Be encouraged. God is at work!
During a time of violent political turmoil in Bangladesh, in the last six months our 35 church planters in Bangladesh shared the gospel with 5,531 individuals, saw 1754 people accept Christ, and baptized 689 of those men and women!
We would like to share just a few stories of joy and encouragement, along with prayer requests, from these indigenous church planters in Bangladesh.
- “In this duration we passed a good time in the Lord, because when people are destructive, then I understand that the Lord wants us to glorify Him. So, I always praise His name.”~Martha*
- “The Lord helped us set up a church/fellowship in Christ in a Muslim village, where we baptized in Jesus’ name 88 men and women by water. We then had the idea from Christ about when and how we could prepare a church building for worship. The Lord helped us and gave the heart for Him to every believer that they would not wait and depend on foreign money to build this church building…. According to our thinking we started depositing money, as much as we all could, in very small amounts. Over some time it became 40,000 Taka (about $515), but we had no land to build on. One day an elder told us that he would give the land for the church, and then others told us they would give their labor for the Lord. They prepared a mud, and tin shed church house for the Lord, and now they are worshiping Christ in this house. Praise the Lord for giving us a heart for Him. So we are so thankful to the Lord that we have very good and soft hearted men and women, which is totally His miracle and blessing through this church!”~Samuel*
- “I go to illiterate Tribal and Muslim areas to preach the Gospel. Some Muslim people became very angry and tried to stop us by threatening to throw hard clay at us and insult us. They are concerned that Muslim numbers are decreasing and Christian numbers are rising. I am concerned for these people to become educated, especially their children. Pastor Daniel* advised us to ‘shake the dust off our feet’ and leave the place; we did this, but we are still praying for them…”~Timothy*
- “We are still alive, which is a miracle to me because of what has been happening in the present situation in Bangladesh. Everyday, people are dying, and cars, buses, houses, and shops are burning, and it has been continuing for many long days. So, without the Lord’s blessing, we could not be alive, and this is a miracle to me.”~Daniel*
- “My husband and I preach together. A Muslim family, our neighbors, would observe us having prayer every day. They noticed that we were not just praying for ourselves, but for others. They asked us why we are mainly praying for others, because as Muslims they usually only prayed for themselves. We said, “Because we love you, because you are our neighbors, and because you have not heard the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This softened their hearts. The woman then asked us to pray for her husband’s alcoholic habits to change. Following prayer, the husband’s behavior was changed, and the whole family accepted Christ and is waiting to take baptism.”~ Mary*
- “Pray for former Muslims who are waiting for baptism. Baptism is the final break from Islam in the eyes of their community and family.” ~Titus*
*Names Changed for Safety