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.
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.
