Missions in Tibet
There are probably many reasons why the history of missions in Tibet has been so unsuccessful.
One is because of the extreme climate and landscape of Tibet. For a long time there was no way to get into Tibet but by foot, through 17,000 foot mountain passes with snow, frigid weather, desolate landscape, and unwelcoming Tibetan guards. This is not climate that most people could survive in.
Another reason is that the Tibetans were so set against allowing foreigners into their country. If missionaries would get in, the Tibetans would drive them right back out.
Probably the strongest factor is the spiritual darkness that has such a stronghold on the land. "The Roof of the World" seems to be shrouded in a thick darkness that does not allow the light to shine. The Tibetan people are totally immersed in Tantric Buddhism that permeates all areas of life. If they are going on a trip, the Lama must visit and determine what dates are the safest to travel. If someone is sick, the Lama comes to chant over that person. Oracles are consulted to see what will come in the future.
This Buddhism is also mixed with the ancient animistic beliefs of the people. Tibetans have always been very spiritual, superstitious, and involved in spirit worship and magic.
An article of the OMF website says this about the Tibetans' resistance to the Gospel.
One key reason must be that the Tibetan world-view and pattern of thought is steeped in Lama Buddhism, which is opposed to the Biblical Gospel. Christian spiritual vocabulary is largely meaningless to the Tibetan. For instance, if you try to share with him the necessity of "being born again" he will automatically transpose the idea to mean re-incarnation. Tibetan religion revolves around the making of merit -- the antithesis of the Gospel of grace.
The tool for the future of missions in Tibet must be prayer. There is no way these people will turn from their spirit-strongholds and fully embrace Christ by any amount of human effort. It will only be by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that God's light will break through the darkness and free Tibetans from their enslavement to the gods of Buddhism.
This is probably the reason for the more recent success of mission in Tibet. There are many people praying for this people group. God is also calling more missionaries to this place that is most literally "the ends of the earth". This growing group of missionaries is easier able to access Tibet as well.
Since Tibet has come under control of Communist China, it has also become more open to foreigners, although it is still tough to get in for a very long period of time.
Many tourists are travelling to Tibet now by a plane to Lhasa. The rest of the roads in Tibet are still pretty primitive.
As over half of Tibetans live outside of Tibet, missionaries are able to work with these people in safer environments. If these Tibetans receive Christ, they may be able to take the Gospel back into Tibet. And as the Chinese church is rapidly growing, Chinese Christians are also taking the Gospel west to Tibet.
Although there is a 700-year history of missions in Tibet and only a handful of believers, the harvest is ripe. The Tibetan church is growing and so is the missions force to reach them. There is a need of prayer for God to free the Tibetans from their darkness, to reveal himself to them, and to give understanding of something that is so radically different from their understanding of the spirit world and afterlife. The prayer would be for an outcome like what the prophet Isaiah talks about in chp 25, verses 6-8:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
