Sundar Dhoka (Beautiful Gate) Church is a fellowship of believers in Kathmandu, led by Pastor Babukaji Adhikari along with his wife, Goma and their son, Bikash. The church was established by the Adhikaris in the early 1980s, shortly after they moved to Kathmandu from the central foothills of Nepal. Babukaji, a paraplegic, was unable to access the Christian Fellowships that met in Kathmandu, which tended to meet in first floor rooms in the city. So he and Goma started to organise fellowship meetings for other wheelchair users.
Today, their ‘parish’ consists of up to 150 people, many of whom would be considered the outcasts of society – wheelchair users, leprosy sufferers, women who have been abandoned by their husbands, the blind, the poor.
The name of the church comes from Acts 3, which recounts the story of Peter and John’s encounter with the crippled beggar by the temple gate called ‘Beautiful’. The man, on being healed, responded with unabashed praise, ‘walking and leaping.’ This is the vision of Sundar Dhoka Church: that those who are crippled, outcast, sick and abandoned would be embraced by God, healed spiritually (and often physically) and would respond in heartfelt worship.
While not yet formally established as a CMS Ireland Partner, Sundar Dhoka Church embodies the very essence of mission and of partnership, and there are many strong links between Ireland and the little church in an old carpet factory in Kathmandu.
Sundar Dhoka Saathi Sewa (Friends Service) is the mission department of Sundar Dhoka Church and runs a number of programmes , including Sponsor Care, Charity Care, Scholarships, Supporting Disabled or poor families and Pastoral care. One of the main activities of Sundar Dhoka Saathi Sewa involves the provision of accommodation, support, friendship and advocacy for people from rural regions in Nepal who come to Kathmandu for complicated or prolonged medical treatment. These patients are referred to Sundar Dhoka Saathi Sewa from other mission organisations and tend to have little money and no family or friends in Kathmandu. Over 250 people have benefited from this service since its inception in 2004. They experience love, support and friendship and witness the reality of compassionate Christian service. Many of them find faith during their stay with the Sundar Dhoka Church community and return to their homes baptised and keen to join or establish Christian Fellowships.
Sundar Dhoka Church also runs an Outreach and Church Planting Programme, a Compassion Programme and a Hamper Programme. They have recently decided to open a new department: The Sundar Dhoka Bible Training Department.
