Christianity in Nepal

A Nepali church.

Christianity is, according to the 2021 census, the fifth most practiced religion in Nepal, with 512,313 adherents or 1.8%,[1] up from 2011 when there were 375,699 adherents or 1.4% of the population.[2] Many[3] informed observers have estimated that there are at least 1 million Nepali Christians.[4] According to some Christian groups, there may be as many as 3 million Christians in Nepal, constituting up to 10% of the country's population.[5] A report by Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary identified the Nepali church the fastest growing in the world.[6] The vast majority of Nepali Christians are evangelical Protestants (if evangelical is defined broadly to include charismatics and Pentecostals);[7] there is also a small Catholic population of roughly 10,000.[8]

The first Christian mission to Nepal was established in 1715 by Catholic Capuchin friars,[9] who worked in the Kathmandu Valley.[10] The Capuchins were expelled following Nepal's unification in 1768-9,[11] and Christian groups were officially banned from the country for the next two centuries.[12] After the revolution of 1951, foreign missionaries were permitted to enter Nepal to perform social service work, but proselytization and conversion were still legally prohibited.[13] It was only after the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1990, and the relaxation of restrictions on conversion,[14] that the Nepali church began to grow rapidly,[15] but attempts to convert others remain illegal as of 2023.[16]

The expansion of Christianity is a controversial subject in Nepal,[17] and Nepali Christians have been subject to sporadic violence[18] and widespread social exclusion.[19] It is frequently reported in Nepali media and political discourse that missionaries offer the poor material incentives to convert, like what's happening in India,[20] but research has indicated that most Nepali Christians convert for reasons other than contact with missionaries.[21]

Nepal's constitution-writing process of 2006–15, and the 2007 designation of the country as a secular state,[22] intensified controversies surrounding Christianity.[23] The constitution of 2015 re-affirmed secularism but also prohibited proselytism and 'disturbing the religion of other people'.[24] In 2017, Nepal's parliament passed a bill which prohibited 'hurting the religious sentiment of any caste, ethnic community or class by writing, through voice/talk or by a shape or symbol or in any other such manner'.[25]

Historical Christianity population in Nepal[26][27]
YearPop.±%
2001 104,180—    
2011 375,699+260.6%
2021 512,313+36.4%
Source: Nepal Censuses
  1. ^ National Statistics Office (2024). National Population and Housing Census 2021: Population Composition of Nepal (PDF). National Statistics Office, Nepal. p. 52. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  2. ^ Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics (2011) ‘National Population and Housing Census 2011.’ p. 4. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  3. ^
  4. ^ FNCN: Christian population below actual size.’ Kathmandu Post, 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
    • Shrestha, Ram Prasad (2012) 'A Historical Analytical Account of Mission Development of Churches of Nepal from 1990 to 2010.' Thesis submitted for MA Intercultural Studies in Asian Context, Redcliffe College. p. 3.
    • Gibson, Ian (2017).
    • Gibson, Ian (2015). p. 113.
    • Janssen, Peter (2016) ‘Christianity's Rise Tests Nepal's New Secularism’. Nikkei Asian Review, 4 December 2016. Archived 28 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
    • Census in Nepal Marks 2.3 million Christians as Hindus’ in Compilation of WEA Religious Liberty Commission Research and Analysis Reports 2010–13. pp. 128–9. Archived on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  5. ^ "2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Nepal". United States Department of State. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  6. ^ Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2013) Christianity in its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion and Mission. South Hamilton, MA: Center for the Study of Global Christianity. p. 38. Archived on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  7. ^ DAWN Nepal (2007) National Church Survey of Nepal: August 2007. Kathmandu: Nepal Research and Resource Network. pp. 547–8.
    • Mandryk, Jason ed. (2010) Operation World. Bletchley, Milton Keynes: Authentic Media. p. 619.
    • Shrestha 2005, pp. 24–5.
  8. ^ Parajuli, Kalpit (2011) ‘Nepalese Catholics Grow: A Challenge to Anti-conversion laws.Asia News 20 October 2011. Archived 17 November 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  9. ^ Barclay, John (2009) ‘The Church in Nepal: Analysis of Its Gestation and Growth[usurped].’ International Bulletin of Missionary Research 33 (4):189–194. p. 189.
  10. ^ Alsop, Ian (1996) ‘Christians at the Malla Court: the Capuchin ‘piccolo libro’.’ In Change and continuity: studies in the Nepalese culture of the Kathmandu Valley, edited by Siegfried Lienhard. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso. p. 123.
  11. ^ Landon, Perceval (1928) Nepal. London: Constable and Co. Vol. 2. p. 236.
  12. ^ Barclay 2009, p. 189.
  13. ^ Barclay 2009, pp. 190–1.
  14. ^ Gaborieau, Marc (2002). ‘Christian Minorities in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal.’ In Religious minorities in South Asia: selected essays on post-colonial situations, edited by Monirul Hussain and Lipi Ghosh. New Delhi: Manak Publications. p. 96.
  15. ^ Barclay 2009, pp. 192–3.
  16. ^ Kim, Kevin; Henscke, Rebecca (14 January 2023). "Christian missionaries target the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal". BBC News. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  17. ^ Sermon on the Mountain’. Nepali Times 1 September 2017. Archived 21 November 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  18. ^ U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2017) Annual Report 2017 – Nepal. Archived 21 November 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  19. ^ Gibson 2017, ch. 7–10.
  20. ^ U.S. Department of State 2016, p. 2.
  21. ^ Gibson 2017, p. 87-101; ch. 7–10.
  22. ^ The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 (2007): with English and Nepali Side-by-side and Introductory Material in Both Languages (2009). Kathmandu: UNDP Nepal. p. 56. Archived on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  23. ^ Letizia, Chiara (2017) 'Secularism and statebuilding in Nepal'. Accord: An International Review of Peace Initiatives 26: 109–11.
  24. ^ Nepal's Constitution of 2015. Comparative Constitutions Project. p. 22. Archived on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  25. ^ Nepal Bill Criminalizes Conversion’. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 21 August 2017. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Population Monograph of Nepal Volume II (Social Demography)" (PDF).
  27. ^ › NATIONAL POPULATION CENSUS OF NEPAL