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| Nepali Churches in Urban-India |
I
am tremendously delighted and grateful to God for his bountiful blessing that he
has been rendering
for the Nepali migrants. Thirteen years have passed by that I have been staying
in India,
encountering the ample up and downs of migrants’ realities. Most of these
realities do not come into the limelight and they may not appear in the light
of the Nepal
government. In addition, these groups of people are not even reckoned in the
migrant’s category as other Nepalese who go to other countries than India.
Nevertheless, India is the leading country where thousands of Nepali migrants
have been congregating on a daily basis, as the 1950’s peace treaty has provided
an open access to the Nepali migrants.
Looking
at the history in a nutshell, Nepalese were inclined to enter into the Northern
part of India
in the early days to work on tea plantations and herd cattle. After the
Anglo-Nepal war of 1815-16, the British army was impressed by the fighting
capacity of the Gorkha’s and started to recruit them. This is evidence that
most of the Nepalese went to Northeast India were either being recruited into
armies or to find survival especially through farming and herding animals. However
the major hurdle takes place after the peace treaty between India and Nepal,
Most started to go to major cities such as Mumbai (Bombay until 1996) and
Kolkata (Calcutta until 2001) mainly working as security guards as they were
considered as bearers of bravery and physical strength and endurance.
Now
the situation has changed a lot as we entered the 21st century. Migration has
turned out to be a global phenomenon and for the ones moving away from home, it
is no longer an adventure; rather it has to do with livelihood and survival.
When we talk about the Nepali migration, at first our mind strikes at the
Foreign Employment Promotion Board and we start to keep track of those who travel
via Tribhuwan International Airport, having no clue regarding those who
make Delhi as their traveling route and to the thousands of those who have gone
to India through different border crossings of Nepal-India. Somehow I feel that
the government of Nepal
is much more concerned about those groups of people (passport carriers), whose
remittances are on record, underestimating those who make India their destination due to
poverty and survival. Hence, I keep on writing about the Nepalese migrants in India whose
very issue of migration lies on the survival. Almost each and every national
newspaper from Nepal produces the news about the Nepalese Migrants from South
East and gulf countries. I have rarely seen that media ever talks about the
issues of Nepali migration in India
unless there is somewhere you may read that Nepali girls are being sold in
Indian metro cities.
Let me
turn to another aspect of what the Nepali churches are doing in urban India
apart from the North East and Darjeeling
where Indian origin Nepalese reside. There is no doubt that Nepali churches are
rapidly increasing in Nepali Diaspora at Urban-India. Bangalore, Chennai and
Delhi have been leading cities where most of the students come from Nepal to
pursue their studies. This growth has increased in the last five years as most
of the girls come for nursing studies in Bangalore and Chennai; whereas
students study to become Chartered Accountants in Delhi as these courses are
more cost-effective in India than Nepal.
The
root of Nepali churches in urban-India certainly may go to India as most of the Christians
from Darjeeling
and nearby areas came to India
to pioneer and start the fellowship groups which they certainly no doubt have
done. However the amazing thing has to be noted here is that Nepali churches
from Nepal
are taking a bold step to stretch their hand in order to reach out to the
Nepalese emigrants beyond the border and, this is definitely a positive move
from the Church
of Nepal. In fact the
beginning of this movement has not been a decade long.
Starting from the North
West of India, where more than 12 churches and 40 daughter churches are
ministering among Nepali migrants under Youth with a Mission.
We assume that there would be around more than
5000 Nepali Christians only in Himachal Pradesh. However it would be unfair if we make the
head count of Christians as an indicator of the growth and impact of the diaspora
churches. There are numbers of migrants who came and believed in faith and
returned back to their home land and planted the churches there itself.[1]
This is the positive
factor of the Diaspora Mission. Isn’t it wonderful that Nepalese are coming out
from their limited zone and jumping in the mission field? Apart from the YWAM’s
work, other individual churches and organizations do have ministries among
Nepalese migrants in different parts of Himachal Pradesh. In Jammu and Kashmir, we have not traced any
Nepalese fellowships. In Uttarakhand, India-origin-Nepalese and migrants who
come from Nepal are living there. However there are five churches working in
Dehradun, and also in Kotdwar where the Gyaneshwar church of Nepal
has sent a missionary to minister among Nepalese. Coming further south, there is a great
ministry among Nepalese in Chandigarh.
The local pastor tells that there might be more than 14 fellowships among
Nepalese with 700-800 Nepali Christians in Chandigarh alone.[2]
Similarly there are Nepali fellowships in different parts of Hariyana such as
Panipat, Sonipat where migrants mostly work in factories. Delhi is another landmark where Nepali
churches are flourishing. There are around 30 churches/fellowships ministering
among Nepalese people in Delhi
and NCR.[3]
UNCA [United Nepali Churches’
Association] is an association of the Nepali speaking churches in Delhi and NCR
regions. In 2002, a few Nepali pastors initiated coming together for prayer.
Eventually, other Nepali speaking churches in Delhi
and NCR started to add on slowly.
Later, in 2005, the churches wanted to structure the association and Pastor
M.L. Tamang was chosen to be the first president of the UNCA
from 2005 to 2006. Now the UNCA has
emerged as a platform for the Nepali speaking churches in Delhi
where UNCA organises different
programmes for the women, children and youth, including different trainings for
the Nepali church leaders as well. The main objective of this association is to
bring the Nepali churches under one umbrella where a sense of the unity would
be practiced and this may enrich the ministry among Nepalese more effectively.
Nevertheless the history says that a group of Christian people started to have
get-togethers in Delhi, in about 1987.[4]
Nagendra Kumar, Pradeep Pradhan of Darjeeling... and
Sasir Adhikari of Kalimpong...began to contact other Nepali-Lepcha Christians
whom they knew in the city... Pradeep Pradhan, who migrated to Delhi from
Darjeeling in 1987 specifically for full-time Nepali-focused Christian worked
in conjunction with the Delhi Bible Institute (DBI).[5]
However, there were some
other Nepali Christian people who worked in Indian cities in the early phase of
time. Pastor M. L. Tamang, who was an employee in the Indian Navy, was
transferred in Delhi in 1984 and started the first Nepali Congregation at Uttam
Nagar in New Delhi.
We came to Delhi (on transfer) in May, 1984 and
started worship/fellowship at our house only with our family and two other
believers. By the end of 1984/beginning of 1985, a church was established at
our house in Uttam Nagar.[6]
People like M.L. Tamang,
Satish Chhetri and Umanand Gaire, who have given a significant contribution to
the history of the Nepali church in New Delhi.
In Uttar Pradesh, though
it is very closely attached to Nepal, we have less record of Nepali ministry.
There is a fellowship in Lucknow where Nepalese meet and also in Rampur and
Bareilly, there are Nepali fellowships. Apart from these places, no fellowship
has been recorded as such. In Rajasthan, there is a ministry among Nepali people.
There are two Nepali fellowships in the city including an Assembly of God
church that ministers among Nepali community.[7]
In Bihar and Jharkhand, Nepali fellowships are in the capital regions in Patna
and Ranchi but have not been contacted. In Gujarat, there is a fellowship in
Ahmedabad where Nepali mostly work in cloth factories and others. In
Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, I have not visited any Nepali
churches. I am sure that there might be some fellowships as MP is one of the
growing states in economy which pulls a lot of migrant workers towards it. In
Maharashtra, the first Nepali church was established in the late 1980s in
Mumbai.[8]
Now there might be 8 Nepali churches ministering in Mumbai. The city has been attracting lots of labor
migrants since the early days. Apart from this, there are three churches in
Pune among Nepali migrants. Pastor Pardeep who is leading at Pune Nepali
Fellowship and he is also a missionary from Gyaneshwar church.
In
Andhra Pradesh, the Nepali fellowship meets in Hyderabad where they run the
Sunday service in the YMCA hall. Pastor
Hem has been instrumental in reaching the Nepali migrants in Hyderabad. In
Karnataka, Bangalore has been doing wonderful works among Nepali people.
Southern Asia Bible College has been helpful to reach out the Nepali community
as Rev. Basant Prakash who is a faculty member at SABC and, also runs the
Nepali churches in Banglore. All People Nepali Church has been growing under
the leadership of pastor Timothy Thapa who is a missionary from the
Gyandershwar church in Kathmandu.
In Chennai, although there
was evidence of Nepali fellowships in 1980, it did not continue to a later
period. However, in 2004, Ps. O.C Lepcha started to gather the Nepali speaking
people in Anna Nagar. Later on Ps. Raju Tamang started another Nepali
fellowship in Nungambakkam in 2010. Nevertheless most of the Nepali speaking
students go to the local English speaking churches as they look to have an
exposure. In Kerala, there was no evidence of Nepali fellowships until today.
Summary
Dispersion
of peoples and their movement is within God’s plan, and it is also considered
as “God’s global plan for worldwide missions.”[9]
History gives us ample examples of how people moved from one place to another
and God was engaged with people, regardless of the place and boundary. Jonathan
Lewis talks about the two forces.[10]
1. Attractive Force (Come to the Blessing: Centripetal Force) 2. Expansive
Force (Go to the Nations- Centrifugal Force). The Attractive force symbolizes
the OT where Temple and Tabernacle were the places where people were attracted
to meet with God. The Bible records where several other foreigners were also
attracted to Israel because of the evidence of God’s blessing. A second force
in operation was an expansive force which means to send messages beyond the
border of Israel.
The
theory seems to be identical as the churches are looking for the migrants who
are outside of the wall. The growth of Nepalese Christians in India has been
tremendous and this is happening because of the contribution from India and
Nepal both. The church of Nepal is
looking beyond the territory which is the need of today’s mission.
Note: This is to make
it clear that there might be more Nepalese fellowships and churches in India
which I might be unaware. I therefore do not make any exclusive claims on the statistics
that I have mentioned in the article. Your feedbacks/comments are appreciated.
(Edited by Anna Bartsch)
[1] An interview with Pastor Ram Singh Rana,
advisor of Manav Kalyan Sabha, 11th June, 2013.
[2] An interview with Pastor Daniel Pathak
from Chandigarh, 12th June, 2013.
[3] Pastor Umanand Gaire, the chairman of
United Nepali Churches’ Association. (NCR=National
Capital Regions)
[4] Ciny Perry, “Nepali Around the World,”
(Kathmandu: Ekta Books, 1997), 310.
[5] Perry, 1997,310.
[6] E-mail conversation with Pastor M.L.
Tamang, 10 January, 2010.
[7] An Interview with Pastor Vinod Aryal from
Assembly of God Nepali Church, Jaipur, 12th June, 2013.
[8] Perry, 1996,311.
[9] Lausanne Committee for World
Evangelization, “Scattered to Gather: Embracing the Global Trend to Diaspora.”
2010, Manila, 22.
[10] Jonathon Lewis, referred by David J.
Bosch, “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A reader,” Fourth
Edition, Edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne (William Carey
Library: Pasadena, 2009),80.
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