MEET OUR CoMP – Ashish C. Christian, Theological Education; Kathmandu

MEET OUR CoMP – Ashish C. Christian, Theological Education; Kathmandu

AsiaCMS’ MEET OUR CoMP is a series of profile articles that aim to give our readers a more personal insight into our Co-mission Partners, who are out in the mission field. We’d like you to know – not just the work they do for the Kingdom of God, but also who they are and what motivates them. We hope these articles allow you to know our CoMPs a little better and help you pray for them in a more personal way…

Ashish Christian exudes joy wherever he goes. He is quite the musical artist – adept at playing several instruments, composing and arranging original scores, as well as singing. He is a true musician and romantic at heart, a combination that served him quite well when he first met and courted his wife! Ashish loves Nepali food; feels comfortable in dark blue; and enjoys playing and watching cricket. After a long day, he looks forward to cooking and watching TV, sipping a cup of black tea.

At the core of his heart are his wife, Karuna and son, Ashriel, with a devotion to serving God with his whole being. Ashish does his best to have regular times of prayer with his family and often fasts to keep his focus on God. Over the years of serving God, Ashish has learnt two key lessons: to serve God with his whole heart and to survive with limited (and occasionally faulty) resources.

As part of the faculty of Nepal Theological College, Ashish is involved in Teaching, Preaching and Music ministry. Although he finds teaching Theology in Nepali context a little challenging, he savours teaching the topics Worship and Music and the Biblical Foundation of Mission, as well as Church History. When he teaches, he keeps the core principles of worship in mind: “Worship itself is a total submission with singing, preaching and practical living. Worship is a lifestyle as a whole,” he says.

He feels encouraged when people testify about his teaching and preaching – seeing it as a result of a task well done. Ashish lives by the motto: “Being an active part of the Missio Dei in an appointed place, people or community through the skills I have to build and lift up God’s Church.”

Ashish received his Theological training in India, where he was born and initially found it difficult to apply the theological topics he studies within a Nepali context, where he now lives. However, over time, Ashish has learned to understand and bring light to theological concepts within the Nepali context and its culture.

Ashish believes in the importance of expressing worship and theology contextually, especially indigenized worship (worship that encompasses the language, instruments, lyrics, etc. of the culture it is expressed in.) He sees the Church as being greatly influenced by West-contextualized worship and desires to see Asian cultures express worship for God in an indigenous manner.

Ashish constantly encourages the students he teaches, “to reach out the people with their own local flavour of music and worship style. That, he believes will be more fruitful as well as practical for the audience.” He hopes to see “today’s youth, who are pillars of the Nepali church, use the local flavour of music to worship” because he believes a contextualized worship will be more accepted, as well as effective for many.

Ashish is our Co-Mission Partner based in Kathmandu, together with his wife Karuna Sharma. He serves as a Faculty at the Nepal Theological, preaches and is also involved in Music Ministry and Education. For more info on Ashish and his ministry, please visit his profile: https://www.asiacms.net/connect/