A Story to Tell

In the midst of the terraced hillsides of far western Nepal a church is struggling to survive and grow in difficult terrain. Sixty people attend this church, which doesn’t actually look so much like a church. It meets at nine o’clock at night so that its members can farm during the day. There are no small groups, no children’s program, no offering, and no tradition of taking the Lord’s Supper. Church members do not pray out loud. One man has attended here for seven years, but knows almost nothing beyond how to become a Christian. For others, what they do know about the Bible has had little impact on their lives. They remain baby believers, still wavering between their commitment to Christ and the rituals and values of their religious background.

This describes the situation of a remote church in Kalikot district three months ago, and is representative of hundreds of immature, vulnerable churches across Nepal. Their growth and maturity is stunted by the scarcity of spiritual nourishment available to illiterate Christians.

Literacy rates have risen dramatically in Nepal in recent years and have reached almost fifty percent among men and thirty-five percent among women. But these are national averages. The hillsides of the far west are speckled with villages where only school-age children can read. Nepal remains an oral culture, where most people choose to communicate verbally rather than in writing. Churches in remote areas are malnourished because they are unable to draw strength, truth, and life-change from the written Word of God.

This need to communicate God’s Word in oral form was the catalyst for OM Nepal to create two Village Ministry Teams. They spend up to three months at a time discipling believers in rural churches by teaching the Bible in story form. People from oral cultures have a tremendous ability to learn and memorise stories. Through the storytelling method Village Ministry Teams help illiterate believers to understand God’s plan for His creation from Genesis to Revelation for the first time. The teams help to establish Christians in Nepal who not only believe, but live day-by-day according to the principles in God’s Word.

The small church in Kalikot district’s terraced hills was one of the first to ask for and receive a Village Ministry Team. The effect has been dramatic. After listening to the team’s Bible story presentations, church members understand portions of Scripture. As the pastor wrote, “now believers are getting strength from the words of God.”

The church’s worship services have been transformed, and now include corporate prayers and enthusiastic participation from members. Believers have committed to meeting weekly in the morning and have started a fellowship rotation between their houses, some of which are three or four hours apart. Children go to Sunday School and sing songs about God in their villages rather than lyrics from western movies.

The Village Ministry Team has finished their time in Kalikot for now, but they will return in a few months to reinforce this still-fragile church. In the meantime they will travel to other districts to partner with churches in similar situations. Church by church, they seek to encourage, motivate, and build up the Body of Christ by sharing The Story that He wrote for us to tell.

OM’s role in the Church is to mobilise people to share the knowledge of Jesus and His love with every generation in every nation. OM pioneers and leads initiatives to redeem lives, rebuild communities and restore hope in over 110 countries.