(Feb. 9, 2015 - by Harold Goerzen)  Four unreached people groups in an uncharacteristically flat, tropical area of Nepal known for its diverse flora and fauna and rich farmland can hear local Christian radio programs for the first time through a partnership with a local broadcaster.

“Our partner is excited to put a station in the area where he grew up and make an impact on the different people groups,” said Ty, executive director of Reach Beyond’s Asia Pacific Region. “It’s a pretty exciting opportunity. This is a part of Nepal where there are really no churches. We’re hoping the radio outreach will lead to the formation of some house fellowships in the area.”

After Nepal became a multiparty constitutional republic in 2007, ending centuries of absolute power by the Hindu monarchy, it opened the door for community radio stations. In the next five years, Reach Beyond helped local partners put seven stations on the air nationwide, but then progress slowed.

After much prayer and perseverance, the delays ended in late 2014 with the launch of the station in Nepal’s lowlands. “We’re very grateful that the Lord provided this opportunity after two years of struggling through a lot of administrative issues, questions about importing equipment and problems with logistics,” Ty related. “We’re very grateful that the Lord put that all together for us.”

The local partner, having started a community radio station on his own in a city hundreds of miles away in 2010, is well-suited to lead the new outreach.

“He has worked as an audio producer for Back to the Bible,” Ty said. “He’s had several years of experience operating a community station. He is motivated and organized—a pretty impressive young guy. I really admire him, and he is doing an excellent job.”

The new station is housed in an “old family homestead”—an adobe brick house that required a major investment and extensive renovations to bring it up to modern standards.

“He wants to focus on agricultural and medical topics and programming in indigenous languages,” Ty explained. “The staff does devotional programming in the mornings that can have a very spiritual, evangelistic slant to it. The station also airs some general entertainment material, and our partner wants to do some interactive programming with audience participation such as live greetings and call-in shows.”

In addition to broadcasting the gospel, the partner is open to adding a “hands” (medical) element to the outreach, especially since his wife works in healthcare.

“It’s ultimately about building relationships with the community,” Ty concludes. “That is the key to sharing the gospel.”

Three more partner radio stations are in the works for Nepal this year as well as two potential water projects and other community development efforts.

Source: Reach Beyond