Protestant Christians came to Nepal primarily through the Nepalese who were living outside of Nepal during and prior to the Rana Regime. After the collapse of Ranas rule in Nepal in 1950, Nepali Christians living in India came in, along with some western missionaries. United Mission to Nepal, International Nepal Fellowship and others are a few earliest western mission agencies that came in and brought Christianity. According to the government data, Protestantism accounts for about 0.45% of the population, but the unofficial number of Christians, including Catholics is between 700,000 to a million. In 2011, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 estimated the Christian population to be "less than 5%" of the total population of Nepal

Demographics of Nepal

The population of Nepal is estimated at 29,391,883 people in July 2011, with a population growth rate of 1.596% and a median age of 21.6 years. Female median age is estimated at 22.5 years, and male median age at 20.7 years...

, which is roughly 30 million.

State of the Church in Nepal

Until 1990, most of the church groups in Nepal were united with few exceptions like Assembly of God and Church of Christ. But the democratic changes of 1990 brought relative freedom to practice one's faith. This freedom contributed towards a proliferation of various denominations and groups. Church as a whole in Nepal is an indigenous phenomena with no direct involvement of foreign missionaries. Nepalese themselves took upon the challenge of sharing the gospel and churches came into existence. However, missionaries began to enter the open doors in the decades since 1990.

As a result of missionaries and foreign missions, there are a plethora of foreign funded churches and mission groups in Nepal. Although the church leadership appears to be Nepali in nature, but the Nepali Christian leaders have adopted some of the names and practices as demanded by their donors. The state of the Protestant church in Nepal is a divided house. The single most cause of division has been the leaders' desire to tap in foreign donation. Doctrinally, Nepali church is very much like the New Testament Church and there is hardly any theological debate taking place in Nepal. The denominational division taking place is not for doctrine but for money.

By 2011, Christianity had been growing in Nepal, due to a desire on the part of lower-caste

Nepalese caste system

The Nepalese caste system, like the Indian caste system, is highly complex and continues the traditional system of social stratification of Nepal. The caste system defines social classes by a number of hierarchical endogamous groups often termed as Jāt. This custom is found in both the Hindu and...

 Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

s trying to get opportunities for social advancement.

Persecution

Although the Maoists are responsible for the deaths of many Nepalise, the secularisation of Nepal is largely due to their revolution. Persecution during the Maoists war was not a wholesale rejection of Christianity, it was rather related to individual cases where the Christians refused to co-operate. For that they would persecute anyone, not just Christians. By and large, the church in Nepal continues to enjoy relative freedom and Nepali population is very tolerant of their presence.

Christianity is still considered a foreign religion by the majority of Hindus and Buddhists. If any family member becomes Christian, he or she is sure to face severe opposition from the family and even be completely ostracised by them. Much of the hostility towards Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

s stems from the fact that Christians are associated and often in the guise of communists

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 that have terrorized the Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

i population

In 2011, a crisis amongst the Christian community who were not allowed to create new burial grounds for their dead lead to a hunger strike

Hunger strike

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...

.

Further reading

• Acharya, Babu Ram, “Shri Panch Badamaharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah Ra Capuchin Padariharu” (His Majesty the King Prithvi Narayan Shah and the Capuchin Fathers), Ramjham, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, 2026 B. S.
• Bhatta, Bhoj Raj, "Creating health and unity in the Nepali Church", Evangelical Missions Quarterly (July, 2010)
• Celebrating 45 Years in Nepal, Kathmandu: United Mission to Nepal, December 1999. Cloud, David W., Rome and the Bible, Port Huron (U. S. A.): Way of Life Literature, 2000.
• Karthak, Solon, Srastaka Triratna (A Collection of Biographies), Kathmandu: Sarikar Prakashan, 1996.
• Khanal, B. P., Pastor Tir Bahadur, Amruwali Kanchho (Biography), Kathmandu: Samdan Publishers, 1998.
• Landon, Perceval, Nepal, Vol. 2, Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1976.
• Lindell Jonathan, Nepal and The Gospel of God, New Delhi: United Mission to Nepal, 1979.
• Messerschmidt, Donald A., The Moran of Kathmandu, Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1997.
• Perry, Cindy, A Biographical History of the Church in Nepal, Kathmandu: Nepal Church History Project, 2000.
• Petech, Luciano (ed.), Tibet Ra Nepalma Italian Dharma Pracharakharu (Italian Missionaries in Tibet and Nepal), Translated into Nepali by Surendra Dhakal, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, 2060 B. S.
• Rai, Prem Bahadur (ed.), Prakash, Yr. 22, Iss. 24, Mangsir 2060. Ramghat Mandali Smarika Pachasaun Barshikotsab 1952-2002, (Ramghat Church Memoranda Golden Jubilee, Pokhara: Ramghat Church, 2002.
• Ramghat Mandali Chalisau Barshikotsab (1952–1992) (Smarika Ramghat Church 40th Anniversary), Pokhara: Ramghat Church, 1992.
• Regmi, D. R., Medieval Nepal, Vol. II, Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1966.
• Schreib Claudia, The Nepali Christians: religious Outcasts in A Religious Land, (A field report submitted to the University of Wisconsin College Year in Nepal 1988-1089) June 22, 1989.
• Sebastian, Roy (ed.), Fifty Years Placed with the Son in Nepal, Kathmandu: The Nepal Jesuit Society, 2001.
• Sever, Adrien, Nepal under the Ranas, New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., 1993.
• Stiller, Ludwig F., Nepal: Growth of a Nation, Kathmandu: Human Resources Development Research Center, 1993.
• Stiller, Ludwig F., The Rise of the House of Gorkha, Patna: Patna Jesuit Society, 1975.
• Vaidya, Tulsi Ram, Jaya Prakash Malla: The Brave Malla King of Kantipur, New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd. 1996.
• Vaidya, Tulsi Ram, Nepal: A Study of Socio-Economic and Political Changes, New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1992.
• Vannini, Fulgentius, Christian Settlements in Nepal Duringthe Eighteenth Century, New Delhi: Messers Devarsons, 1977.