Before I proceed, I want to be very clear that I am not against foreign missionaries' involvement in the affairs of the local church.  My purpose of voicing this concern is for the better kind of involvement so that these precious people of God who have sacrificed so much to come to the mission fields become the blessings that God intended; not the liabilities that at times come to the fore in the context of local church in Nepal (or in any developing nations where the superiority of missionaries is still a living reality). 

I am well aware of the sense of purpose and commitment it requires for one to go to a foreign land as a real missionary.  Dream of a secure future, a stable family, and the comforts and the security of one's own native land are laid on alters of an unknown future, unpredictable family situations, and the countless dangers and the insecurity of a land so foreign to one's upbringing.  But the call of God, the idealism and the inspiration from the missionaries of the bygone era propels these individuals beyond all odds and compels them to say goodbye to everything they held so dear until then and take the step of faith for the unknown. 

But today, there are other kinds of missionaries as well who tried everything they could to make something of their lives in their homelands, but somehow the sense of fulfillment did not come.  Being a member of a church and hearing the romantic stories of visiting missionaries; they begin to wonder whether God is calling them to the mission fields.  The world being a global village, to them, it is not that threatening to live in a foreign land and that too with the possible financial support of the home church or the sending mission agencies.  These kinds of missionaries hope for a clean start all over again in their otherwise unsuccessful lives.  Besides these two, there are many other kinds of missionaries; some are simply drawn to the adventure, others choose it for fun and still others don't even know why they became missionaries in the first place.

When these missionaries arrive in the mission field, for the native people, they all look the same and are held in high regard as super human beings who have so much to teach the inferior, uncivilized, and substandard natives. Missionaries in their part pat themselves on their shoulders for making the kinds of sacrifices they have made to be in the place where they have come and naturally think that whatever the kind of lifestyle the natives have ought to be changed and bettered by conforming it to where they came from.  Even after years in the mission field, the missionary mind finds it hard to accept that native leaders can do what the missionary can; especially the money matter.  Missionary being financially accountable to the native church bodies in the mission field is still unheard, because it is not the natives who support him.  Rather, the missionary is supposed to find money for every project in the field.  How he gets the money, where he gets from and how much he actually got is never questioned by any credible authorities in the field and the sending church or mission accepts missionary’s reports as the infallible epistles.  The missionary becomes the absolute arbiter in dispensing the money as he likes with no fear of man (God forgives!), and the natives do not dare to question; they are just glad that they got something at least.  They trust the missionary so much that they forget who Jehovah Jaireh is; pleasing missionary becomes much more profiting then pleasing this unknown God who calls his name Jehovah the provider.  Especially for a missionary who was looking for a clean start in his or her life; such kind of dependency from the natives' part becomes the promise land flowing with milk and honey! 

  With this picture in mind, let me now apply this for the church in Nepal.  The current history of Christianity in Nepal is about 60 years old.  For centuries, no Christians (least missionaries) were allowed to enter Nepal.  But the collapse of the British Raj in India brought much needed political change in this mountainous kingdom that had prided itself for being one of the few countries that were never colonized by an external power.  For the kings and the Rana family (Ranas ruled Nepal ruthlessly for 104 years until 1950 by making the kings virtual prisoners in their palaces) the Christians and the British rulers in India were one and the same.  Therefore, allowing a Christian influence in Nepal meant the possible subjugation to their rule; Christians were thought to be the agent for the imperial expansion.  Then, when the British left India, the Ranas lost their power back to the kings in 1950.  The kings of that time experimented with democracy as well and opened the country for the outside influence while still barring the Christians.  But the Nepalese who were living in India had come to Christ and when they came to Nepal, they brought the gospel with them.  Amazingly, gospel began to take roots and churches were being established without much fanfare by the missions and missionaries. 

 Once the news of such a home grown churches was reported to the outside world; it was as though God had finally heard the prayers of many.  Mission agencies began to enter Nepal as social development agencies and they had to sign a contract with the government that strictly prohibited their personnel ever involving or sharing their religious teachings with the natives.  They could only come as doctors, engineers, and social servants.  Violation of the terms meant an immediate expulsion for the foreigners and severe persecution for the natives; up to seven years imprisonment if they had evangelized and converted a Hindu or a Buddhist.

 To avoid persecution, missionaries totally obeyed the terms of the government.  But their guilty conscience could not let them have peace by not doing anything that would qualify them as real missionaries.  To appease their guilty conscience; the missionaries found an easy way; help the native pastors to do the job.  The church was very young and so were the leaders, but the native leadership had shown a remarkable character and commitment to see their land come to the light of the gospel.  No one had sent them to do the job; they heard the call of God and gave their lives for this cause.  They were willing to lay down their lives; expelled from their home, villages, beaten, persecuted, imprisoned and even killed. 

 But things began to change when such dedicated servants of God came in touch with the beloved foreign missionaries who also were there in the land to see this nation being saved.  Since the missionaries could not evangelize personally, they began to supply the material needs of the native leaders; hoping that this would make the local leaders stronger and efficient.  Support for the local leadership began to come in cash and kind.  Missionaries themselves began to attend these underground fellowships although they never took part in the active leadership.  They rather became very close to the leader then the congregation.  Whatever the support they could provide, it came first to the leaders.  Sooner, the believers realized that their leaders had become much wealthier after they had relationship with the foreign missionaries.  The biblical warning that the love of money is the root of all evil could never be wrong; even in the case of these dedicated Nepali pioneers and trailblazers. 

 By middle of 1980s, there were two classes of church leaders in Nepal; the one with connection with the foreign missionaries was a rich and wealthy class and the other that had no outside connection was poor.  This gap continued to widen very rapidly in the 1980s because of the severe persecution.  The group having connection with the outside missionaries and mission agencies even faked persecution in order to get material support, but the other group suffered in silence and isolation.  Meanwhile, the grace of God was at work and the church continued to grow in Nepal.  The poor but faithful class of ministers was outnumbering the wealthy and conceited.   

 Then came, the second wave of democracy in Nepal in 1990!  The overt persecution by the state stopped and new kind of freedom gave the Christians much needed sigh of relief.  The otherwise cautious western missionaries also began to be more expressive in working with the local churches.  Because there was no denominational or institutional protection, within 5 years the Nepali church fragmented into pieces and the damage was irreparable.  As soon as one found a sponsoring missionary or mission agency, over night he or she could become a pastor by splitting the existing church. 

 But this system also came to an end because the native leaders realized that the support which they got from the missionary was not enough to get rich quick and on top of that the missionary began to control the native leaders.  Because the taste of money was sweet, the church leaders in Nepal came up with new ideas; abandon the western missionary and start their own missions, orphanages and bible schools and then try to go abroad to raise the money just as they had seen the missionaries do.  By the year 2000, most of the western missionaries had to concede to this new tactics of the Nepali pastors and almost all of them retreated back to their homelands or somewhere else because by this time the Nepali leaders were way ahead of raising foreign money in the name of their own missions, orphanages and bible schools.  The gap between the poor and the rich pastors vanished; everyone had to resort to this new found way of getting rich.  They not only built their beautiful houses and bought expensive cars; they also were able to grow their church membership by multiplication.  Used cloths from the donors, free medical mission teams, a place in the orphanage (though the parents were alive, the pastor would make a report saying the child is orphan), free boarding and lodging in the bible schools attracted so many people who needed something to survive with.  Beside, every member in the local church became a possible full time pastor (only in the report though) whose salary had to come from countless mission agencies that propagated supporting native missionaries.  These missions would not bother to check the credibility of the leader, nor would they stay in the field to see what actually happens.  Hundreds of thousand if not Millions of dollars would be sent in the personal bank account of such leaders who they think would distribute the salaries of hundreds of full time pastors and evangelist (in reality the church members would get nothing except the photograph or occasional tips). 

 With this, the church leadership in Nepal finally was able to count itself among the wealthy class of the population.  Some of the most talented of these Nepali leaders were able to completely replace the western missionary in terms of money and materials.  Such leaders became the greatest inspiration for the new generation of church leaders.  It is now almost safe to say that 95% of the people who come into full time ministry are coming to make a better living.  If you see a Nepali young man or a woman attempting to come into the full time ministry; take away the possibility of making easy money, he or she will back down.  Most church pastors do not want to get a salary from their local churches because compared to the dollars, it is too small.  But if they pretend of living by faith, they are free to ask from anyone and at the same time exercise an absolute control over the church with no accountability.  As like begets like, the churches are being divided continuously because there will be always someone who also wishes to be like the pastor. 

 After the year 2000, the influence of the western missionaries weakened and the monopoly of the native sponsoring mission agencies fell into the hands of the few wealthy Nepalese; the Asian or Oriental missionaries came to the rescue of other ambitious but impotent church leaders.  These oriental missionary friends have the reputation of looking for any man or a woman who would obey them and assist them in doing what they wish to do (regardless of the character of the individual).  In return, to provide what the hireling demands is not a problem for them because their economies are still by far greater than Nepal's.  If a church is sponsored by an Asian missionary; the local church leader remains in that church as long as he or she gets the money and does not mind to be abused by these missionaries; he or she waits for the missionary to go so that whatever is left would fall in his or her hand.  One the other hand the Asian missionaries usually do not care what happens after they leave the country; they need to be in control and money should come as long as they remain here and for that the leaders must obey them in presenting the rosy picture of their mission work so that when they visit their homeland, it is enough to make them popular to be invited to big churches or Christian Television stations to sell what they have manufactured.

 Because of the greed game between the missionaries and the native pastors, the church members also have become accustomed in getting the most out of the situation.  The Sunday when the missionary is present, the church will be packed with all kinds of people, but when they know that the missionary is gone away for a while, the church will be empty.  When the missionary preaches, many will come to the alter to accept Christ, to repent from their sins but when the native pastor preaches, they would not bother to give a good hearing because in their hearts they know that the pastor is there just for the same reasons as they are there.  It is now an established fact that any church where a foreign missionary is actively involved, especially the Asian missionary, the native leadership has no voice or respect; neither from the missionary nor from the local congregation.  And a person who has the genuine call of God in life and has some sense of self-worth as the minister of the gospel can never function in a church where the oriental missionaries are now making their living.  Equally important is the fact that the majority of those who attend such churches are not genuine believers but they are there for purely material reasons.  

 Now, having said that, what do I suggest to my foreign missionary friends?  Am I saying that we do not need missionary? No.  Am I saying that we do not need outside financial assistance? No.  Nepal needs both of them, the man and the money.  But how we go about balancing this is the matter so important.  A couple of months ago we had two missionary friends visiting our church (Canadian missionaries serving in Thailand for so many years).  While at the dinner table, they asked, "what can a missionary do in Nepal?"  After I presented them the picture of the church in Nepal, they made an honest statement for the role of missionaries in the context of present Nepal.  "A missionary must be willing to make the greatest sacrifice" said Pat.  As I was about to ask what kind of sacrifice, she continued, "A missionary must choose to remain in the shadow while his or her Nepali brothers and sisters get to stand in the limelight, must choose the servant's place to see his or her native brothers and sisters succeed".  After years in the mission field, this couple was speaking from their very own experience and that is why they are so much loved and respected by their Thai brothers and sisters among whom they serve.

   But!  For them to make this statement is acceptable but for me as a Nepali pastor asking my missionary friends to put me in the limelight while they remain in the shadow sounds very selfish and ungrateful, right?  But to put this into perspective, we need to look at the main issue and the issue is not the limelight or the shadow but the kingdom of God.  Whose kingdom are we building?  If we are building our own kingdom, then who stays in the limelight matters but if it is God's kingdom, limelight or shadow makes no difference because we will be interested in the best interest of the kingdom of God.  The western missionaries during the persecution ear in Nepal understood this and they chose to remain in the shadow, but the situation has now changed.  The new found freedom boosts the missionary's aspiration of achieving something on his (her) own and at the expense of the respect and the dignity of the native brothers and sisters.  On the other hand, if the missionaries choose to remain behind the scene by refraining from taking the front seat while still assisting the church and Christian institutions with whatever the financial and personnel help they could provide; the achievement for the kingdom of God in Nepal would be tremendous.  While the missionaries remain in the shadow, they could provide the basis for accountability and a sense of security to the native leadership without controlling the vision of the local church or without setting the agenda for them.  But, can the missionaries make so great a sacrifice?  Especially for the missionary who thinks of his mission work as my currier and not a call, it is unthinkable.

 It may sound very harsh, but in the context of the present day Nepal, a foreign missionary or a native sponsoring mission's presence in a local church does more harm than good for the long run.  But at the same time the local church without outside financial assistance will be able to achieve much less than what it could with a little help from outside.  Foreign missionaries or native sponsoring mission agencies could have become the most effective tools in advancing the kingdom of God in Nepal had there been some of the following elements. 

Relationship: Relationship is the key for any mission partnership; these missionaries and mission agencies boast about working in relationship with the natives.  But there are various kinds or levels of relationships we have to consider when it comes to the missions and missionaries.  In my 25 years as a native Christians (who came to Christ before meeting any Christians), an itinerant evangelist, a pioneering pastor and theological educator, I have observed and noticed the kinds of relationships that exist between these two parties.

1. Between missionaries and native leaders: This relationship is slightly different from the relationship between sponsoring mission agencies and their native despots.  If the resident missionary is present in the land; I have observed the following elements in their working relationship.

a. Master and Servant:  This is the most dominant kinds of relationship that I have seen in which the natives are considered inferior in everything.  The missionary is looked upon as the bread provider.  Pleasing the missionary becomes the single most pursuit of the native pastors and leaders who hope to see their ambitions for money and fame come to true.  This model is particularly visible in the churches or organizations where Asian or Oriental missionaries rule.  The voice of missionary becomes the voice of God.

b. Back scratching: This is particularly true when the missionary is there to make a living for himself.  They say to each other; 'you scratch my back and I will do yours' so that we both can profit.

c. Antagonistic: In this model neither respects the other and their aim is to win the battle without killing.  The missionary uses his or her money power and the natives use their man power, but both need to survive.  Completely destroying the one will spell doom for the other as well.  With their mouth they keep praising and pleasing each other but in their hearts they harbor a deep rooted resentment. 

d. Mutual love, trust, and respect:  For the last 25 years of my life in the ministry, I have never come across to this kind of relationship.  I had the privilege of having friendship with native leaders and their missionary masters (a privilege of not working under or for any).  I had the honor or the dishonor of listening from the both sides as a friend.  Occasionally the glimpses of such relationship would surface but soon they would vanish into other kinds.  While having the best interest of others in their minds, somehow this kind of relationship keeps on suffering time and again.  But this would be the perfect platform for the real partnership in the missions.

 As I reflect upon the issue of relationship, I see the great loss for the kingdom of God because of the unhealthy relationship between the missionaries and the natives.  If they could develop their relationship on mutual love, trust and respect; the kingdom of God would have become much stronger in our nation today.  The missionaries would return to their homeland with a great sense of joy and accomplishment while the natives would carry on the good work begun as the result of missionaries' sacrifices.  Mutual love, trust, and respect is therefore the key in forging a healthy relationship.  Missionaries ought to be able to recognize and respect the good that is in the native leadership and also be able to trust them spiritually, intellectually and financially.

2. Between native sponsoring mission agencies and their agents in the mission fields: Starting with the organizations like Christian Aid and other such mission agencies; it was a noble cause to highlight the ministries of native workers in order for them to be able to get the much needed financial help. These agencies brought new kinds of approach to the age old traditional methods of missionary endeavor.  The native partners were considered to be more efficient and economical in doing more than what the traditional missionary could do.  With the amount of money needed to sustain one traditional missionary family in the mission field; 25 native missionary families could be fully supported, that too without the headache of learning the language and culture.  As good as this new approach appeared, initially such mission agencies faced a strong opposition from the denominational or the institutionalized mission agencies at home and abroad and still they continue to be the cause of concern for a well intentional Church body.  For the short term, native sponsoring agencies seem to promise a lot of good, but the long term damages are only beginning to surface. Following the examples of these native sponsoring mission agencies, some of the local churches and the individual ministries in rich nations also began to go into many unreached areas and pour out money with the hope of expanding their mega ministries.  When such groups start partnering with their native counterparts, they claim that they have strong and godly native leader(s) in the mission field and their relationships are strong and enduring.  But from the receiving ends and also observing the lives of such native agents, the picture looks so much more different than what the sponsoring agencies put out in their mission bulletins and websites.  Between the giver and the receiver; the following kinds of relationship are so apparent to an honest native observer, particularly in the case of Nepali Church.

a. Relationship based on Deception: Let me give you a true story that I witnessed many years ago in the Indian State of Andra Pradesh (AP).  I came in contact with an Indian brother who was the Asian director of a certain native sponsoring mission agency from the US.  After knowing this brother and hearing about the good work of this mission in Asia, I was hoping to affiliate with them.  It was a custom of this organization to visit the mission field once in a year, and when I came in touch with him, he invited me to come to Hyderabad and join their national mission conference and join the American delegation.  Along with the American donors, we were taken to a remote village by a van.  When the road came to an end, we still had to walk about 3 km to the village.  As we came out of the van, there was a tribal musical band playing with their traditional instruments.  It appeared as if they were a tribal wedding party.  As we started, this group came to greet the donors and began to play and dance in front of us.  For 3 km they played, danced and we just followed them into their villages.  To my amazement, it was a welcome given to the Donors.  When we came into the village, it was a sight to remember.  The whole village along with the dogs and pigs was present there.  Food everywhere, tents to sleep in and songs and dance for the whole night.  But there was no sign of a church!  The Americans were told that this is their way of worshiping God.  When I tried to actually inquire, there was not even one family that was Christian in that village.  Some Christians had come to set up the program from other places.  Talking to the villagers in broken Hindi, the villagers said to me that it does not matter what the missionary wants us to do as long as they give us this kinds of food and good time at least twice a year (it seems the Indian brother was fooling other such agency as well).  That night, the visiting donors preached their hearts out as if they were speaking to an evangelized village, completely born again! This Indian brother had not a trace of guilt in his conduct.  Anyway, to make the long story short the visiting international director of mission wanted to come to Nepal and see what we were doing.  Along with this India brother came the director.  By then, I had a small but decent congregation in Kathmandu.  I had three brothers who were helping the church as volunteer leaders.  They had their own jobs and had their bikes to commute.  As we arrived in Kathmandu, these brothers came to meet us with their bikes.  As I introduced them, the international director blurted out with joy and excitement..."praise the Lord! brother, for His provision!  Are these the bikes that we were able help you buy?"  I was dumb founded!  Those brothers began to look at me in aghast; I did not know where to look.  The conversation came to a standing still, but the Indian brother was a journalist by profession (DJ) and he was the Asia Region Director for their mission.  He quickly explained to the international director that the money they sent for Nepal had not arrived due to some banking mistake!  Well, for the first time I realized that I and the ministry in Nepal had been sold, and we did not even have a clue about it.  We were hoping that when the international director comes to Nepal and sees us, then we will see if it was God's will for us to work with them.  But that day, everything came crashing and that was the end of our desire to work with that organization, and I think the Indian brother's as well.  This deceptive brother has now become one of the prominent Bishops in India, primarily because of the money he amassed from such mission agencies by deception.  This is but a simple story.  If one looks deeper into these native missions, the above story is way much better.  These native agents will take photos of national festivals, political demonstrations and then somehow doctor it with them holding the Bible and preaching to the thousands to attract such sponsoring agencies.  They are expert to deceive the native poor ministers as well as the visiting foreign donors.  The money these foreign mission agencies are sending for the mission is being used for buying the most expensive cars, building luxurious villas and eradicating poverty from every near and dear of these native agents.  They have committees and board whose members are no other than their wives, children, brothers and sisters.  If there is no family member to sit in the fake boards, the money can buy any simple Christian brother or sister to fulfill that role.  When the sponsoring body sees their letter heads and boards, they are easily fooled.  When they come to visit the mission field, these native agents can pay to and fro travel fare, free lodge and board for the rural Christians to visit the city and at the same time attend the spiritual meeting; everyone gets excited to take advantage of these opportunities.  But to the visiting speakers; they are presented as full time pastors and pioneers.  Many such pastors conferences that I have gone to see, I have hardly seen any pastors there.  All I saw was these poor village Christians who were just glad to have the chance to visit the city with the help of this great native pastor or mission leader. Therefore, deception is the most important foundation on which the native sponsoring mission agencies are building their relationships with their counterparts. 

b. Single person's agency: In most cases, these foreign missions do not have any concern for the local collective leadership.  They just pick one person and then pour out all the money in him or her.  Even when corruption in the lives of these leaders is apparent, these mission agencies do not bother.  Foursquare Mission in Nepal was one of the stark reminders for those who trust one single person at the expense of the collective leadership.  But fortunately foursquare was a denominational mission agency and knew when to change the course of action.  There are other such agencies that operate outside of any denominational affiliation.  Their agents are now the biggest hindrances for the local church's effectiveness in Nepal.  These agents have no regard to the righteousness in mission.  With the power of money at their doorsteps, they harass, intimidate, coarse and eventually tempt the poorer congregations to come under their fold.  They buy and sell these innocent little congregations that were once functioning smoothly even without outside money.  The native agent or a missionary asks his donors from 30 to 200 dollars per pastor for a monthly salary.  But when he gets the money, the amount he gives ranges from 7 dollars to 20 dollars a month.  The rest is collected for his car, land, house, children's education and the luxuries of life.

 Due to the space I can not go on in explaining everything that I have seen in my 25 years of ministry, but what I have said above is the actual present reality of our nation and the mission.  With every pastor I talk, young or old, the only concern in their mind seems to be how to get rich, how to start a new mission that will attract new donors?  And they have been able to achieve what they want mainly because of the faulty kind of relationship between the giver and the receiver.  In the traditional missionary methods, the giver used to be the master, but in today's native partnership, the receivers are becoming the masters!  In both cases, it is the kingdom of God that looses the most.  In this context, the question keeps on coming...what can a missionary or a mission agency do that will ensure righteousness in mission?  The solution is relationship that is built on mutual love, trust and respect.  But how can there be mutual love, trust and respect?  To answer these queries; the next issue is equally important and that is the issue of accountability. 

Accountability: Any relationship that does not take the issue of accountability seriously is bound to fail.  When we talk about accountability, we need to understand that accountability is not subjugation but surrender.  In subjugation there is no choice, but in surrender there is a choice even at gun point whether to surrender or not.  In missions, when one talks about accountability, it is almost entirely thought to be the natives submitting their accounts as how they have spent the money they got from their donors.  But in today's world where committees and boards are fake; it is not a big deal to come up with ideas to explain to the donors as how the money was spent.  At the same time, the sponsoring agencies don't really care how the money was spent as long as they got the colorful reports from the mission fields in order to feed their own constituencies back in their home countries. 

 The concept of accountability cannot be limited to the financial transaction only.  It has to come in the very character of mission leadership; not only of the native leaders but also of the sponsoring bodies and missionaries.  In terms of financial accountability, the sponsoring bodies have to be accountable to the common folks who put their hard earned money into the hands of these agencies and individuals with the hope and dream of seeing the world come to the saving knowledge of Christ.  Their native agents or the missionaries in the fields also need to be brought into the accountability, not just to the donors but also to the poor and honest pastors, evangelists, orphans and the widows in whose name they have been earning and building their own houses and mansions.  A native pioneering evangelist needs to know how much the genuine people of God in other lands are sacrificing their hard earn money in order for him to be able to do the work God has called him to do.  An orphan who finds a new life also ought to be told about the parents, brothers and sisters who are sacrificing for his or her life.  A widow who gets a pair of cloths a year or some alms from the native mission's agents also deserves to know the sacrifices made by the people of God on her behalf.  The monopoly of the missionary or the native agent has to be brought under the collective leadership of the local church.

 Unfortunately, the native mission agents or the missionaries have devised schemes and strategies by which they can convince the donors that they should remain anonymous and only send the money.  These agents or the missionaries manufacture heart rendering stories, letters, pictures and testimonies so that the donor is fully convinced about the impact his or her small sacrifice is making.  The whole truth never gets across from the mission field to the donors; at best the half truth and if not the outright false reports so that the native agents or the missionaries can continue to live in luxury. 

 Time and again these greedy and deceptive native agents (sometimes missionaries too) are exposed, but the donor agencies (specially the native sponsoring ones) never really learn the lessons.  They keep on repeating the same old mistake and in some cases these agencies need such liars in their side so that they also can make a good living in the name of native missions. 

 Therefore, if the mission in this century is to be successful in Nepal, there has to be a genuine sense of accountability and collective leadership.  This accountability has to be practiced from both the sides; donors and receivers.  In order to achieve that, the collective leadership of the local church is to be respected.  The resident missionaries who work in Nepal also need to live a life of accountability not only to their sending bodies but also to the sent bodies in order for them to be able to gain respect and moral authority as missionaries.  Otherwise, their ministries are also perceived just like the native agents of the native missions sponsoring agencies.  But if they can submit to the authority of the local leadership and work in harmony with the local church, the gains for the kingdom of God in Nepal are unimaginable. It is time for the missionaries and mission agencies to acknowledge that in every land there are genuine people who have heard the call of God just as the missionaries think have heard and are willing to lay down their lives for the evangelization of their native lands. But because of the unaccounted financial support of the missions and missionaries, these precious native evangelists and pastors have greatly compromised their call of God in their lives. 

 But, with the mutual love, trust and respect combined with the sense of mutual accountability, the idea of natives and foreigners will be forgotten.  All that will remain is the camaraderie and the kinship in the family of God.  The giver will have no sense of accomplishment while the receiver will not suffer from any sense of inadequacy, and when they see God's kingdom advancing; both will rejoice in each other's accomplishments.  All deception and greed will give way to righteousness and generosity in pioneering countless churches, establishing numerous Bible Schools and meeting the needs of God's children all over the world.  The natives and foreign servants will become the light of the world around them and the heathens will be drawn to them in multitudes; heaven will be filled and hell will be emptied if the deception, corruption, and pride would be eradicated from the Christian missions.  What an irony; the missions and missionaries (native or foreign) are thought to be the messengers of truth, honesty and humility.  But in the case of Nepal, they (except a few unknown) have epitomized deception, corruption and pride!  Nobody trusts a missionary (especially oriental) or a native agent of foreign missions because we have seen what they have done to the local church in Nepal. To be continued.......

Pastor Bhojraj Bhatta
Hope Church, Kathmandu (www.hopec.org)

• One Life to Live and One Wife to Love (2009/08/27)
• In God We Trust (2009/08/20)
• Wealth and Christians in Nepal (2009/07/27)
• Biblical Partnership in Missions (2009/07/07)
• A Tribute to Celesia and Deepa (2009/05/24)

• Poverty, Patriotism, and Immigration: A Biblical Reflection (2009/04/30)

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