Why Nepal Has One Of The World's Fastest-Growing Christian Populations

NPR is trying to work out, Why Nepal Has One Of The World's Fastest-Growing Christian Populations

Bishwa Mani Pokharel, news chief at Nepal's Nagarik newspaper, pulls out copies of the census to show the statistical gallop of Christianity across Nepal. It listed no Christians in 1951 and just 458 in 1961. By 2001, there were nearly 102,000. A decade later that number had more than tripled to more than 375,000. Pokharel and others think the increase is really much higher but inaccurately reported.

"Before, when the Christians had a party, they slaughtered a chicken. Now, they slaughter a goat," says Pokharel, who has been reporting on the conversions. That extra meat, he explains, is necessary to feed all of the new people who've joined the guest list.

Churches now mushroom throughout the Kathmandu Valley and across the terraced hills. Proselytizing remains illegal, but with political instability and weak law enforcement, that doesn't stop it from happening.

The article focuses on what you can see above the surface. What they don’t see is that this is a grass root movement of multiplying disciples and churches. 

UPDATE: If you want to know what’s happening under the surface in Nepal, have a listen to any of the podcasts by Nathan Shank.