Window on the World

From Randal Dick,
superintendent of missions

Progress in Sri Lanka,
India and Bangladesh

This month I would like to give you a pictorial update on our members in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. I participated in leadership conferences in Sri Lanka and India in December. Also, John Biswas returned from Bangladesh in December. I’ll let the pictures and the captions do the talking.

In a Colombo restaurant, Rod Matthews and I were impressed by the grace and efficiency of our hostess. Later she shyly approached our table having recognized Rod. She told us how she was from a poor village, but had been accepted to WEI. She credited her excellent job to WEI and said she was able to help support her family in the village. This is indeed true religion (James 1:27).

2002 WORLDWIDE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE GRADUATES—To date, nearly 1,500 students have graduated from WEI. Most are Buddhist or Hindu and many are from poor families from rural areas. The graduates take the skills and character training of WEI into increasingly responsible positions in Sri Lankan society. The Sri Lankan members struggle financially to maintain this wonderful ministry. God is using their struggles to help a nation. Please pray for God’s continued blessing on WEI and the success of the efforts of our members in Sri Lanka.

 
Rod Matthews, mission developer for South
Asia, makes a point while Shevanthi Fernando
listens intently.

Members supplied the labor to convert the WCG
church hall to support the needs of both the
members and the school.
[Photos by Randal Dick and Rod Matthews]

These two graduates became
close friends while at WEI.

Congregation meets in our own hall in Hyderabad, India. At this time, we have about 100 members in India. Our two full-time pastors, Danny Zachariah (Hyderabad) and Joe D’Costa (Bangalore) cover a wide area. In December Rod Matthews convened the first in a series of leadership development conferences for current and potential leaders from southern and central India. India is facing many challenges socially and economically, but the members in India are positive minded, and the small groups are becoming the nucleus for new church plants.

 

Bangladesh: reaching out in a difficult mission field

The newest and best effort to gain access to the hearts and minds of Bangladeshi Muslims is bearing its first fledgling fruit. The first class to complete the nursing training course provided by the Bengali Evangelical Association and the WCG is now dispersing across the towns and villages surrounding Barisol, Bangladesh. They will become private duty nurses in the homes of rich and poor alike.

It is interesting that the gospel made its first inroads in a gentile area largely through the presence of Christians in the various gentile households of Antioch. This is just the first step. Much remains to be done. Please pray for and continue to support the amazing work God is doing in this difficult mission field called Bangladesh.

Graduation ceremonial tradition dates back
to Florence Nightingale, a U.S. nurse in the 1800s.
This is the first group of graduates of the
new nurses training program.

Minister of Parliament arriving at the WCG
training center in Barisol. [Photos by John Biswas]

The church in Bangladesh is growing. What begins
as outreach becomes worship. Bangladeshi members
are shown studying the Bible and praying together.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2003