March 5^th 1954 marks the birthday of UMN – but Sept. 22^nd is UMN’s second birthday.

In March 1954, officers were appointed with the task of inviting mission agencies all over the world to join UMN.    In Nepal and the Gospel of God,
Jonathan Lindell remembers that as the news spread in UK, North
America, Australia, Europe and in India – many questions arose, one of
the major ones being “How can people from so many widely different
denominations worship and work together, with their differences of
tradition and practice?” He says that as “Letters went back and forth
across the earth, heavy and thick with these matters… the
discussions… boiled down to one final question: we have had a part for
many years in prayer and work toward Nepal, and now is this the opening
and way that God is giving us to enter the country? And as they
searched and struggled there grew in them the inner conviction that
“Yes, this is the way that God is making and giving to us” This
conviction became the glue that really put the Mission together and
which has held it together ever since.” (NGG pg. 146)

On September 22^nd and 23^rd, 1954, representatives from the 8 mission agencies that were ready to join together, met in Delhi.
At this meeting

• the first Board of Managers was formed,
• the first Executive Director was appointed,
• the  UMN draft constitution was accepted for interim use,
• these 8 agencies became the first “Member Bodies” of UMN and
• the first 7 people were assigned!

Four of these original member bodies are still sending expatriates to UMN today:
Methodist Church USA,  Church of Scotland,  BMMF (now Interserve) and World Mission Prayer League. The other four original member bodies were: Regions Beyond Missionary Union, the Swedish Baptist Mission (now Interact), Presbyterian Church USA, and the United Christian Missionary Society. 
We thank God for the way He brought these agencies together, for all
those who have been sent by them through the years, and also for the
many other agencies who have sent people to Nepal for the past 60 years.

We
cannot mention every name of the hundreds of people who have worked
with UMN over the years, but let’s remember and thank God for some of
the early ones who came with the first 8 Member Bodies:

• From Methodist Church USA:  Dr. Bob and Bethel Fleming
• From Presbyterian Church USA: Dr. Carl and Betty Ann Friedericks 
• From RBMU: our first executive director – Ernest Oliver and his wife Margaret
• From WMPL: our second executive director:  Jonathan  Lindell  and his wife Evie
• From  Swedish Baptist Mission: Stina Ullberg 
• From BMMF: Dr. Marjory Foyle 
• From UCMS: Fannie Hill 
• From Church of Scotland: Dr. James and Ann Dick