Nepal is the beautiful home of Mount Everest! It also borders Tibet, where we support ministry in the border region. With a population of 30 million, Nepal has the distinction of being one of the few countries in the region never to be colonized. As such, it has maintained a rich cultural history, despite being landlocked by the two most populous countries in the world – India and China. It even has its own calendar, the Vikrami, which is a historical Hindu calendar. While it’s the 2020s for most of the world, it’s the 2070s in Nepal.

 

Until 2008, Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the world. In recent years, the church in Nepal has become one of the top ten fastest-growing in the world. 

 

Using The Timothy Initiative’s teaching materials, our partners have trained several thousand lay church leaders. The 58 men and women we support are spread throughout the country, and primarily in mountainous areas. Pastor training and disaster relief have been key areas of focus, with several recent projects also focused on women’s empowerment, children’s education, and community savings groups.

 

In 2022, 140 church leaders were trained in how to run church-based community savings groups, in partnership with Hope International. About 600 children from low-income families living in remote villages received warm clothes to help them withstand severe winter weather. In partnership with SowHope, 300 women, 100 children, and 50 men participated in a health clinic where they received medical care and health counseling. 10 women in need of uterine surgery were able to have the procedure, and 3 pastors who met with motorcycle accidents had their hospital bills covered.

The pastors and missionaries started 15 churches and 65 house fellowships, with 500 new believers receiving baptism. This was made possible in part due to 150 church leaders being raised up and trained. 30 leaders attended a monthly church planting training school at the Nepal-Tibet border, while 25 received ministry toolkits to better facilitate their outreach efforts. Several received other forms of assistance, including a laptop to enable our country leaders to work more effectively and higher education support for one pastor’s son.