Story Tag: Bangladesh

Villagers destroy a local church

A local tribal Christian church was destroyed by Buddhist villagers and politicians from a regional party in in Rangamati, a city in the eastern part of Bangladesh.

On July 15, around 10pm, the villagers came carrying guns, machetes, and wooden sticks. They hid their identity behind masks. They broke the doors and windows of the church building, cut the tin roof, and demolished the wall of the church.Blog Featured image (6)

After destroying the church, the attackers went looking for the pastor, but he managed to escape along with other believers and took shelter with the neighbours.

Before they left, the attackers threatened the Christians. They told them to demolish whatever that was left of the church within three days.

“How can we destroy our church? It is our worship place. We love Jesus Christ; we cannot do it. We cannot destroy our Lord’s house. But we will try to rebuild the church again,” said one of the eight  believers who regularly worship in that church.

A few days later, the believers returned and attempted to rebuild their broken church. But when the news reached the attackers,  they came back on the evening of July 22. Once again, they broke the church and the threatened the believers.

The believers, desperate for help, went to the local village head to seek his help to stop these attacks. To their dismay, he told them that the only way to stop this is for all of them to revert to their previous faith, which is Buddhism.

The pastor said: “I still cannot go back home to sleep for the fear of attack. I must hide every night and sleep somewhere else. I don’t know how many nights I must hide myself. I still feel that someone is chasing after me.”

Pray for these believers who are now living in fear. They feel helpless, dare not make any complaints to the authorities for fear of making the matter worse. These believers have been verbally and socially persecuted for years now and they do not have any place to turn to for help, only their faith has kept them going.

Our local partners, besides requesting prayers for them, are also looking into ways to help these believers.

Pray

1. Pray for the safety and protection of the believers. Pray for God to protect these families from the enemies and give provision they need to survive. Pray for these believers to overcome the trauma and recover soon.

2. Pray for God to help these brothers and sisters to stand strong in their faith in Jesus and face the affliction, biblically encouraging one another and deal the issue wisely.

3. Pray that the villagers will realize and understand that the Christians have rights to worship their God and have rights to practice their faith. Pray for the miscreants who destroyed the church that God would open the eyes of their hearts and find the real truth in Christ.

Believers in Bangladesh Targeted for Persecution

In Bangladesh, Open Doors partners have received reports that Muslim background believers are experiencing persecution by a group of Maulana (Muslim religious leaders and scholars) in cooperation with local political and religious leaders. This group visits the Christians from house to house, forcing them to renounce their faith in Jesus and return to Islam.

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“This group has invited local Muslims surrounding the area to avoid the MBBs, excommunicate, and isolate them completely,” Brother Abraham, an Open Doors local partner shares. “They have sent a message to all the local mosques and local leaders saying that it is their responsibility to let the Christians renounce their faith and go back to Islam. They’ve also listed names and addresses of the MBBs. And now, regularly, two times a day, they visit the MBBs’ homes and force them to renounce their faith in Jesus. When they refuse to renounce, they are threatened that they would be harmed. Because of fear of persecution and torture, around 8 families have already renounced their faith in Jesus.”

OD partners report that a former MBB who has openly denied his faith in Jesus and returned to Islam is now helping the group identify the other MBBs. “He was a pastor and evangelist of a church who led many people to Christ,” shares Bro Abraham. “He has testified to that group about how Christians evangelize and convert people to Christianity. His testimony contains lots of false and negative statements about Christians, which then gives Muslims a very negative impression of Christians.”

The Maulana group is reported to have taken over the church where this former MBB and other believers used to worship, using it as a venue for Muslim prayer, and have taken all the materials that are being used at church, as well as materials for adult literacy classes. The group has also posted videos on their online channel showing the materials, insulting and dishonouring Christians, and accusing Christians of receiving money when they accept Jesus.

Many family leaders have now gone into hiding because they are targeted and are forced to deny Jesus. “The MBBs are excommunicated by the Muslim villagers, who are a major number in those villages. Now, the MBBs cannot go to the marketplace, cannot buy and sell things, and cannot go to work. The Christians are not allowed to enter the market. The Maulana have been going from market to market, shop to shop, telling the Muslims not to sell things to the Christians.”

Anand*, one of the believers pressured to renounce his faith, shares his situation: “I have a shop at the local market which is my only source of income. I am threatened by the Muslims to not go to my shop. I cannot go to my shop for weeks. I don’t know if my things are still in the shop or not, and I am suffering a food crisis. I am the only believer in my family, and my family members are pressuring me to renounce from my faith in Jesus. I don’t know what to do.”

Open Doors partners in Bangladesh are praying and looking into how we can help the believers in this situation. As of now, there are around 132 MBB families who have chosen not to renounce their faith in Jesus and are being persecuted. Among them are 81 families who are going through a food shortage, as the men in their family are in hiding, and therefore could not continue with their livelihoods.

Prayer Points

  • 1. Pray for the MBB families who are suffering because they do not want to renounce their faith in Jesus. Pray for their protection and safety. Our partners say: “We cannot protect them. The state’s law cannot protect them. Pray for God’s protection. He can only protect them. Pray that the surviving believers will be able to stand strong in their faith and face the situation biblically and wisely.”2. Pray for the former MBB pastor and families who have already renounced their faith for the fear of persecution and affliction. Pray that God would work in their hearts.

    3. Pray for God to open the hearts of the Maulana group who are persecuting the Christians. Pray that they would know the truth and love of Christ so that they will become a part God’s kingdom.

    4. Pray for the local authorities -the local political and religious leaders – that they will help the Christians live in safety, in a community where they can practice their faith freely.

The Faith of a Pastor in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a Muslim majority nation. 90% of its population are Islamic, and only 0.3% are Christians. Being a very tiny minority, Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) in Bangladesh are often targeted by Muslim religious leaders (Maulanas) and authorities.

Even so, local partners have reported that some MBBs are extremely bold and resilient in such situation, like MBB pastor, Kabi. Despite facing continuous persecution, he remains faithful in his ministry for the Lord.

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Kabi Rezaul Karim is an MBB in Bangladesh who faithfully serves Jesus as a pastor, an evangelist, and an adult literacy teacher. Because of his faith, Kabi has been targeted by Maulanas and other local Muslim religious leaders and his life has become more challenging every day.

The Maulanas have been tormenting Kabi since they found out about his faith and they have been pressuring him to renounce his faith in Jesus since. But when they found that they could not stop Kabi from his ministry activities, they tried other methods.

Kabi started a business in Solar Energy, installing Solar Power in local areas and various villages. He was thriving in his business and had many beneficiaries, but when his beneficiaries found out that Kabi was a Christian, they cut off their partnership with his business saying, “You are now a Christian and you have got millions of dollars. We will not give you money.”

This assumption of riches was of course not true. But because most of his beneficiaries were Muslims, they all backed out and Kabi eventually lost his business. Despite the setback, Kabi still serves the local church faithfully and passionately. His response to the persecution gave the Maulanas and other Muslims a headache – all their efforts just doesn’t seem to get through to this man, so, they tried something else.

In Bangladesh, many homes and villages have something called a tube-well; a type of water well made from a long stainless-steel pipe placed deep into the ground to bring up clean water. The Maulanas not only stole his tube-well in the middle of the night, but also his goats, and other objects that he had that had value. Then they destroyed all his crops, leaving him with absolutely nothing and with mud and dirt everywhere – a complete mess.

The next morning, Kabi came out to find his home a mess, with nothing left to spare. “This is my home, and I feel disgusted to live here now,” said Kabi, “but I will continue to stay and serve God, even though there is threat and fear.”

Kabi’s persecutors have destroyed everything physically possible to destroy, but the one thing they cannot seem to destroy is his faith in God. No matter how many times he got knocked down, he stands back up, still completely faithful to God.

And one of the reasons why they can stand firm is because of the support from Open Doors through local partners. They are in contact with Kabi and are making plans to provide him with materials to rebuild his home.

Pray

1. Pray for the safety of brother Kabi and his family. Pray for God to protect them from the perpetrators. Pray that amid the persecution the believers will find hope and comfort in the Lord and will remain faithful to Him.

2. Pray for the persecutors that God would open their hearts and find love of Jesus through the MBBs who are working there for God’s kingdom.

3. Pray for the neighboring believers that they will extend assistance to the persecuted believers and become together and united in the time of difficulties and hardship.

Fifty Years of Independence in Bangladesh

 
Brother Abraham* has been an Open Doors partner in Bangladesh for many years, and as the country celebrates its 50th anniversary on March 26th, we asked him about the situation facing Christians.

In 26 March 2021 Bangladesh will celebrate 50 years of independence. How were Christians involved in the fight for independence?

Though very few Christian actually joined the fighting, they helped people. They provided food for the needy, they provided shelter for those who were escaping because of the situation. Many people were helped by the Christian community.

How did the situation change for Christians in Bangladesh after the country became independent?

After independence the Christians started to evangelize, they started to spread the gospel all over Bangladesh, because in the constitution, we have freedom (of religion). At that time, many Christian leaders were also part of the government.

Christianity was spreading all over Bangladesh, not rapidly in 1971 or 1972, but slowly and gradually. Many churches were built in different parts of Bangladesh, and some new denominations came into Bangladesh.

What is the situation like for Christians in Bangladesh today?

We have constitutional freedom. Those who were brought up Christian, they don’t face problems. Bangladesh is a country where all people from different religious background are living together, it’s a community-based people in Bangladesh. 90 per cent of people are Muslim, and around nine per cent are Hindus, and less than one per cent are Christians, but Christians live together with the community.

The problem is that, when they want to do evangelism, that creates problems from the community. In our constitution we can evangelise, we can share our faith, but in practice, it’s difficult.

Many people are coming to Christ from the majority (Muslim) background. Then persecution occurs immediately from the family, from the extended family, from their community. Sometimes, from the government officials, also local officials. Children face discrimination in the schools, by their friends, by their classmates, even sometimes by the teachers.

Persecution is everywhere, but in different forms.

How do believers usually come to faith in Christ?

Praise the Lord, people are coming to faith in Jesus and they are gradually growing both in number and in faith. Some of them have come to Christ through local evangelists, some through friends, family members, neighbours, and some through seminars and conferences.

God is really at work in Bangladesh, especially among the believers from Muslim backgrounds. There are many Muslims who are seekers, they are seeking assurance of salvation. In Islam, there is no assurance of salvation, and this uncertainty leads people to search for assurance of salvation. In searching for salvation, these people study the Quran and many different books, including the Bible, and thus they find assurance of salvation in the Bible.

These believers feel a burden and passion to share the good news of salvation with their loved ones and neighbours. Even through persecution, people come to know about Jesus Christ and finally the persecutors follow Jesus Christ. God is also raising local leaders from among the believers from Muslim backgrounds who are very passionate about sharing the gospel and have a burden for the Muslim community. These people are unstoppable for God’s kingdom.

This is only possible because God is at His work to bring this nation into His saving grace.

Can you tell us more about the believers from Muslim backgrounds in Bangladesh and the challenges they face?

Around 80 per cent of believers from Muslim backgrounds come from poor families, who live under the poverty level. Most of them are without education. But, of course, there are a few believers who come from rich and well-educated families.

If we go back 30 years ago, most of the believers from Muslim backgrounds are uneducated and poor. Now, there are many believers from Muslim backgrounds who are studying in college and university.

Unfortunately, believers from Muslim backgrounds are not that welcomed and accepted by the mainline (traditional) churches. Since Muslims are the majority in the country, the believers from mainline churches think, if they open up their churches to these believers from Muslim backgrounds then persecution will come to their members.

But nowadays the realization of the importance of believers from Muslim backgrounds is gradually growing among the traditional ministers, and we are working on building bridges between them.

Sadly, several believers from Muslim backgrounds have been abducted by extremist groups in the past year. Can you tell us why these extremist groups target these believers?

It is sad that a few believers, those who came to Jesus Christ from Muslim backgrounds, have been kidnapped by extremist groups because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

When a Muslim converts to Christianity, they (the extremists) consider this to be dishonouring Islam. When a believer gets kidnapped, it sends a strong message to the other believers or those who are preparing to follow Jesus Christ, that they will be persecuted or kidnapped in the same way if they do not renounce their faith in Jesus. This fearful panic spreads quite quickly among the people. Thus the extremists work to stop conversion and to bring back the new believers to Islam.

 

Timeline of Events

August 14 1947 – Under the British Empire, the country we know today as Bangladesh was a part of India. In August of 1947, India is split into two different countries – India and Pakistan, with modern day Bangladesh being part of this new state, Pakistan. This is also the end of British rule in the region.

India and Pakistan are divided along religious lines, with the majority of Hindus living in the area that became India, while the areas where the majority of inhabitants are Muslims come under Pakistan. This religious divide enforces the idea that Christians (and other minorities) do not belong in these countries.

Bangladesh is known as ‘East Pakistan’, while the area we call Pakistan today is known as ‘West Pakistan’. While more people live in East Pakistan, West Pakistan has more political and economic power. People in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) soon feel that they are facing discrimination from those in West Pakistan.

1948 – The political leaders in West Pakistan declare that Urdu, the language spoken in West Pakistan, is the official and common language for both provinces, and try to force people in East Pakistan to use it. East Pakistani leaders and citizens demand that Bangla, the language spoken in East Pakistan, becomes the official and common language for both provinces, since more of the country’s citizens speak Bangla.

February 21 1952 – Students, teachers, and other members of the public march on the streets of East Pakistan to demand that Bangla be made the official language of Pakistan. The military are brought in to control the protests, killing several people and injuring hundreds of others. This day is later commemorated as Mother Language Day in Bangladesh.

1956 – Pakistan officially becomes an Islamic Republic. Islam becomes the source of legislation and the cornerstone of national identity. Sharia (Islamic law) is implemented, marginalizing Christians and leading to intense persecution.

March 25 1971 – The Pakistani military begin to attack East Pakistani people who support independence for East Pakistan. They also arrest Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the political party the Bangladesh Awami League (Bangladesh People’s League).

The War of Independence begins. During the war, some Christians fight, and some provide food and shelter for Bangladesh’s fighters. Christian villages in some places are burned down and some Christians are tortured and killed for helping the fighters.

March 26 1971 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares East Pakistan the independent state of Bangladesh. This is the date that is commemorated as Bangladesh’s independence day.

December 16 1971 – West Pakistan surrenders and the war ends.

November 4 1972 – The constitution of Bangladesh is adopted. People are given the right to practice their faith freely, and Bangladesh is declared a secular state. This constitutional right allows Christians to work more freely and widely.

August 15 1975 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the President of Bangladesh, is assassinated by the military. In order to increase support for the military, the rulers play on religious sentiments, and Christians are marginalised once again.

June 1988 – Islam is made the official religion of Bangladesh again through a constitutional amendment.

 Open Doors in Bangladesh

When did OD begin working in Bangladesh? What kind of work was OD doing in the country when it first began partnering with local churches?

In 1993 and ‘94, there was research done by OD in Bangladesh with the Christian community. Then in 1995 they started to work slowly. In the beginning there was distribution of Bibles, and also some support for the institutional church and Bible schools. They bought computers for Bible schools. Later on they started a pastor’s conference with the National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh. That’s an umbrella organisation that represents almost 20 denominations in Bangladesh.

How has the work of OD and its local partners changed and grown since it first began?

In the beginning they started working with mainline churches, because during that time there were very few believers from other backgrounds, especially Muslim backgrounds. They started with two partners, three or four partners in Bangladesh.

Then slowly the ministry started to increase in the country because of the need. Persecution started when many people from the majority (Muslim) background started following Christ. When local people started to evangelise, every day the numbers of new believers were increasing.

Then in 2006, the researchers and OD have seen that the Muslim believers are increasing day by day. They tried to give more emphasis to the new believers, especially Muslim background believers, and to expand the ministry in Bangladesh.

Then OD started to increase the number of projects all over Bangladesh and the number of partners also increased. Now they have so many projects, they cover almost 50 districts of Bangladesh out of 64 districts. OD has distributed so many Bibles, like 10 to 20,000 Bibles in the last couple of years.

If we look back to when I first partnered with the ministry, the budget has increased 10 times.

How does OD support persecuted believers in Bangladesh today through partners like you?

In Bangladesh, we serve believers from all backgrounds – Muslim background believers, Hindu background believers, tribal background believers, Buddhist background believer, and traditional background believers. But we focus mostly on the believers from Muslim backgrounds. We are trying our best to stand with the persecuted church, especially the weakest part of the body of Christ.

When we receive news that a believer has been persecuted or kidnapped, we try our best to contact and get more details regarding the incident and the victim’s family and then we pray and find out how we can help. We contact the person or family, comfort them, encourage them to depend on God. We try to extend our assistance with legal assistance, financial support or providing daily needs through our partners, according to the emergency and needs of the family.

We also organise different training programs. ‘Standing Strong Through the Storm’ is a persecution preparedness seminar where we help our believers to apply the biblical principles to persecution.

We help local believers with different livelihood trainings, so that they can also sustain themselves, because many people who come to Christ are living under the poverty level. When someone becomes a Christian, they immediately face persecution, they may lose their job, so we try to help them to find a job or set up a small business.

As I have mentioned, most of the believers who came from Muslim backgrounds are not educated, many of them are illiterate. So we have an adult literacy project. We have more than 200 centres all over Bangladesh and through them the believers have learned how to read the scripture and they can also calculate.

Those who came from Muslim backgrounds, especially the women, they are neglected in the community, so we have discipleship programs for women.

What difference does this work make to the lives of the believers?

Through the literacy program, many people who were illiterate can now read the scripture, they can share the stories from the scripture with their children, they can contribute to making decisions in the family, because now they can write and read. This is one area.

Another area is that, through the women’s discipleship program, now women are part of the church.  They can help to build the church. Now, they have a voice in the church because they know the scripture, they know their work in Christ.

We have been conducting a seminar called Standing Strong Through the Storm. Before, the believers had misconceptions about persecution. Now they can forgive their persecutors. We get a lot of responses from the participants, saying, ‘Before we wanted to fight back against our persecutors. Now, we normally forgive them, because scripture tells us to forgive our prosecutors.’ There’s a huge change in the community of the persecuted believers.

We always use the example of Jesus, how he forgave the persecutor. So now even children in school, they also forgive their friends, those who were discriminating against them – now they try to make friends with them.

In some areas, many believers faced problems drawing drinking water from the community wells. We started to work so that they can have drinking water. Now we got lots of stories from the beneficiaries, saying, ‘Though they stop us from drawing water from that well, now we’re inviting them to get drinking water from our well.’

What is your hope for the future of the church in Bangladesh?

We want to see many people coming to Christ. The number of Christians will increase rapidly and some day the whole nation will become Christian. That’s my vision.

I want to see a strong local church, with no need to get help from outside of the country – they can sustain themselves through their livelihoods. They can sustain themselves physically and financially, but also spiritually. They can lead lives based on the scripture, and they can be a model in the community.

I want to see a strong church and strong believers so that they can face persecution. When persecution comes they can stand firm.

Pray

How would you like Christians around the world to pray for believers in Bangladesh?

We know that prayer is very important and very powerful because we can do nothing without the help of our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. We ask all the believers in the world to pray for these persecuted believers, especially believers from Muslim background.

Please pray as some of these believers (who were kidnapped) are still missing and so far, we don’t have any information or updates about them. Pray for God to help our people, our leaders, to find these (missing people). Pray so that we will have good news about these missing people.

Pray also for the community, it is such a small community, (living among) the big majority group in Bangladesh. Every day, in different homes, they are facing persecution, sufferings that come from the community, from the authorities, from their neighbours, from these extremist Islamic groups.

We really plead for your prayers for them so that they can stay strong in their faith in facing this type of persecution. (I believe) they are the instruments of God to be channels of blessings to many, so that the population of Bangladesh will come to know Christ and can receive Him as their Saviour and the Lord.

Christianity in Bangladesh

On March 26, 2021, Bangladesh will celebrate 50 years of independence, so in this episode, we’ll focus on Christianity in Bangladesh. Tune in to hear how God is at work and how we can pray for our brothers and sisters there.

Links

Download a copy of the 2021 World Watch List at www.opendoorscanada.org/world-watch-list/about-persecution.

Find more resources to pray for the persecuted church at www.opendoorscanada.org/get-involved/pray/.

Get in touch with us at podcast@odcan.org.

Subscribe to the World Watch Weekly podcast via iTunes, PodBean, or Spotify.

*Names may be changed for security purposes*

 

Believers in Bangladesh targeted for persecution

In Bangladesh, Open Doors partners have received reports that Muslim background believers are experiencing persecution by a group of Maulana (Muslim religious leaders and scholars) in cooperation with local political and religious leaders. This group visits the Christians from house to house, forcing them to renounce their faith in Jesus and return to Islam.

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“This group has invited local Muslims surrounding the area to avoid the MBBs, excommunicate, and isolate them completely,” Brother Abraham, an Open Doors local partner shares. “They have sent a message to all the local mosques and local leaders saying that it is their responsibility to let the Christians renounce their faith and go back to Islam. They’ve also listed names and addresses of the MBBs. And now, regularly, two times a day, they visit the MBBs’ homes and force them to renounce their faith in Jesus. When they refuse to renounce, they are threatened that they would be harmed. Because of fear of persecution and torture, around 8 families have already renounced their faith in Jesus.”

OD partners report that a former MBB who has openly denied his faith in Jesus and returned to Islam is now helping the group identify the other MBBs. “He was a pastor and evangelist of a church who led many people to Christ,” shares Bro Abraham. “He has testified to that group about how Christians evangelize and convert people to Christianity. His testimony contains lots of false and negative statements about Christians, which then gives Muslims a very negative impression of Christians.”

The Maulana group is reported to have taken over the church where this former MBB and other believers used to worship, using it as a venue for Muslim prayer, and have taken all the materials that are being used at church, as well as materials for adult literacy classes. The group has also posted videos on their online channel showing the materials, insulting and dishonouring Christians, and accusing Christians of receiving money when they accept Jesus.

Believers in hiding

Many family leaders have now gone into hiding because they are targeted and are forced to deny Jesus. “The MBBs are excommunicated by the Muslim villagers, who are a major number in those villages. Now, the MBBs cannot go to the marketplace, cannot buy and sell things, and cannot go to work. The Christians are not allowed to enter the market. The Maulana have been going from market to market, shop to shop, telling the Muslims not to sell things to the Christians.”

Anand*, one of the believers pressured to renounce his faith, shares his situation: “I have a shop at the local market which is my only source of income. I am threatened by the Muslims to not go to my shop. I cannot go to my shop for weeks. I don’t know if my things are still in the shop or not, and I am suffering a food crisis. I am the only believer in my family, and my family members are pressuring me to renounce from my faith in Jesus. I don’t know what to do.”

Open Doors partners in Bangladesh are praying and looking into how we can help the believers in this situation. As of now, there are around 132 MBB families who have chosen not to renounce their faith in Jesus and are being persecuted. Among them are 81 families who are going through a food shortage, as the men in their family are in hiding, and therefore could not continue with their livelihoods.

Pray

1. Pray for the MBB families who are suffering because they do not want to renounce their faith in Jesus. Pray for their protection and safety. Our partners say: “We cannot protect them. The state’s law cannot protect them. Pray for God’s protection. He can only protect them. Pray that the surviving believers will be able to stand strong in their faith and face the situation biblically and wisely.”

2. Pray for the former MBB pastor and families who have already renounced their faith for the fear of persecution and affliction. Pray that God would work in their hearts.

3. Pray for God to open the hearts of the Maulana group who are persecuting the Christians. Pray that they would know the truth and love of Christ so that they will become a part God’s kingdom.

4. Pray for the local authorities –the local political and religious leaders – that they will help the Christians live in safety, in a community where they can practice their faith freely.

“We live in fear every day”

A family of believers from Muslim backgrounds are facing increased persecution from their community after attending a Christian event, and have been forced to take their children out of the Children’s Centre supported by Open Doors.

Blog Featured image (27)Early December, in the northeast part of the country, the family was returning home from a Christian gathering when they were stopped by a group of local Muslims from their village.

They threatened to kill the family, insisting they renounce their faith in Jesus and return to Islam. “If you join any Christian program again, disobeying our orders, then you will pay a high price. You must listen to our orders, otherwise you cannot survive in this village.”

This family has faced persecution from their relatives and neighboring Muslims for a long time, but this time it was more aggressive. The local Muslims are doing everything they can to stop the believers from living out their faith in Christ and having fellowship with other believers.

Ratna, one of the Christians, says, “They are now guarding us every day, and interrogating us – where we go, why we go, and so on. Even when we go out for our daily work, they follow us and ask us where we are going. They are becoming more excessive this time. This is more than what we can tolerate. We are living in fear every day, being threatened every day.”

The persecutors also forced the family to take their children out of the Children’s Centre that Open Doors supports. The parents brought them home on December 14, saying that if they do not do as they are told, they will be persecuted more.

Our partners at the Children’s Centre said that the children were very sad at leaving. The partners are worried about where the parents will send their children for their education – they might be forced to study Islam in their new school, or they might stop going to school altogether.

Please Pray

1. Pray for the safety of the family members and for protection from harm.

2. Pray also for the persecutors, for God to soften the hearts of their relatives and neighbours who are opposing this family because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

3. Pray for the children, that God will make a way for them to continue their Christian education.

“You are not the same as us.”

Bijli* stands in the yard of her school, drawing a picture in the dirt with a stick. She draws a figure who looks like her – a girl with short hair and a dress. Then she draws other children, friends for her imaginary girl. One holds the girl’s hand. Another has a ball to play with. They all have big smiles.

She looks up at the other children in the playground. The scene does look a bit like her dirt drawing – except that no one is playing with her.

She notices a couple of girls whispering to each other and looking at her. Bijli quickly looks down and stares hard at her drawing, but it’s too late – they’ve started walking towards her. She looks around for their teacher, but Bijli can’t see her.

“What are you doing?” one of the girls asks.

“I’ve just been drawing…” Bijli stammers, gesturing to her drawing in the dirt. One of girls stamps on it with her foot, making the smiling faces disappear.

“My mother says that your family are infidels,” another girl says.

“We’re not infidels,” Bijli says, starting to cry.

“Are you saying my mother is lying?” The girl pushes Bijli over, and she lands on the floor where her drawing once was. The girls laugh and run away. Bijli stays on the floor, tears rolling down her face.

Blog Featured image (24)Bijli’s family are one of just a few Christian families in their village of 50 houses in Bangladesh. Her grandfather has received biblical training through Open Doors partners, and now he’s a church leader.

But his decision to leave the traditional Muslim faith of the village and follow Jesus hasn’t been easy for the family.

Bijli’s mother, Maya*, says, ““I feel sad. In the village, Muslims are the majority. They tell us, “Go away, you are Christians. You are not the same as us.”

The rejection and isolation are especially hard for ten-year-old Bijli. “My friends don’t want to play with me. They push me,” she says.

Celebrating ‘Emmanuel’

This makes the Christmas celebration organised by Open Doors partners all the more welcome for Bijli and her family.

Badol and Maya smile as they approach the outdoor dining area where some families are already sitting, talking and laughing and drinking cups of hot tea. Some of the local Open Doors team get up to greet them and take their bags, and other familiar faces smile and wave them over.

Bijli sees a group of girls talking and looking at her. But here, she doesn’t feel afraid.

One of the girls walks towards her. “We were going to play a game of hide and seek. Would you and your brother like to play?”

Soon there are 100 Christian families at the celebration, all believers from Muslim backgrounds who come from isolated rural communities, just like Bijli’s family. For some, this will be the first time they have ever met with so many other believers – and the first time they will celebrate Christmas.

There are parties like this in the village – for the end of Ramadan, or to celebrate someone’s wedding – but Bijli and her family aren’t invited. She can smell the food cooking, and hear the music, and she hears about them at school the next day, but she doesn’t get to join in.

But this party is different. Tonight, Bijli knows she is welcome.

Of course, the Christmas celebration can’t last forever, and soon it is time for Bijli and her family to go home. Even just by coming to this celebration, they will attract negative attention from their community. “They will ask many questions,” Badol says. The rejection the family already face will be made even worse when the community hear that they have been at a Christian event.

But when I ask Badol if he thinks it’s worth it to come to this event, knowing what the consequences could be, he is adamant that it is. “Yes, my decision is right. I will give them our answer, that we are followers of Jesus Christ, and we went to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.”

A few days later, Bijli is back in the school yard again. She’s still on her own, drawing with a stick in the dirt. But this time, she draws someone different next to her – a tall man with a beard and a big smile. She smiles at the memory of the Christmas celebration. “Jesus is always with me,” she says.

Please Pray

Badol asks us to pray for the family’s good health and safety. Pray that God will provide for all their needs. Pray that the whole family will remember what they heard at the Christmas celebration – that God is with them, and has promised never to leave them.

*Names changed for security reasons

Fifteen Secret believers baptized in Bangladesh

Baptism can be a major step for our persecuted brothers and sisters. In places where converting to Christianity carries significant risk, making a public expression of faith often means more persecution.

But amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a church that Open Doors partners with in Bangladesh reports that they have seen more and more Christians come to know the Lord and choose to be baptized. Last month, fifteen believers from northeastern Bangladesh were baptized together.

“It was a blessed moment for our church. There were about ten people who got baptised in February this year, and ten more were waiting to be baptised when the country went into lockdown,” said Peter*, an Open Doors partner.

After the baptism, they were each given their own Bible.

Among the baptized believers were two sisters, Dewanti and Mayna. They first moved to the village in 2017, where they met a believer named Brother Simon*.

He shared the gospel with them. He had been working closely with the men and the children of the village at first, but later got acquainted with the two sisters and invited them to an Open Doors adult literacy program.

Dewanti and Mayna were not the only ones who were impacted by the ministry of Brother Simon and the adult literacy program. In the past three years that he has been working there, 20 families have come to know the Lord and have been baptised. “As they believed, they have already started to go through mental and social persecution, but their unity in Christ amazed me.”

Praise God with us for these baptisms. Pray for these believers that they will continue to grow strong in their faith and be His salt and light to their community.

Learn More

Check out this episode of the World Watch Weekly podcast to learn more about why baptism is so dangerous for our persecuted family:

Bangladesh: Christian mother and daughter killed

Bangaldesh fi
Supria (left) and Shilpi (shown with her husband) were killed by a bomb thrown through their bedroom window.

In a deeply distressing incident, a young mother and daughter were targeted by a bomb attack in the middle of the night. While Shilpi (30) and her 5-year old daughter, Supria, were asleep at night, someone threw a handmade bomb through an open window. The bomb exploded and fire quickly engulfed everything in the room. The incident occurred in the early hours of May 31.

Shilpi managed to escape from the burning room, and Supria was rescued with the help of neighbours. Shilpi’s husband, Ridoy, was not at home at that time as he was on night duty at a local garment factory.

Shilpi and Supria were both rushed to the local hospital for treatment. Shilpi suffered extensive burns while Supria was also badly injured. Both eventually succumbed to their injuries, leaving Ridoy completely broken and shattered at the loss.

“Now Ridoy is feeling completely hopeless, frustrated, depressed. He is in mourning, refusing to speak to anyone,” says Stephen Liton Halder, our field partner and uncle of Ridoy.

Stephen further believes this was an act of persecution. “The family are the only Christians in that area. Their neighbours know they are Christians. That area is known to have many religious extremists living there,” he says.

The incident has been reported to the police. They have visited the site and found the explosive materials. Since the incident took place after midnight, there were no eye-witnesses present to report information to the police. No one has been arrested so far.

But Ridoy fears for his safety. “Ridoy has gone back to his village. He is not sure when he can go back to work. He is afraid of harassment and interrogation from the police. Please pray for him, he is grieving,” says Stephen.

Bangladesh is at number 38 on the 2020 World Watch List, and Christians form a tiny minority in the country. They face immense pressure from radical Islamic groups, and are often threatened to recant their faith.

Please pray

1. Pray for God to comfort brother Ridoy Halder in his loss. Pray for him to find hope in Jesus. Pray for Jesus to speak to him in his heart in this time of tragedy.
2. Pray for his relatives, his friends and other believers to stand with him as he goes through the grieving process. Pray for Ridoy’s recovery that he may come back stronger in his faith in Christ.
3. Pray for the police that they will be able to find the culprit and justice would be carried out.

Bangladesh and India Hit by Cyclone Amphan

Bangladesh and India Hit by Amphan

What could be worse than COVID-19? A super cyclone during COVID-19.

Bangladesh_2018_0500102132

The Super Cyclone ‘Amphan’, which some are calling a monster cyclone, hit coastal areas in Bangladesh and the adjoining East coast of India on Wednesday night. Rain and winds blew in from the Bay of Bengal since the afternoon of May 19th and kept moving inwards at around a 150 kph wind speed, causing heavy rains.

Over 2.4 million people were moved to safety shelters within one day. Communities who live in coastal areas were the first to experience the wrath of the cyclone, followed by adjacent districts. 

The cyclone caused massive tidal waves, which destroyed embankments, causing hundreds of villages and towns in districts such as, Bhola, Patuakhali, Khulna, Barguna, Barishal, Laxmipur to be completely submerged under water. The states of West Bengal and Orissa in India were also hit with significant devastation.

In Bangladesh, we were able to contact a few of our partners. One said, “Many houses are damaged, some houses are submerged under water, fisheries are submerged too, crops in the lower land submerged, roads damaged, and no electricity.”

More than 10 million people are left without electricity, especially in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. There is a loss of cellphone and internet connection. Those living there are completely detached from the rest of the country.

There are many believers living in these affected areas, and we are trying to reach them despite the breakdown of internet and telecommunication. Please pray for God’s special hand of protection and provision for them. There is a greater chance of COVID-19 spreading in the cyclone evacuation centres and as relief work begins in hard hit areas.

Please Pray

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– For a quick recovery in the wake of Cyclone Amphan’s devastating impact and COVID-19. Pray for the victims, especially our brothers and sisters to find hope, salvation and comfort in God.

– For God to use His Church to extend love and help toward those affected. Pray that He will open new ways for us as a ministry and other relief organizations to meet the needs of the people.

– For families that have been most affected, especially the vulnerable – the children, elderly, the sick. Pray for the people to be able to return to normal life again.
– For the government to step up measures to try and stop the spread of the virus, especially among the people who were taken to the cyclone centres.

Bangladesh: Teenage boy commits suicide because of persecution

**Trigger warning: Suicide

Chongya, a 16-yr old believer in Bangladesh took his own life this week because of persecution.

He and his brother were raised as Buddhists, but heard the gospel through their grandparents. When their parents found out, they tried to force the boys back to their Buddhist roots. When they refused, they were scolded and punished, culminating in being kicked out of their home. Shortly after, Chongya committed suicide.

Our partner went to the village to conduct a funeral service. He reports that Singya, the elder brother, is with his grandparents, dealing with the trauma of his brother’s death. The parents are fearful of being arrested.

Christians in Bangladesh often face persecution, and it is particularly difficult for those like Chongya and Singya who are dependent on their parents for a home. Open Doors seeks to help persecuted youth through discipleship and counseling programs.

Would you pray?
1) Pray that God will comfort Singya and keep him safe from thoughts of doing the same as his brother.
2) Pray that his grandparents will have wisdom on how to care for him.
3) Pray for the church in Bangledesh, and for our partners there: for strength, hope, and courage as they stand alongside youth like Chongya and Singya.

Keep the underground network alive.

Donate Now

YOUR YEAR-END GIFT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.

Persecution is growing, and so are the needs of persecuted believers. More Christians need Bibles, discipleship, trauma counselling, and relief aid as they face violence, displacement, and loss. 

The Canada Post strikes slowed the arrival of gifts during this critical time of year. Will you help?

Your support will empower persecuted believers through Bibles, training, relief aid, trauma counselling, and more. 

Give a Year-end gift

Your year-end gift is more important than ever.

Persecution is growing, and so are the needs of persecuted believers. More Christians need Bibles, discipleship, trauma counselling, and relief aid as they face violence, displacement, and loss. 

The Canada Post strikes slowed the arrival of gifts during this critical time of year. Will you help?

Your support will empower persecuted believers through Bibles, training, relief aid, trauma counselling, and more. 

Give a year-end gift