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.
This is a special time of year for us here at Harvest Bridge. Our annual Summer Giving Match is well underway, and we have set our biggest goal yet. Thanks to a generous donor, every donation made to the match before August 10th is being doubled, up to $60,000. This means we have the potential to raise a total of $120,000 for the ministry in just 7 weeks.
The Summer Match is a chance to directly support local leaders who are meeting tremendous needs in their communities. Your giving this summer helps fund church buildings that offer safety and legal protection, Bible trainings that equip pastors in conflict zones, citizenship documentation for marginalized communities, and tools like motorbikes and audio Bibles that extend the reach of the Gospel, just to name a few.
Each year, a portion of the Summer Match funds is also set aside for emergency relief, whether it’s a natural disaster like the recent earthquake in Myanmar, or urgent medical care for a persecuted pastor. Some of the funds will also cover essential operational costs like secure communication, travel to visit leaders, and the safe transfer of support overseas.
Today we will hear directly from some of the ministry leaders supported by Harvest Bridge. They will share how the Summer Match funds can make a difference. Let’s start in Bangladesh. Twelve congregations across the country are nearly finished constructing their own church buildings. These buildings are more than brick and mortar. They offer legal protection, safety during natural disasters, and space for both spiritual and social outreach. Right now, 12 congregations throughout the country have contributed enough of their own funds so that only between $720 and $2200 is needed to complete each building. Pastor Darpan* shares more about why a physical building is vital:
“Well, if we can do like this, such kind of way, then it will be this, mainly for security for the Christians, new believers. The people, non-believers, and the community people, and mainly the Muslim people – those who are the extremists. These people, they can see that there is a Christian church building. So if Bangladeshi extremist, or Muslims or any religious people, they know that if we touch – if we hit any Christian people, then the government will [work] very hard to take the care of Christian people. Because of the Christian world, they are taking care of Bangladeshi minorities. And [in] Bangladesh, we are [as] Christians, the very minority. And the government wanted to take care of us, but without our infrastructure, without a church building, without a physical approach, the government said that, ‘you have a church building? Where? We have come, we wanted to visit, and we are not seeing.’ And sometimes we said that we are worshipping every Sunday of the year. So it is, the very weak logic – they don’t, they don’t believe. They know that Christians are rich in the world. They have a worship place, like as a church building. Such – like this way. So without the church building, we couldn’t stay at the, among the community. So it will be very good for us to, as a security. And not only that, mainly I told you that we can use [it for] various purposes. When the storm or the cyclone or something is coming, so they have no shelter, other places [are] gone underwater. So sometimes this kind of situation, where the people may go, just for the cyclone time? So when the water is coming from the sea and some other water, so some people, they may come to the church building, and they can stay just for the shelter. After the water removing and the stop [of] the cyclone, people may go another way. We can start a school also, and the community people and some of our believer people, children, they can, they may come to attend and get the education from here.”
In the Andaman Islands, Pastor Ram* is encouraged by the results of a recent VBS program, and would like to increase this important ministry with children:
“This is a very good tool . . . also VBS, also, even for the VBS also. We can call many Hindu people, Hindu children also. This tool is very good. What you call? Program. Where we can give the chance for the other people, to whom and all they are praying. And a special, particular invitation they have to give, and then they’re bringing, like that. They even, in this last year, they had Christmas program also, and many Hindu people came.”
Pastor Shalva* in Nepal has seen the impact missionaries are having throughout Nepal and Tibet. He would like to support at least 45 additional leaders to strengthen the church and expand the reach of the gospel:
“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, a 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 the other 55 missionaries. If we can have that kind of support for these 45 missionaries, that would be wonderful.”
Inflation remains a major issue in many areas. Pastor Prakash* in India highlighted the pressure this places on pastors and their families, saying “All essentials are expensive. Pastors and missionaries found it very difficult to manage their family and do ministry. So we want to help them more.” Funds in India would provide for additional pastor training, and tools like motorbikes, bicycles, and audio Bibles. It would also create economic development projects to help pastors and missionaries develop financial sustainability for the future.
In Myanmar, the context for ministry is especially difficult, but the ministry continues to grow. Pastor Pan* shared with us his goals for supporting refugee families and increasing Bible training to share the gospel, even as people are scattered during the military coup:
“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 Civil 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 affected 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 as a whole, in our mission network. It is our prayer to help at least 1000 refugee families in this year. We are ready to organize and conduct more Bible, more Bible training for the leaders of the church. We learned [that] because of lack of training, the progress of the gospel work is delayed in our nation. Please join us in prayer for this need to conduct at least seven Bible training in seven different townships where our partners are serving. Lastly, I know that I am not alone, because I am so clear that you all are standing with us in difficult times, though the trials, the difficulties, are increasing. I know for sure that God chooses me to take responsibility, to meet the many needs of my people here. So I do hope that together, partnering with the Harvest Bridge, we can do more for the extension of God’s kingdom, and to meet the needs of my people.”
In the GATE community in southern India, Priya* hopes to build on the success of her advocacy work for some of the most vulnerable people in the country – Gypsy and Tribal groups:
“So I want to be, like truly God’s children. So that’s why I am taking more steps, for really God accepts, all my wishes. Because He knows that – why I am asking for this ST certificate, what I am having in my big plan, in my heart for them. Once we get, like, housing, then it will be more easier for them to stay for long in a safe home and no debt zone will be there in future. No rainy floods… so everything will be okay. They will be in a more safe [place]. So that, that is a God [thing]. You see after they are accepting the colony, accepting Jesus Christ, slowly the blessings are coming.The land belongs to them. And housing also [is] coming. Certificate, Aadhaar card, voter card, every card is there. So now they are citizen of India. So every blessing you see, shower blessing. I see, I say. Shower of blessing from God, from heaven.”
As you can hear, the ministry is as diverse as the communities we serve. But the common goal is the same: to share God’s love through both word and deed. Let’s close with a word from Kate, the Executive Director of Harvest Bridge:
“Honestly, there is nothing better than being able to say yes to our leaders. These men and women who know their communities so well. Who understand the nuance of what helps and what hurts.
When I sit down with them, so much of what I do is just listen. I’m listening to their vision of how they can practically love and serve their communities. And my role is figuring out what gaps need filled so that they can accomplish their goals. Our Summer Match plays a really key part in this. You’ve already heard that we use the funds for disaster relief, for operational expenses, and for special projects. I want to share a couple of examples of how we try to use the special project funds strategically.
Just this month, our Bhutan leaders are carrying out a translation and printing project of Biblical materials aimed at teenagers and young adults. Because last year, our country leader there expressed a desire to reach that particular demographic in more relevant ways. So, Harvest Bridge found an organization that had materials that matched that vision, and who were willing to pay for the translation and printing project.
But, it was with summer match funds from past years that we’ve been able to experiment with projects before this. So, when we were looking to partner with another organization on this particular project, we could show the capacity that our local leaders had for something like this.
Similarly, in Nepal, Jandi*, our co-director in the country – she just wrapped up another women’s health camp, where hundreds of women received check-ups, dozens of women were treated for a prolapsed uterus, and several women received early cancer diagnosis and the follow up treatment they needed.
It was a very cold December night in 2019 in Kathmandu when Jandi and I were up far too late drinking tea, when she first shared her vision for these kind of medical camps. They were meant to address very specific women’s health issues that she and other female pastors and missionaries throughout Nepal had been learning about. It wasn’t a simple medical camp – if it was to go well, they needed professional counselors, female doctors and nurses from around the country, and follow up programs in the community where the camps took place.
Well, through funds from a summer match, we were able to prove the impact of camps like this. And now, five years later, we partner with multiple organizations to support these camps each year, and a few thousand women and their families have benefitted so far. Not only has it had a huge physical impact, it’s opened many doors for spiritual conversations and deeper relationships between the local church and their communities.
These are just two of many examples of ministry that has grown out of projects funded through the Summer Match. And I am just incredibly grateful for each of you who has contributed, who will contribute. And just please know that stewarding your gifts is something I will never take for granted.”
As of today, we have already met 67 % of our summer match goal. Your generosity is incredible. Thank you.
You can donate to the summer match by visiting HarvestBridge.org and click on “Summer Giving Match.” Your gift will be doubled through August 10th, multiplying your support for the incredible work happening across South Asia and Myanmar.
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