Bangladesh
Summary
Muslim conversions and settlement in the region now referred to as Bangladesh began in the 10th century, primarily from Arab and Persian traders and preachers. Europeans established trading posts in the area in the 16th century. Eventually the area known as Bengal, primarily Hindu in the western section and mostly Muslim in the eastern half, became part of British India. Partition in 1947 resulted in an eastern wing of Pakistan in the Muslim-majority area, which became East Pakistan. Calls for greater autonomy and animosity between the eastern and western wings of Pakistan led to a Bengali independence movement. That movement, led by the Awami League (AL) and supported by India, won the independence war for Bangladesh in 1971, during which at least 300,000 civilians died.
The post-independence AL government faced daunting challenges and in 1975 was overthrown by the military, triggering a series of military coups that resulted in a military-backed government and subsequent creation of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978. That government also ended in a coup in 1981, followed by military-backed rule until democratic elections occurred in 1991. The BNP and AL alternated in power between 1991 and 2013, with the exception of a military-backed, emergency caretaker regime that suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption. That government returned the country to fully democratic rule in December 2008 with the election of the AL and Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA. In January 2014, the incumbent AL won the national election by an overwhelming majority after the BNP boycotted, extending HASINA’s term as prime minister. With the help of international development assistance, Bangladesh has reduced the poverty rate from over half of the population to less than a third, achieved Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health, and made great progress in food security since independence. The economy has grown at an annual average of about 6% over the last two decades and the country reached World Bank lower-middle income status in 2015. [1]
📷 : Wikipedia
Statistics
From the The Joshua Project [2]
In the News
📷 : Wikipedia
Prayer Guide
Bengali people are by far the largest unreached people in the world, numbering around 240 million globally. The majority live in Bangladesh and India, but large communities live in Britain, the USA and elsewhere. It was to the Bengali that William Carey went as a missionary. Although they revere Carey’s memory, the great breakthrough has still not come after 200 years. There are signs of the trickle becoming a flood, however. Pray specifically for:
- Muslims, who number over 140 million in Bangladesh alone. The Bengali are claimed as Islam’s greatest missionary success. But the majority follow “folk” Islam – a blend of Sufi-influenced Islam, indigenous culture and Hinduism. Pray for:
- Openness to the gospel – the vast majority have never heard the true gospel.
- More workers – given their population, the numbers committed to reaching them are pitifully few (perhaps only four Protestant missionaries for every one million Bengalis). Pray for a surge in Kingdom workers committed to the evangelization of Bengalis.
- Those who have responded – many have remained in their cultural/religious context while committing their lives to Jesus. Pray for the nurturing of these followers; pray for leaders who model biblical values and lifestyles, for God-honouring worship patterns and for cultural relevance without compromise of biblical faith. They often face social and family pressure to renounce Christ and opposition from some Islamic leaders. Pray that new believers may experience dependence on God in poverty, firmness under persecution, evangelistic vision and unity with other established Christian communities from differing cultural backgrounds.
- Hindus, who feel increasingly vulnerable as a religious minority – there have been many incidents of violence and persecution against them. Pray for this hardship to spark openness to Jesus. Some followers of Jesus remain within the Hindu context and do not link with “foreign” Christian bodies. There are 228 Hindu people groups and/or castes, of which 204 are classified as least-reached/unreached. Only among 14 groups has there been any significant response. The upper castes have remained resistant to the gospel.
- The tribal peoples’ very existence is threatened as the Bengali population explosion pushes further into traditional tribal lands. Several peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts suffer from this slow squeeze; their lands and even their culture are under threat as Islamization accompanies Bengalization. Pray for a just settlement – the granting of limited autonomy to the region has not improved the situation much. Pray also for Christian agencies seeking to bring tribal peoples to Christ (Global Interaction, ABWE, BMS, GFA, IMB, Presbyterians and Lutherans). Some groups are almost entirely unreached while others have large Christian populations.