This is the story of how God seems to be leading us to serve him in a challenging harvest in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, is surrounded on three sides by India.
The country is mostly lowlands, susceptible to flooding. It is not unusual for 10,000 or more Bangladeshis to lose their lives during a severe monsoon storm. In 1991 a devastating cyclone struck Bangladesh and killed 131,000 people.
Bangladesh has one of the highest infant mortality rates and lowest educational levels in the world. It has about half the population of the United States--some 125 million people.
Spiritually speaking, Bangladesh is in bondage. The country is primarily Muslim, with a Hindu minority. Even though missionaries have tried to evangelize Bangladesh for more than 250 years, Christianity represents only 0.03 percent of the population. With the rise of nationalism in the Third World, Christianity is deemed a religion of foreigners.
Abdel Abu Khalil (name changed to protect identity), a Muslim schoolteacher, put it well: "When an Anglo missionary told me about Jesus I thought Jesus was an Anglo and a foreigner, so I kept myself distant and did not want to mess up my life with an alien god and their morally bankrupt culture. But when I hear about Jesus from a Bangladeshi missionary, I feel that Jesus is one of us."
Abdel went on to say: "We would like to know more about Jesus, so come again and I'll make arrangements to meet my friends, neighbors, relatives and family members to hear your message."
This shows that some harvest fields must be tended by natives of that culture. Our responsibility to advance the kingdom remains, but our role changes from going, to sending and equipping those who can work from within their culture.
John Biswas seems to be just such a man. I met John, a Bengali Christian, in 1994. John had been a university student in 1971, when East Pakistan broke away to form the new nation of Bangladesh.
The civil war cost millions of lives--a number of John's family were among the casualties. John, who was a Hindu at the time, became convicted that Christ is the Son of God who offers salvation. He began to realize that part of the reason why Christianity fares so poorly in Bangladesh is that to the Bengali, a Christian is always a foreigner.
Christianity is not perceived as meaningful to the millions of Bengalis who struggle to just survive.
As John grew in understanding, he realized that not looking like a Christian gave him an opening to preach the gospel among his people. He observed that Christianity was growing in Bangladesh before Islam, but the European missionaries isolated themselves socially and were seen as part of the foreign colonial empire.
The Muslims, on the other hand, went into the villages, and trained workers who then evangelized their fellow villagers. Hence Islam grew and has nearly wiped out Christianity in Bangladesh.
John also realized that a family of missionaries from the West costs $48,000 a year to maintain (this does not include transportation). On the other hand, a Bengali full-time ministerial worker can be maintained for about $480 a year.
Although John was headed for a career in law and politics in Bangladesh, he felt the same burden Paul spoke of: "Woe unto me if I don't preach the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16).
He was finally able to gather funds to get to Manila, Philippines, to study at the Far East Theological Seminary, where he graduated with a master's degree in religion in 1976.
In 1978 John completed his law degree in Dacca, Bangladesh. In 1981 John came to the United States for further training in evangelism and Christian leadership. He attended Andrews University, the Seventh-day Adventist flagship institution, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. In 1982 John married Naomi Enriques, a Filipina Christian. They have two sons, Alexander, 13, and Napoleon, 6.
In the late 1980s, John began reading our magazine. He also began watching the World Tomorrow telecast. Gradually he gained interest and wanted to know more about the Worldwide Church of God.
In 1993 he met the Worldwide Church of God pastor in his area, Warren Waian, and eventually began attending services in San Bernardino, California.
In 1994 Dr. Waian brought John to my office and asked if we could help John in his ministry to Bangladesh. John wanted to know if the church would allow him to translate and publish our booklet What Is a Real Christian into Bengali.
The late Pastor General Joseph W. Tkach felt that this was a noble cause, and that we should be generous with the gospel resources God had given us, not restrictive. Mr. Tkach approved donating $2,500 for the printing of the booklet.
In January 1996, the church approved a request by the Bengali Evangelistic Association (BEA), which John founded, to produce a second publication in Bengali. This time, Building Stronger Families was chosen, because while most Bengalis have no interest in Christianity, the issue of family cohesiveness is of paramount importance to all Bengalis, whether Muslim or Hindu.
BEA began its work in John's home district, Barisal, and is reaching peasants, fishermen and others in rural Bangladesh. So far, several hundred people have begun learning about Jesus. While this is the cause of much rejoicing, it brings with it much peril.
A Christian who professes Christ and tries to teach others in Bangladesh places his or her life in danger. The danger is not primarily from the government, which though it represents the Muslim majority, tries to guarantee religious liberty.
Rather, the greatest harm comes from Muslim mobs organized by parents, mates and friends of the convert.
Here are excerpts of a story of one woman who was led to Christ by BEA workers. Her name and location have been changed to protect her safety.
"About nine months ago, a Muslim girl (whom we will call Shehana) received Christian literature from one of our national women missionaries.
"After reading the tract, she wanted to know more about the Christian religion. One day a native woman missionary invited her to have Bible studies and discussions.
"Shehana said that the Bible, especially Galatians 3:28, gave her hope and courage because the Muslim religion does not look at women as equal with men in God's eyes.
"Secretly, but with much interest, Shehana began attending Bible studies for six months. Without her parents' knowledge, Shehana made a bold decision to accept Jesus Christ and was baptized, far from her home, in order to avoid the publicity of accepting Christ and forsaking Islam.
"Somehow Shehana's parents learned that their daughter had been converted to Christianity without their knowledge, and was now attending church. The parents immediately arranged a marriage for their daughter with a Muslim man in order to return her to the Muslim faith.
"Shehana had to act quickly against her parents' plans for a hasty wedding, so she ran away. She found shelter at a women's dormitory far from her town or relatives. Now she continues with her commitment and desire to bear witness to Jesus.
"Shehana said: `Whenever I get time, I share my new faith with other Muslim women and intensively study the Bible and communicate with God through prayer. I am happy to receive the gift of salvation through Christ, who makes me free from bondage.' "
In other incidents Christians who attempt to preach the gospel have paid a high price. One worker had his home burned by a Muslim mob.
The family is an essential part of Bengali society, and anything perceived by a Muslim or Hindu household as a threat to family cohesion can trigger a violent reaction.
Yet, at the time of this writing, John Biswas is in Bangladesh, meeting with the ministry workers who have joined in preaching the gospel of Christ. They are finalizing plans to construct a facility that will serve as a training center for ministry workers.
While U.S. and Australian brethren have contributed money to print literature, the Canadian churches have contributed 28,000 Canadian dollars to build the training center, purchase Bengali Bibles and pay for the start-up costs of the center.
If the gospel is to flourish there, the people must not be removed from their culture more than necessary. They must be taught to come out of sin, not stop being Bengalis.
John knows this, hence his desire to train native leaders and use them to disciple new converts. John asked that these congregations bear the name Worldwide Church of God.
I consider it a privilege and a blessing from Christ for us to have the opportunity to affect the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people.
Let's remember to pray for John Biswas, for those brave pioneers who are risking their lives and giving up families for the sake of Christ.
Let's pray that the Father will show pity to many, and give them the spiritual gifts they need. Let's pray that God will find us effective instruments of his will for Bangladesh.
Oct. 29, 1996 Worldwide News, page one
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