Welcome to the Harvest Bridge podcast. A part of our work here at Harvest Bridge is connecting local leaders in South Asia with people like you, here in the United States. Through our podcast we want to provide a place where you can hear their voices and listen to their stories in their own words. There is a transcription available for those who prefer to read these stories.
In a year marked by hardship, war, inflation, and persecution, something remarkable happened in South Asia in 2024. The Church did not wither—it deepened and grew. In spite of the challenges of immense conflict and poverty, the ministry of the Harvest Bridge leaders increased. In this episode, you will hear from Shalva* in Nepal, Pan* and Thang* in Myanmar, Priya* in India, Jagan* in Bhutan, Darpan* in Bangladesh, and Ram* in the Andaman Islands. To read more of their stories, make sure to read our 2024 Impact Report on our website, www.HarvestBridge.org.
In the rugged landscape of Nepal, ministry isn’t about comfort, but commitment. Let’s hear from Shalva*, one of the country leaders in Nepal.
“One missionary on average will see five house churches and two churches. And some, some pastors also, you know, take care of five churches. [One missionary], we are supporting him on a regular basis. And he takes care of five churches. He travels to the five churches. That’s why we, a few months ago, we bought a motorbike for him, new motorbike, because he has to take care of five churches. And he appointed some elders to take care of each another 22 house churches. So these are the things. And it is a hill, and it is a hill, so you can’t walk, you know?”
Because of your generosity, Harvest Bridge was able to provide a motorbike to help this leader expand his ministry. And it has been worth it. In Nepal and Tibet in 2024, through the work of 58 monthly supported pastors and missionaries, 750 new believers were baptized, 26 new churches were planted and 85 new house churches began. To support these new faith communities, additional leaders will need support.
“Actually, these 45 leaders, they are very sincerely doing the ministry, and nobody is supporting them, and their church income is very low. So whatever tithe and offering they have,the church is giving to the pastor. But that’s not enough for him to do the ministry full time, sending his children to school and doing full time ministry, helping people to grow in the Lord, that’s not enough. That’s why, you know, like we are supporting to the other 55 missionaries. If we can have that kind of support for these 45 missionaries, that would be wonderful.”
Myanmar has had an especially challenging year, with the impacts of the military coup increasing everyday. Across the country, bombs fall, families scatter, and homes burn. But Pastor Pan* shared how faith is increasing in this unimaginable time.
“God has done so many wonderful things in our lives, in the midst of many challenges, the Lord still blessed our ministry beyond our expectation. It was encouraging to see when souls are saved, new leaders are trained and new churches are planted. We are amazed by what He has done through our lives throughout the past year. There are times we face a lot of difficulties and hardships in each of our places. We fear for fighting. We fear for burning houses and villages and also we’re scared for bombing, which resulted in many deaths and injuries.Also because of the civil war in our country, our ministry activities are not quick as we wish. But the more we faced more difficulties, the more we saw God’s goodness in our lives, and we came closer to the living God by facing such difficulties in our lives. He made us to see him clearly when we are in troubles, and He made us to rejoice in His saving grace. Humanly speaking, we lose our hope many times, but the Lord always restored our new hope in Him throughout our lives, as we take the new step moving forward in His name.”
In 2024, the civil war tore families apart in Myanmar as bombs destroyed communities and conscription laws increased, with teenagers as young as 14 forced to serve. But your support allowed 8 young adults and their family members to cross the border and escape, and 210 children and multiple families were evacuated from active warzones.
“Some young people in our church were conscripted and they were sent to the battlefield, and their lives are in danger. Now the conscription law is worse, and the young teens, men and women are targeted, and they arrested them openly and sent them for training. Without the Harvest Bridge support, we couldn’t accomplish to what the Lord has called us to do. With your help and generosity, many people were benefited, and it made a great difference in the lives of our people here. Through the help, 56 orphan children are supported regularly throughout the year, and because of you they have the better future. Also because of the conscription law, some of our young teens were transferred freely with the help of the many donations through Harvest Bridge. Now they have their jobs in India, and they send some money to help the family. It is very good news for our children, who left already in the last year. I am so much grateful to see such blessing because of the help and support we received from Harvest Bridge.”
Thang, our co-country leader in Myanmar, shared too about the challenges of ministry when you are forced to frequently relocate to escape the bombings.
“They move one place, they make tents. And the next day they have to move again. So this is the more difficult part in their life that they cannot stay. So in order to make a tent they need money to buy something, you know. So that’s where what they have is, they spend all the time, they could not settle in one place, so for them, it’s very difficult. . .”
It would be understandable if these leaders gave up. But Thang is grateful to share they are persevering in their ministry.
“I’m very thankful, and it’s a surprise about partners, their faithfulness, you know, so they are not giving up. They witness as much as they can, even though they flee from one place to another. So you can imagine, it’s not easy, and not just, not only for your own life, but you know, for others. So it’s very surprising about their faithfulness to God and the love for the people. So they don’t abandon their people, you know, wherever they will go.”
Pastor Thang sends his thanks for your support and what it means to the missionaries in Myanmar.
“So I always say to them, also, do not worry. Trust the Lord. Harvest Bridge is behind you. We are praying. They have been always thinking about you. They have been praying for you.”
There were 135 baptisms in 2024 in Myanmar, and 7 new churches were formed. Because of your support, families were fed, solar power was provided, and business grants allowed women and pastors to provide for their families. Pastors Pan and Thang are just getting started:
“And firstly we feel that this is the right time for the Christian to stand and take up the responsibility to care and provide food for the needy that are, who are struggling and suffering, because of the war. Villages were bombed and houses were burned, and more and more innocent civilians are suffering. We are now ready to sacrifice to help the most effective people in our country, in our community and beyond. So please pray for more funds so that we can share the gospel more effectively and meet the physical needs of our people here.”
In India, flooding, landslides and inflation all made daily life difficult. Increasing anti-conversion laws put ministry leaders in danger. Through this, God was still at work. 545 families received emergency food relief. 1,730 Bibles were distributed. 459 new believers were baptized. Priya, who leads the GATE ministry in India, has worked hard to provide life changing practical and spiritual support for the gypsy and tribal communities where she serves. What she has already accomplished was once unimaginable, but she has big dreams for the future of the GATE community.
“I’m so excited, like I want to give more teaching to my people that how to be closer to God more. And I want to train them to teach other people, to bring them in closer to God. Like unknown Christians, they will go and preach or teach. The same communities, some people are not believing, you know, so they, they can go and spread the gospel inside their hearts. And another thing is, I don’t want them to be like slave. I want them to be like a free person. They are also human beings. They are also having a heart. They are also doing whatever they want. They are free now. I want to see – you see – when gypsy woman was driving the three wheeler cycle, she was singing a song like, like, she said, “I am free now. I am free now. ” So, that happiness, I want to bring that for others, also, not only for the 20 women. I want to see everyone’s face that we are free because God gave a freedom to us.”
In Bhutan, new laws also increased the restrictions on religious freedom. But rather than retreat, the church adapts. Listen as Pastor Jagan* shares how they are adjusting to this new reality:
“The government came out with a new rule:beyond 30 people, no religion. It’s applicable for even Buddhist also. Beyond 30 people, should not gather in any place if at all, then they need to take the government permission. So they made it very stricter. And slowly, things have become, like, very challenging for the, you know, like, especially Christian ministry. That is one of the reasons we have, you know, like, had an emergency meeting with all of our leaders, and we have made a point that, you know, like, we should try to develop lean groups and leadership development must you know, like the relationship management is very important for that. So we need to develop leaders so that they will skillfully as well as effectively try to take care of small groups. The government is saying that, yeah, we need to obey because it’s a small country, you cannot run into trouble. At the same time, intelligently and wisely, we can try to manage the situation until it comes. So that is what happened, actually, after the government changed.”
The government in Bhutan has made it challenging for the church to gather with restrictions in place for larger groups. Pastor Jagan sees this as an opportunity for them to develop new leaders to minister to smaller groups throughout the country.
“We were trying to encourage all our leaders, all our missionaries, you know, like, they need to really, you know, like, develop leadership as well as they need to develop secondary level leadership to carry out the work in a country like Bhutan. You know, like a Pastor alone cannot do ministry. Very intelligently we need to work, because the government is day by day – it’s hands are becoming very strong against the Christian work. So, very intelligently we need to work. You know, like developing leaders, the lay leaders, so that, if there the situation comes not to worship in one place. So we should not wait for that moment. Rather, that should be, leadership must be ready to divide into you know, like small house groups, like China, you know, like, so take care of the needs, or else, like to carry out the work. So we need to, you know, like, recognize all those things.”
The flexibility and vision of leaders like Pastor Jagan means ministry is still growing in spite of government restrictions. They have already trained 23 new leaders this year as they adapt to this changing landscape for ministry in Bhutan. In Bangladesh, a year of political instability and natural disasters did not stop the leaders from continuing their ministry. After Cyclone Remal, 980 families were given emergency relief and 1,300 families received blankets to get through the winter. Pastor Darpan shares their gratitude for God’s protection.
“The joyful news is that we are still alive. And because in Bangladesh, there’s every day, there is happening some accident and some bad works. So within the terrible world situation and in Bangladesh, every time people are dying or doing something.Thinking of that, we are still alive. We are living here. And not only that, all the missionaries, they are still well and good. That’s why we are very much thankful, and we are very much excited for His love and care, and that is very much happiest year.Though, it is a little bit, we were covered 2024, but we passed through a lot of bad, bad things, bad situations. But finally, He is my risen Lord, then He helps us, He blessed us to overcome, the, all the bad situations. But now we are happy.”
Finally, on the Andaman Islands, Pastor Ram had a simple but powerful challenge for every believer.
“Each individual believer has to write their contact names who are not saved. We ask them to write down the names and keep it in the Bible, and every day they have to read this name. “Lord, you save them,” like that, it’s a small prayer like that. They have to pray.”
This is actually a practice Pastor Ram started early in his own ministry, and now he teaches others to do the same. Pastor Ram believes in the power of God to change lives, and believes God can double their impact next year with their goal to “reach one, teach one.”
“We are starting with – what you call – one goal, at least. Now, this year, we want to see at least the number to be doubled, doubled. According to Zechariah 9:12, double portions, that’s what we wanted. Maybe, for example, in our church, we have 40 members, this year, at least another 40. Each one, reach one, teach one.”
These are just some of the stories of 2024. Faith is very much alive in South Asia and Myanmar. Leadership is multiplying. Hearts are being transformed. The church is growing. The most vulnerable people are being helped. And Harvest Bridge is there, as a bridge to support the leaders already called to do this work. We encourage you to read the full impact report from 2024 on our website.
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