As hinted at above, freedom may not be without problems. From the interviews, it seems that it created a series of dangers and challenges for the Asha Church and, by implication, for the entire Christian community, some of which will be looked at here. A key to understanding some of these problems may be seen from the following three assertions from two leaders and a girl, 1) ‘freedom gives more “freedom,” ’ 2) ‘ … nowadays there is too much freedom’, and 3) ‘after freedom people got too much freedom.’266 Freedom is tied up with the Democratic type of government after 1990, where ordinary people engage in politics, and can utter their personal opinions and write freely and where now also the Christians can worship and share their Christian faith freely. In addition, people can choose their spouses and live a life after their own choices as opposed to the traditional lives which are usually framed from
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childhood in a Hindu caste system or in a Buddhist system. Freedom gives more options for lifestyles. Coming from the pre-Democratic rule of government, where life was poor and predictable, the existence of freedom may not be at all easy for a Christian either to comprehend or to navigate. This may be true for both the Panchayat-generation and the Democratic-generation Christians. Below are some examples which clarify the concerns.
3.5.3.1 Lack of Faith and Commitment to the Church
In summarising the views of a significant number of the informants, it becomes clear that it is a concern, directly or indirectly stated, among both Panchayat- and Democratic-generation Christians that Jesus is taken more lightly by the Democratic- generation Christians. From the interview-based material, the message is that there are Democratic-generation Christians who are not serious or dedicated and their faith is weak in comparison with the Panchayat-generation Christians. Furthermore, these informants assert, in varying degrees, that persecution may be a necessary factor to gain strength in faith, and that only persecution will disclose who the real followers of Christ are.267 Devi Bahadur Tamang, an elder of the Asha Church in his mid-40s, who is also the director of a registered bible training centre in Nepal, a key leader who has been part of the church from the beginning, in referring to the role of persecution in experiencing true Christian life states that ‘a woman without children does not know the pain of childbirth.’ He goes on to say that there ‘is a great danger of nominalism’, and also refers to a Biblical account:
[d]uring the time of Moses people knew who God was and feared him. ... The coming generations … did not know the Lord, and they
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were not facing persecution. They just heard the stories. Therefore I am a little bit worried about this coming generation of Nepal, whether there will be any real Christians.268
What is more, the Democratic-generation Christians have lost the ‘fear of God’ and also ‘the fear of people’. This latter is taken to mean that the respect for authorities is disappearing, for example the ‘fear’ of church leaders and parents. It is a corollary of this that Panchayat-generation Christians have prestige and status because of the suffering they experienced during the Panchayat period, just as the party politicians did, at least initially, just after 1990. On the other hand, many Democratic-generation Christians gain prestige and status through their skills (Section 3.5.2). Along the same lines, I wonder whether the Democratic-generation Christians were also inferring loss of fear of government and other authorities since they changed the laws against conversion. Freedom and higher education give a lot of potential to make new controversial decisions. Freedom is a factor to take into consideration as Tek Bahadur Tamang said:
During the first (Panchayat) generation my faith was very strong. I fasted 40 days. I used to go to the high places (high mountains) for prayer and fast (Gorkha, Durba, Ligligkot, Mirkot, Budikot etc.).269 But now after freedom or Democracy people are not serious with their prayer life, even me. The new generation have no persecution, therefore they are not serious with Christian activities such [as] prayer life, bible study and family (house) fellowship etc.270
This Panchayat-generation leader admits he gives in to indolence and neglect from an earlier valiant and strong lifestyle because the environment has changed. It is simply not necessary any more to keep focused as Christians. Therefore, the newer freedom-
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Strategic prayer as sketched by Pastor Gurung (4.1.5) 270
generation or Democratic-generation Christian cannot singly be held responsible for their way of living as the Panchayat-generation is also tempted to do the same. I am glad for Tek Bahadur’s honesty because it brings more nuanced information to the statements.
3.5.3.2 Lack of Proper Clothing or Inappropriate Appearance
Two people addressed the problem of inappropriate clothing among ordinary Christians and among Christians in leadership positions in the church, for example, among some worship leaders. Attention is particularly drawn to the urban-settled young women as their dress style has changed from the traditional Nepali to tightly fitting jeans and t- shirts. According to one pastor, they seem uncomfortable sitting down on the floor. And, he says, in addressing female singers in such clothing, ‘they cannot raise their hands, because then the t-shirt would go up and people could see major parts of their stomach [pointing up to the breasts]. This will distract people’s mind when they are worshipping and praying, and they are not concentrated on the Lord.’271 There were comments on hair-styles among some worship leaders; one said, ‘the young generation is influenced by those who are not Christian including their hair-style and fashion.’272 Another one explained more comprehensively that certain hair-styles were not necessarily bad behaviour in a Christian context, rather it is a matter of people’s evaluation of such a person in terms of the Christian qualities he or she might signal. He said ‘if I have long hair I look rough’ and I ‘may be involved somehow as a
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gangster … how can people then respect me, or in what way do they respect me?’ Short hair gives a gentle look.273
3.5.3.3 Lack of Role-Models, Parental Upbringing and Responsibility
To address some of the problems sketched above, one worship leader suggested that young people need role models, for example, the parents. He also said that ‘the church leadership needs to take responsibility.’274 One pastor seemed to agree as he pointed out that inappropriate clothing among worship leaders is an issue which must be addressed by the church leaders to the parents of the worship team. He said, ‘it was more important how they dressed and acted than it is a matter of voice.’ A woman claimed:
[W]e as parents must be examples for them [the children]. The fault does not reside with the pastors or leaders but lies with the parents as they lack teaching in how to apply the word of God. If we as parents do not walk the true way with God our children will not do either.275
Along those same lines, a number of informants point to the responsibility the parents have for bringing up their children and for communicating with their teenagers. The communication is not always good despite the fact that many teenagers and even older ‘children’ want to debate with their parents on different general or youth issues but often do not find sufficient understanding or interest from their parents. Consequently, some teenagers are drifting away, smoking and drinking.276 One woman summarised many opinions by maintaining that Christians have no code for bringing up children anymore as opposed to the Hindu families where there are still special care and rules, at least for girls:
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[Christian] parents think that their boys or girls they know Jesus, so they can differentiate. But sometimes parents are wrong, and they have given total freedom. Today most Christian boys and girls they are in bad relationship stay a long way from home, even grown up girls. Parents’ responsibility should be upheld. It is because of the freedom.277
She continued by stating that, as the Democratic-generation Christians are not only the teenagers but also those in their twenties, parents cannot entirely be to blame. However, many teenagers and young people of Christian parents have been let down by inadequate upbringing. They have not had enough suitable role-models, even though it is axiomatic that most young people are looking for role-models, and they have had no correction which is what is expected within socio-religious traditions (sanskriti) in Nepal.
The first example described the apparent tension between freedom and persecution in relation to the youth. The next example focused on specific issues where the appearance of young people cause other people to feel uncomfortable, perhaps even upsetting the socio-religious traditional codes like respect for other people. The last example looked at the need for role models for young people, especially pointing to parents’ responsibility. As freedom, which has come in the wake of Democracy, seems to be threatening the Nepali church, attention is drawn to emerging tensions of the Asha Church. Although the young people need good parental teaching and role-models, the parents also need teaching. Not all church leaders are equipping parents for supervising their children in this fast-changing world. One reason for this may be a general lack of having been prepared for this task by the church leaders.
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From the above, including primary and secondary sources, it is clear that there is an expectation from the older generation that the younger generation behave according to certain set patterns.278 Five informants said that there is a ‘generation gap’; one young female informant explained that ‘the main problem is a generation gap because our leaders are illiterate but our youth is really educated.279 The youth say, how can we follow you when you cannot read? The leaders say, no, you have to follow us. There is a generation gap, and the main problem is education. The leaders do not want to change, it is their habit.’280
Other informants have said that the problem is a lifestyle difference between the two generations. These tensions are complex.
Freedom, meanwhile, need not be a negative asset. A young leader stated, ‘It is good to have freedom also.’281
He finds there are possibilities in the free world and mentions modern resources like the media. He says that living in freedom is a challenge to the Christian people. Perhaps this leader is touching on precisely the important issue - that of critical inculturation. According to the material from the field, the interviews, freedom and Democracy are real challenges to the church, particularly to the young people who are exposed to a world of possibilities.
Times are changing in Nepal, not only because of Democracy but also because of globalisation. The influx of media, computers and new types of secular education are guiding a young generation into fields where Nepalese habits, customs and traditional ways of approaching matters are challenged. The old generation of leaders seems to have neglected the teaching of parents and others to be role models for their children
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Primary sources are the interview material in the field. Secondary sources are relevant literature, magazines, CDs and DVDs, web-based video-sequences, podcasts, discussion fora etc.
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I-01/13, I-04/26, I-15/12, I-24/19, I-26/23 280
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and the youth. Additionally, the Panchayat-generation leaders give the impression of being unwilling to initiate a generational handover of their authority in the church to the younger generation or to invite them in a welcoming atmosphere to discuss a common future for the church. This problem of authority creates a reaction which results in tensions among the youth. Continual mutual disrespect between the Panchayat- generation and the Democratic-generation will probably not produce much fruit for the Asha Church. This kind of disrespect between generations and lack of handing over of areas of responsibility may not be unique to Nepal. At this juncture, the picture identifying possible dangers and challenges to the Asha Church has shown a tension between the two generations, a generation gap, aggravated by national socio-political ground swells which occurred when the Democratic rule of Government gave people new opportunities for action.