Pastor’s shop destroyed due to his church activities
On the night of April 15, 2024, Pastor Joycen Tripura (Bangladesh) had his small shop destroyed and looted. This incident took place in a remote area of the southeast part of the country.
Joycen has been serving for many years as a pastor and evangelist in his local area where he has been sharing the gospel with the non-Christian communities, especially among the Hindu and Buddhist tribal people. He is also an adult literacy facilitator, teaching many adults to read and write partially by engaging in reading scripture. For an income, he runs a small shop in the village.
The church was gradually growing, and new believers were becoming active in their pursuit to serve their community and their church. Seeing this growth, the local Hindu and Buddhist community became unhappy and began hindering Pastor Joycen’s church activities.
Joycen was warned several times not to conduct his church activities openly and to cease inviting Hindu and Buddhist people to his church. He refused.
On April 15, members of the community retaliated and destroyed his shop in the late hours of the night.
"They thought by stopping my source of income they could stop my passion and commitment to the Lord... I won’t stop doing my work. Their persecution cannot stop me."
This incident is the latest in continued pressure that the local Christian families have experienced. In the village there are approximately ten Christian families, plus others that are interested in the faith.
Despite the devastation of his loss of income, Joycen has no intention of stopping his church activities.
“They thought by stopping my source of income they could stop my passion and commitment to the Lord. They tried to give me a lesson if I continued my church activities then I would suffer more. I won’t stop doing my work. Their persecution cannot stop me. I will continue my activities and will start my small business again,” Pastor Joycen said.
Open Doors local partners have just received the news and praying for Pastor Joycen’s family’s protection. “We will find ways how to contribute to this family. He has requested us to pray for his family and church,” said a local partner.
Pray
- Pray for the protection of Pastor Joycen and his family and the believers. Pray that the believers will be wise enough to deal with the situation and continue to have good relationships with the non-believing people.
- Pray for the Hindu and Buddhist people – that they won’t be destructive and aggressive toward the Christians.
- Pray for the local other churches that they will extend their loving encouragement and support to help the persecuted church to overcome the situation and peacefully solve the incident.
Please note we have used a representative image of a church service in Bangladesh.
