From Randal Dick
Superintendent of missions
So much is happening in the Worldwide Church of God that it is impossible to recount it all in detail.
In this column I would like to share some news about two areas: developments in Bangladesh and evangelistic campaigns conducted by pastor Jerry Ortiguero in the Philippines. I hope you will enjoy reading about them.
Last time we reported about Bangladesh, we told you of floods, mobs threatening to destroy our church buildings, and that one of our gospel workers was beaten up by anti-Christian vigilantes and was hospitalized with serious injuries.
From John Biswas
This time John Biswas, director of the Bengali Evangelistic Association, writes: We praise God for his mercy and grace upon all of us!
What God is doing in Bangladesh is incredible. God has opened an opportunity for us to train 36 native gospel workers, conduct outreach meetings and establish four chapels (kindergarten schools) in four villages to spread God's word among hundreds of poor Hindu and Muslim families.
Because of a strong Islamic brotherhood among Muslims in Bangladesh, the common people remain largely oriented by communal influence.
This keeps many people from accepting the Christian faith. New converts fear persecution they may face from their community or being outcast from their own families.
Amidst the obstacles, our courageous native gospel workers have distributed 8,374 pieces of gospel literature and 157 Bibles.
Also, Bible studies are continuously being given in preparation for baptism. About 26 people are ready and will be baptized soon.
From January through April, we have distributed 12,997 gospel tracts, 214 Bibles, planted 10 village churches and as a result, 32 people want to be baptized.
We are behind our goal, but we know God will meet our needs. Please stand with us as we preach God's message in Bangladesh. Most of the people in Bangladesh are Muslims, in need of God's salvation message.
Bill Sidney, our regional director for the Philippines and Northern Asia, sent me this report, which he received from Jerry Ortiguero, pastor of the Laoag City and San Fernando, Philippines, congregations. It represents the kind of activity taking place on an increasing basis in the Philippines.
From Jerry Ortiguero
Just returned from Abra, and I want to share with you some exciting things God is doing in the area.
Sunday, May 23, at 4 in the afternoon, we drove up to Bucay. We had a worship service with 34 people in attendance. I gave a sermon on water baptism, an expository sermon on Romans 6.
After lunch, we had 12 baptisms. It was moving for us to witness the baptism of Ruben Baidan (an Itneg, one of the mountain tribes of northern Luzon) with his wife, Veronica, and four daughters, along with six others, at the Abra River.
We hope and pray that before the end of the year, we'll have another church planted at Bucay.
In the evening, we had an outreach Bible study at Sitio Pantok in Barangay Pakiling. We were warmly received by the barangay (village) captain. He said our group is the only group he approves to give Bible studies there, because ours is different from the other groups in that we share the word of God directly from the Bible.
He said that our messages are relevant, down-to-earth and easy to understand. And we don't attack other churches. He said if he had not already been baptized as a Catholic, he would have wanted to be baptized in our church.
Another inspiring thing that happened there that night, was that in spite of rain, 124 people listened through the duration of the Bible study, using umbrellas and the extended roofs of the surrounding houses as covering from getting wet.
I made an exposition of Ezekiel 33:11-19 on the need for repentance. One of our followers, a Mr. Blancha, takes the initiative of teaching Christian songs to some of the children at Pantok, and he volunteered these children to render several songs during our praise and worship to the delight the audience.
Because the children performed well, Mrs. Eugene Dauz of Tagudin, who came with us to attend our Abra activities, gave 500 pesos to Mr. Blancha for the children.
I learned afterward that the children appreciated the money as they will use their share to buy their school needs such as notebooks, pens and pencils.
This same man is donating a portion of his land for us to build our church building.
He told Regino Torres that they will provide labor and materials too. They asked if we could pay for the cement for the floor and galvanized iron sheets for the roof.
If we build a building, it has to be a multi-purpose building that the community can use for barangay activities.
Monday morning, May 24, we drove up to Sallapadan, Abra, a remote mountain town.
We conducted the initial Bible study at the residence of Ruben Baidan's parents, and we had 32 in attendance of which 23 people are new.
I presented the gospel by using Acts 17:22-30 and told them that the God who created the world and everything in it, was also the one who made you and put you in this place, remote as it is, and that same God is here and can be found if you really seek for him.
We are here to let you know that God loves you to the point that he gave up his only Son Jesus and that through him you would know God more, and if you believe on him and accept him, you can be forgiven of your sins and receive eternal life.
And that same Jesus is inviting you to come to him so you can find rest for your weary souls (Matthew 11:28-30). The message was well received.
Many Itneg people want to learn of God and his word. Next time we'll have the outreach Bible study at a barangay plaza and will show the videotape "Jesus" in the Ilocano dialect.
Sunday morning, May 30, we had the outreach Bible study at PongPong, which was also the celebration of the birthday of Boni Cacanando, a WCG member and vice mayor of Santo Tomas.
Many people attended his birthday party, so this gave us a good opportunity to talk about the birth of Jesus.
I talked on the significance of the Incarnation, and I used John 1:1-18 as the set of Scriptures for this exposition.
KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL--One of the new
kindergarten schools in Sathsimulia, Bangladesh. Gospel
workers, including Alizabeth Baroi (pictured here with her class)
teach the Bible to Hindu and Muslim students.
Kindergarten school
Christians of many denominations in Bangladesh
RESPONSE TO EVANGELISM--People interested in the WCG in
Bucay, Philippines. [Photos by Victoria Ramos]
Pastor Jerry Ortiguero in Pantok.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999