हामी झगडामै मग्न, गोरेहरु नेपाल पसेर लाखौंलाई क्रिश्चियन बनाउन ब्यस्त

गणतन्त्र आएपछि त के गर्दापनि हुने । जसले के गरेपनि, जसरि जहाँ पसेपनि हुने । बिदेशीहरुलाई झन सजिलो । हामी नेपालीहरु संघियता, पहिचान, कसको राज्य, कस्तो राज्य । को सरकारमा जाने भनेर लडिरहेका छौं । तर पश्चिमेलीहरु हाम्रो घर झगडा चलिरहेको मेसोमा नेपाल भित्र पसेर देश सिध्याउन लागिरहेका छन् । अनेक आश्वाशन दिएर धमाधम सोझासाझा नेपालीलाइ किश्चियन बनाइरहेका छन् । गाउँ गाउँ पसेर क्रिश्चियन धर्माको बारेमा फिल्म देखाउने, आर्थिक प्रलोभन दिने र नेपालीहरुलाई आफ्नो धर्ममा मोड्ने गरिरहेका छन् । क्रिष्चियन धर्म फैलाउन जाँदा तिनले क्रिश्चियन पादरीहरुका बारेमा, तिनको धर्मका बारेका हाकाहाकी फिल्म देखाउँदा, सयौंलाई गाउँमा जम्मा अपरेर प्रवचन दिँदापनि कहिँ छेकबार हुने गरेको छैन । निगरानी छैन । 

नेपालमा लाखौं नेपालीलाई क्रिश्चियन बनाएको हाकाहाकी बताउँदै हिँड्ने गरेका छन् पश्चिमेलीहरुले । डेभिड नोक्स भन्ने एकै जना गोरेले आफ्नी पत्नी रोन्डासित मिलेर नेपालमा १० हजारलाई क्रिश्चियन बनाएको (बत्तिसमा लिएको वा क्रिश्चियन धर्मी बनाएको) र दर्जनौं चर्चहरु निर्माण गरेको हाकाहाकी बताएका छन् ।

उनले तुलसावर्ल्ड भन्ने पत्रीकालाई प्रतिक्रिया दिँदै भनेका छन् ‘हामीहरु नेपाल जान थालेपछि दुई लाख देखि तिन लाख मानिस क्रिश्चियन धर्मावलम्बी बनेका छन् । यो अचम्म लाग्दो छ कि तिनले कसरि गोस्पेललाई स्विकार गरेका छन् ।’ तिनकालागि यस्तो सहयोग गर्ने दलालका रुपमा काली बहादुर बस्नेत र उनकी पत्नी सुशिला बस्नेत भन्ने देखिएका छन् । ति दम्पत्तीले नेपालगञ्जमा चर्चहरु निर्माण गर्न सहयोग गर्न थालेका रहेछन् । स्थानिय नेपालीको सहयोग पाएपछि गोरेहरुलाई झन सजिलो हुनेनै भयो ।

तुलसावर्ल्डमा अंग्रेजीमा प्रकाशित तलको समाचार हेर्नुस् त कति कहालीलाग्दो छ हाम्रो देशको अवस्था 

Grove pastors take Christianity to Nepal

Grove pastors share gospel message with thousands

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By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer | Updated 3 weeks ago

Fourteen years ago, Grove native David Knox began taking several weeks a year to hike through the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal, carrying a bulky film projector, a generator and a copy of the Jesus movie, the most-watched movie of all time.

He would arrive unannounced in a tiny village, ask through an interpreter where the Christians were, if there were any, and would show the film to small groups.

He had no missions society to back him and no connections in the small, mostly Hindu nation that is home to Mount Everest and birthplace of Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.

Knox still travels to Nepal, nearly always with his wife, Rhonda, but now they preach to crowds of up to 10,000 people, baptize thousands and help build dozens of churches.

“It’s mind-blowing to see what God has done there,” Knox said. “It’s beyond our wildest expectations.”

He said when they began traveling to Nepal, some 200,000 to 300,000 people were Christians, in a population of 27 million. Now more than 2 million are Christians.

“It’s amazing how they have accepted the gospel,” he said. “There’s so much joy and happiness there.”

Two events jump-started the Knoxes’ ministry.

In 2003, they met and began to work with the Rev. Kali Bahadur Basel, “Pastor KB,” and his wife, Sushila Basel, church planters who were pastoring a church in Nepalgunj, located in a low-lying area near the Indian border.

Pastor KB probably has the largest and fastest-growing Christian ministry in the nation, David Knox said.

In 2006, a long-simmering revolution succeeded in ousting Nepal’s Hindu king.

Before that, missions work was difficult and dangerous, he said. Once, Rhonda Knox said, they were awakened in the night by a tremendous explosion, as a bomb went off near the house where they were staying.

On the night that the king announced he was stepping down, David Knox was on the street with more than a million people in the nation’s capital, Kathmandu.

After the revolution, everything changed, the Knoxes said. Churches were free to expand and to evangelize, and thousands of Nepalese began to convert to Christianity. In the last four years, David Knox himself has baptized more than 1,500 new followers of Christ each year, he said.

Eight years ago, Rhonda Knox’s father, the Rev. Leon Vernon, died. He was the founder and pastor of the nondenominational Grove Christian Center, where the Knoxes were based.

The couple agreed to take over as pastors of the Grove church while continuing their work in Nepal.

They travel to Nepal once or twice a year, not exceeding the three-month annual limit on their tourist visas.

On each trip, they meet with church leaders, teach and preach, dedicate two or three new churches and baptize new believers.

Much of their work has been with the Tharu people, a relatively unreached group.

“They are very hard workers, very loyal,” David Knox said. “They make really good servants of the Lord.”

When they met one young Tharu pastor, he was meeting with 16 people in a small mud house. He now pastors 1,600 people.

Over the years, the Knoxes have raised money in American churches to build about 50 new church buildings in Nepal for newly planted congregations and to build about 75 water wells. They also raised $70,000 to build a Christian radio station now operated by Pastor KB’s church.

They are raising $35,000 in their church now to provide a building to house and train children being rescued from child trafficking along the Nepal/India border.

In October, the couple attended a 10-year anniversary celebration at the church and a several-day leadership conference where they were the main speakers. A huge tent was erected for the event, which drew 10,000 people.

They still send native Christian workers into remote villages to show the Jesus film in the local language.

But now the projectors are solar powered and much lighter.

Bill Sherman 918-581-8398