Nepalese missionaries saved from hands of Maoist rebels, share experience

Kathmandu, Nepal, Nov. 3, 2004 – Maoist insurgents kidnapped an entire native missionary team working in Nepal recently, and then released them soon thereafter. The missionaries had preached the gospel in one remote mountain village and were on their way to another when they were intercepted by rebel fighters.

"All the time they were in captivity, the missionaries remained in prayer," said the local director of an indigenous mission supported by U.S.–based Christian Aid. "They can see God's hand in all of these events."

Christian Aid, which reported of the kidnapping last month, recently received a personal account of the kidnapping from the leader of the missionary team. “His own words best describe the unstoppable saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ, even in the most fearful circumstances,” the agency reported.

The following is the personal account:

“Thank you for your prayers and support for me and our team. We praise God for you and rejoice with you for the miracle of our release! Let me tell you briefly my experience.

We set out to conduct an evangelism program in a mountain village on September 17. The Lord blessed our time there. Many attended our meetings and were very responsive.

We left this village on September 22 and set out in our jeep for another. The whole time we were traveling, we were not aware that a group of insurgents was following us. They had been watching us for some time. When we reached a place where the roads were so steep that the jeep could no longer go, we got out and began to prepare for our long trek.

That was when the insurgents approached us. Their leader came up to me and asked if I was head of the team. He looked like Goliath to me, so huge and terrifying. He told me he wanted to talk to me and took me a distance from the group. My heart pounded. We hear news all the time that this is how the Maoists torture people, by taking them away to "talk" and then breaking their hands and legs to try to get information. Most of these people end up dead. The rest of the team had to watch helplessly as the heavily armed insurgents prevented them from moving.

The Maoist leader took me a distance and began to question me about my work. I thought this might be the end of my physical life, but thankfully he did not touch me.

All the team members and I were captured and taken to an unknown place. We prayed constantly for God's grace and protection. We were aware that nobody returns once they are taken like this. We felt like Jonah in the belly of the fish, yet we always experienced the living presence of the Holy Spirit and His peace.

The Maoists were surprised that we were so calm and peaceful. Praise God, they never harmed us. God had a greater plan. We had all the evangelism materials with us, which the insurgents found when they searched our bags. Some became very interested in the gospel. We shared the good news of salvation with them, and several received the Lord! They asked us to give them a Bible. What a miracle of God!

God worked in our captors' hearts, and they decided to release us. However, some had managed to get information about our missionary work from us. Now we have to remain alert and underground as their networks may search for us.

Please continue to lift us up in your prayers. Pray for the insurgents who heard the gospel, that they would hold fast to the word of God. Pray that all believers in Nepal would be protected, and that the gospel would spread in this country.”

For years Maoists have fought to control rural villages of Nepal and worked to keep outsiders away – particularly Christians. Lately insurgents have been picking up momentum, launching attacks on the capital city. Christian Aid reports that while missionary work has become more hazardous in recent months, native gospel workers continue to spread the gospel.

“Native gospel workers cannot ignore the cry of the lost and continue to evangelize despite danger,” the agency reported. “Pray that peace would come to Nepal so that no more lives would be lost to the Maoist insurgency. Pray that the truth of Christ would continue to spread in this hurting country.”

Since the conflict began in 1996, insurgent Maoists have been fighting to make Nepal a communist state. More than 9,000 lives have been lost.

The land–locked nation of Nepal between China and India is the world's only officially Hindu nation, with eighty–six percent of the population being Hindu and only 0.6 percent Christian.

Civil unrest in 1990 led to liberalization of government controls, including freedom to profess and practice any religion, but not to proselytize. Proselytism is prohibited.

Members of minority religions occasionally report police harassment. But adherents of the country's many religions generally coexist peacefully and respect all places of worship. Those who convert to other religions may face isolated incidents of violence and sometimes are ostracized socially, but generally they do not fear to admit their affiliations in public.