Sri Lanka is a country of 21 million. The Sinhalese people are the majority, but the north and east of the island are primarily occupied by Tamils. A 30 year civil war between the two groups ended in 2009. The country is strongly Buddhist and an anti-conversion law has been in and out of parliament for years, however there is relative freedom to preach and Negombo where the ecclesia is situated, is majority Christian.
Perth commenced mission work in Sri Lanka in 1982. By 1990 there had been several baptisms and a small ecclesia meeting in a hired room in Colombo. Unfortunately however, between 1990 and 2000 this group of believers disintegrated, with several returning to their former churches and other leaving the country for work. From the late 1990s preaching efforts where renewed. Since 2000 there have been several long-term field workers living in Negombo, and the ecclesia has grown to approximately 25 members.
2017 Annual Update for Sri Lanka
The Truth continues to grow in Sri Lanka. The Gospel is preached regularly and in the last 12 months there have been six baptisms. The Negombo ecclesia is a multicultural meeting as they receive the benefit of fellowship from the Christadelphian refugees, mainly from Pakistan, who meet regularly with them. Some refugees have been resettled in…
Sri Lanka Refugee Update
Comparing previous year’s “hide & seek” problem with Sri Lankan Immigration Police which resulted in the deportation of many Pakistanis, 2015-16 has been a very peaceful year in terms of immigration problems for refugees in Sri Lanka. This worldly peace has provided an opportunity for our refugee brethren to preach the good news of our…
Third class passenger
Having travelled to Sri Lanka several times between 1987 and 1998, I thought it was time to go again. There have been quite a few changes since my last visit. The civil war which had crippled the country for 30 years had ceased and reconstruction was well underway. And there is now an ecclesia in…
Launch of the Christadelphian Refugee Guild
On 10 March, 2014 at the Farsi Bible School in Sri Lanka Bro Tim Galbraith and Ken and Dorothy Chalmers inaugurated the official website of The Christadelphian Refugee Guild (www.crguild.org) The CRG has been an idea of many Refugee brethren to maximize their efforts and talents during their time of exile to connect the refugees with the…
Reports from Sri Lanka (1985 – 2013)
1985 September Bro Harry Jones from Yokine reporting “Our work of preaching the Gospel in Sri Lanka is making excellent progress: almost 200 contacts have been made and over 20 of these are now receiving the Bible Study course. Arrangements are now almost complete for our Bro. and Sis. Alex Gordon to spend 2 months…
Baptisms in Sri Lanka
Nov to Dec 2011 Recent Baptisms Since our last report (12 October 2011) there have been five baptisms in Sri Lanka. On 23 October Bro Nalaka De Silva, who we mentioned in our last report was baptised. Nalaka was followed on 30 November by Bro James B., then on 6 November by Bro Rohan Hettiarachi,…
Sri Lankan Report
June to Oct 2011 The Taylor family, Bro Russell, Sis Margueritia, and their four children, Mac, Asha, India and Sahara, and Sis Margueritia’s father, Bro Fran Ryan, have been in Sri Lanka since December 2009. The Negombo Ecclesia is the only ecclesia in Sri Lanka. It has 26 Sri Lankan members and there are another…
Living in Sri Lanka
Living here is a daily challenge in many ways, because the country has been torn apart by civil war for over 20 years; the tsunami of 2004 added to the desperate plight of the people. Inflation is very high; in 2007 the cost of living increased by nearly 17%; interest rates on home loans are…