Togetherness in Nepal – Church and Community Mobilisation
Local Baptist churches in Nepal are breaking down barriers, serving their neighbours and sharing the love of Christ through Church and Community Mobilisation training.
For many years, local church congregations across Nepal viewed their role as purely spiritual, keeping their distance from the wider community.
The introduction of Church and Community Mobilisation training is addressing this challenge and giving practical solutions to break down barriers so that the church and community can work and live more closely together.
Pastor Samyong Thapa Magar of Lungrupa Baptist Church reflects on this past mindset: “Our church leaders taught us by saying, ‘Don’t be yoked together with unbelievers.’ We had a very narrow view of community involvement. We were never involved in any social work.”
In Taplejung, course participant Manmaya Limbu also shared a similar perspective, “Earlier, my mindset was that our focus as Christians should be only on spiritual matters and not so much on social matters. But this training has changed my dual view of the world as secular and sacred.”
Sangasangai: a catalyst for change
Everything began to change when BMS and the Nepal Baptist Church Council (NBCC), introduced Church and Community Mobilisation training – known locally as Sangasagai, which means ‘togetherness’.
Sangasangai brings church members together for group Bible study, prompting them to look differently at Scripture. Through these studies, church leaders and members see that serving their community, caring for creation and loving people of all backgrounds is at the heart of the gospel and the Great Commission.
“This training has changed my dual view of the world,” says Manmaya. “Now I have come to know that God is the creator of the universe, including people and the environment. God loves them all equally and has a great concern for his creation. I must have the same view over what God has created. Our Bible study forced us to serve our community.”
Love in Action
Equipped with this vision, Baptist churches across Nepal have stepped out from inside their walls and into their local villages and communities to give practical help to others.
Relief and response support: when flash floods and landslides struck, Lungrupa Baptist Church was the first to distribute relief items and help build temporary shelters. In Maluwa, Sangasangai facilitator Prem Rai worked with church members and local community leaders to clear blocked village roads.
Environmental care: churches in Taplejung led tree-planting drives to care for God’s creation. In Pastor Samyong’s village, youth from the church stepped in to help elderly villagers plant crops and vegetables they could no longer manage themselves.
Community restoration: from cleaning public wells and memorial parks to buying a much-needed sound system for a local school, churches are actively seeking out their community's needs.
The result: a visible witness
The practical love shown by these churches is changing public perception across Nepal. Neighbours who were once sceptical now actively join in community projects, and local governments are treating churches as trusted partners rather than threats.
In Taplejung, local authorities were so impacted by Christia Baptist Church’s service to the community that they allocated government funds to help build facilities that the church needed.
Through Church and Community Mobilisation training Sangasangai, churches are no longer isolated, they are an integral, vital part of their society.
As Prem Rai, CCM facilitator from Upasana Baptist Church in Maluwa puts it: "I have learned that the church is not just for itself, but for society and the community… our church is becoming salt and light in the community among the people from different castes, religions and backgrounds.”
Author: Pippa Dunn
Published: 06/08/2026
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Churches across the world are learning put love into action through Church and Community Mobilisation. If you haven't already seen the new BMS Harvest video, which shows the difference this kind of training is making in Sierra Leone, why not take five minutes to watch it now?
