- Currently there are 63 brethren and sisters in Bangladesh.
- There are 3 meetings, Notun Bazar, Savar and Mymensingh. Notun Bazar is in Dhaka, Savar is a town about an hour north west of Dhaka and Mymensingh is a rural village about 4 hours north. (These times are all very variable depending on the road conditions.)
- In the past year there have been 10 baptisms.
There are a lot of enthusiastic young brethren as well as sisters who are keen to spread the good news. Being a strict Muslim country, public preaching is not allowed so it is only by personal witnessing that God’s message can be spread.
Bangladesh, like a lot of countries, has been impacted badly by the pandemic. A couple of the brotherhood may have had Covid 19 but tests cost money and a positive result means isolation. Officially number of cases are falling and restrictions are easing.
The ACBM is giving financial aid to most of the brethren and sisters. This means 51 families are currently on welfare. Unfortunately they do not have the luxury that most of us in the western world have with some reserves to get us through lean times. The brethren and sisters are trying to use their time productively. Some are organising Memorial Meetings on the internet and have set up “Messenger” groups for pastoral care and communication. Some are improving their English skills translating books like Bro. B. Lloyd’s “Minute Meditations”, others are joining zoom Memorial Meetings and Bible Classes in Australia. This has a two-way benefit; they get to know brethren and sisters they would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise and vice versa.
At a personal level a couple of our brothers have had serious health issues. As many would know one brother was set upon on his way to Bible School last year and was blessed to survive and return to work. His attitude was a lesson to all of us. He did not question why this happened to him, instead he said God was working with him to make him realise how dependent on God he was. Another brother with a young family has a serious heart problem.
Please remember them in your prayers. At this stage it is totally unknown when field workers will be able to visit Bangladesh again.
