Bangladesh (MNN) — FMI recently hosted a family conference in Bangladesh for pastors and their wives and children. They offered a variety of seminars, including a seminar just for the pastors’ wives.
Bruce Allen with FMI says it was a special opportunity for these Christian families. “Especially in countries like Bangladesh — the world’s third largest Muslim majority nation — the Christian community there doesn’t have the types of resources that we have in the West. Conferences for Christian women are really very, very rare, and then as well for the pastors’ wives especially.”
Ministry in Bangladesh has unique challenges, and pastors and their families value the support of the global Body of Christ. Christians in Bangladesh only account for 0.3% of the population. So pastors supported by FMI have a lot of Gospel work ahead.
Allen says, “Obviously, being the minority in the country, there are some social stigmas too. The World Watch List just was released…. Bangladesh, like it has for many years, has been in the top 50 of the the worst, hardest places to live as a Christian due to persecution and discrimination.”
Church dedication – Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of FMI)
Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Pastors in urban areas are often serving across multiple ministry sites.
“They might have 2-4 church sites that they’re serving at or they’re doing outreach in a new village in hopes of launching a church down the road,” says Allen. “Even out in the rural areas, there’s not a great infrastructure for how to get from point A to point B.
“What we’ve seen time and time again is that then those churches become centers of replication. It’s not just that you’re calling people together to become a church, but then they effectively reach the next village as well. So pray for the believers, that they catch that vision of multiplication.”
Pray also for the pastors and their families in Bangladesh, that the Lord would renew their hearts and vision for reaching the lost.
Learn more about FMI’s ministry in Bangladesh here!
Header photo courtesy of FMI.
