45 new believers baptized despite hindrances
Gathering for baptisms can be a challenge for churches in Bangladesh, especially for small local churches that do not have their own land or space. Churches often face hindrances and opposition from non-believing villagers when baptizing new believers, and in extreme cases, believers must leave their own villages for the sake of their safety and their family’s safety. Recently, a small church faced unexpected circumstances when some of its new believers were being baptized. The situation led to a lot of fear and panic in the lives of the believers. Please pray for small churches in Bangladesh.
An evangelical church in the southwestern part of Bangladesh was having a baptism for 45 new believers when some local villagers came in with the intention to stop the celebration.
A disagreement broke out between the villagers and the Christians. “They were unhappy seeing that people from their community were converting to Christianity,” said the local pastor, “Now they are witnessing their people being baptized and they wanted to put a stop to it. They even tried to stop all church activities here.”
The argument that broke out quickly turned violent when the local people started to pick up anything they could find to be used as a weapon. They threw violent and abusive words towards the Christians, words that even the local pastor refused to repeat when asked about the situation.
“They tried to attack us with woods and local weapons,” said the local pastor, “Realising the situation is going out of control I (the pastor) informed the local police, and they came for our protection. Then the situation became normal, and we managed to continue with our baptism program.”
“It was chaos! Many of the other villagers came to look at what was happening before the police arrived.”
When the Police officers arrived, they sided with the Christians and immediately the local villagers felt remorse. They began to apologize to the local pastor and asked for forgiveness from the believers.
Despite the happier outcome, seeing the rage of the local villagers was enough to put fear into the lives of the believers. They knew that though they are calm now, it is only because they are in the presence of the police officers. They know that the local people are still angry with the Christians.
On the other hand, the new believers did not expect to face such an insulting situation, especially on a happy day when they have decided to publicly declare their faith in Jesus. The church leaders and the local pastor have asked for your prayers – that the new believers would grow stronger in their faith even despite the ongoing opposition and challenges they face.
Prayer Points
- Pray for the new believers that they will understand the situation they faced and will not be in fear and panic. Pray for God to help them to realize His calling and they will look to the Lord in times like these.
- Praise the Lord that He led the church leader to take the right decision and allowed him to perform His work peacefully. Pray that the church leaders and the believers will extend mental support and loving heart toward the new believers so that they will feel welcomed in Christ’s society.
- Pray for the local authority that they will continue their good work for the betterment of the people regardless of their religious background.
