This research investigates the status of the public witness of the Nepali Church in relation to the work of the Western Christian Missions (WCMs) in social development. The Nepali Church is only 70 years old and is the fruit of faithful work of the Nepali Christians whose previous generation converted to Christianity due to their close association with the WCMs in the 1950s. The WCMs in this thesis are those mission organizations who originated in the Western countries and came to Nepal as development workers to ‘present the Gospel to Nepali people and build the Church’. They draw their major human, financial and spiritual resources from the churches outside Nepal. When the WCMs came, there were not many Nepali Christians, nor the existence of a local Church. They would work hand in hand with the Nepali Christians in their workforce to minister the spiritual needs of the people as they served their physicala needs. As a result, small Christian congregations inclusive of Nepali converts started to emerge within the mission centres. However, as the WCMs progressed in their work, a political change in 1960 altered their focus to social development side of the mission and thus they disengaged in proclamation (kerygma). Over time, they became less intentional in pursuing the spiritual elements of mission and immersed themselves in the social. Social work became their main domain of engagement in Nepal and thus limited involvement in the proclamation side. Later, as the time progressed with the change in the country’s political environment, the WCMs believed that ‘social development’ was truly their best part of Nepal mission. With the WCMs focusing on diaconal services, the infant Nepali Church was encouraged to take care of kerygma. The Church was only beginning to take early shape but was left to itself to find ways of doing mission. It was not invited by the WCMs to journey with them in their diaconal services as mission partner. Sharing between the two in terms of mission priorities, theology or resources became less visible and both took parallel mission routes. Thus, separate missional priorities for the WCMs and the local Church were drawn early on. The separate identities and objectives of the WCMs and the local Church resulted in the development of dual approach to Christian mission which has created a lasting challenge in promoting a holistic Christian public witness. III The research found that with the progression of time and expanding horizons of social services the WCMs gradually strengthened their separate identity from the local Church. This was further aided by the political environment of the country. The WCMs became more inclined to listen to the voice of those in power and comply to the ever increasing conditions than to challenge some of the limiting conditions in favour of forming a more collaborative missional partnership with the local Church. The WCMs remained content to promote diaconal service by maintaining a visible distance from the local Church in mission in order not to displease the dominant ruling class. This research has revealed that the Nepali Church would have welcomed the WCMs’ courageous approach to mission collaboration early on which would have resulted a shared role in the promotion of a better public witness. However, the WCMs hesitated to this partnership invitation.(2004– 2021).
