’s cremations, or to proclaim to others that Christ has risen from the dead. Whether we’re a majority or a minority, where should Christians’ energy be going?

3)Christianity in Nepal is evangelism-based. Because they are the minorities and want to share the love of Christ with others, church messages often are based around evangelism. Also in result of this, Christians tend to not be afraid to declare to people of other religions that they are Christian and then share the Word of God with them. They are often very confident and humbly proud to be a Christian.

4)Because of the focus on evangelism, there are fewer discussions that dig deeper into Christianity and having a personal relationship with God. It is talked about, but not necessarily how to do it. There is also less historical information about different books of the Bible and the history of Christianity. Maybe that is because the pastors have not studied it (many have become pastors because they are passionate and natural leaders, rather than having professional biblical training), or maybe it’s because they would rather talk about evangelism. This is my experience with the churches here, which I honestly miss with church back home. Although considering how many churches there are here, I don’t want to conclude this for all Christians in Nepal. It is only based on my experience.

5)Demons are believed to be the cause of illnesses and diseases. Because Nepal is an undeveloped 3rd world country, there isn’t knowledge about sicknesses like we have in the States. So when someone is physically or mentally sick, it is often blamed on a demon. For example, I was with a group when a girl had a seizure and instead of helping her they started shouting for the demons to leave her. Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t demons and they don’t cause problems. But I am saying that because of limited knowledge in this 3rd world country, often a demon is blamed when a person has a sickness or disease that needs medical attention.

6)Church leaders often meet with leaders of another church. The church I attend has a group of ten churches that meet together every couple of weeks. I think it’s great to see the churches working together, rather than being in competition. Also, only a few churches in Nepal actually claim themselves as a certain denomination. Most churches just say they are Christian and wonder why they need a specification past that.

7)Christians greet each other with “Jaimasi” which means “Praise Messiah”. The official greeting of Nepal is “Namaste”, which actually translates to “I greet the god in you”. This is Hindu and Christians don’t believe having a god within us or being a god ourselves. So Christians say “Jaimasi” instead whenever greeting one another.

8)Churches are flexible, although Nepali people in general have to be flexible. Because of not having electricity for the majority of the day, it makes anything for church difficult. As part of the worship band, we are constantly planning practice around when there’s electricity, which proves to be difficult as we’re also planning it around each other’s work schedules and getting home before dark. As far as Saturday (church day) goes, we just hope there’s electricity! If there’s not, the pastor can’t use a microphone. The band can’t use amps or plug-ins for power, which usually leaves only an acoustic guitar and the leader belting out the song words. The projector can’t work to show the lyrics to the songs. It just makes a church service difficult! Yet Christians come, adjust to having no song words and not being able to hear the entire sermon, and still worship and fellowship together. The electric frustrations do not hinder them from worshipping God.

Non-Christians and Christians view Christianity in Nepal differently than we do in the U.S. No matter the differences though, we must all learn from one another, walk this walk together, and work collectively for the glory of God.

(ladies praying)