The Church in Bangladesh

Background

The country of Bangladesh, formerly part of the kingdom of Bengal, has been predominantly Islamic ever since its conquest by Afghans in the 12th century; 83% of the population is Muslim. Since its separation from India in 1947 and from Pakistan in 1971 the political climate has been somewhat unsettled.

The Christian missionaries who worked in India from the nineteenth century left a small but significant legacy. Christians account for 0.2 - 0.3% of the population. Anglicans and Presbyterians have come together in the Church of Bangladesh, which has total of 12,000 members in 24 parishes. It has good co-operation with the Baptists, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. The Council of Churches in Bangladesh created the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) as its development wing.

The Church of Bangladesh, a CWM partner, is a united church formed in 1972 the year following independence from Pakistan in a parallel union (the same scheme of union) with the Church of North India and the Church of Pakistan. In Bangladesh it included the Presbyterian church based in Rajshahi and the Anglican Church which had grown from missions of The Oxford Mission, CMS and USPG. Bishop Mondal who was the first Bengali Bishop is Bishop of the Dhaka Diocese and Moderator of the Church. Bishop Michael Baroi leads the second diocese - Kushtia.

The congregations tend to be grouped together in certain areas of the country. This is mainly due to the location of the former mission stations. In the mid 19th century a charismatic revival led to the flourishing of a number of congregations in the Kushtia district and in the adjacent area which is now in West Bengal, India. Today in places where the church exists it tends to have large congregations comprising families that have been Christian for many generations. In the north much work is done among the minority tribal groups including the Santalis and Garos.

As a small minority the Christians often find themselves severely disadvantaged and even persecuted. This has been emphasised in recent years with the introduction of elements of the Islamic state and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. In spite of this the churches are generally at the forefront in charitable and development work. Such work is a key witness of the Church. It is very risky to be involved in other forms of evangelism. Converts from other faiths usually face exclusion from the communities in which they have grown up. Inevitably most of the development work in which the church and CCDB are involved benefits the poor in communities outside the Church.

In the 1990s the weekly holiday was changed from Sunday to Friday. In the towns this added pressure on the churches which had been used to worshipping on a day free from other work. CCDB retain Sunday as their main holiday day. In the villages it made little difference to the traditional pattern of life for any of the communities.

For obvious reasons Christians are often accused of being agents of foreign Christian countries which makes them easy scapegoats and targets for fundamentalists. Similarly NGOs whether overtly Christian or not are tarred with the same brush. For instance, one secular agency was involved with a women's co-operative in a Muslim community which had planted fruit trees. The trees were dug up by a Muslim fundamentalist gang which saw the empowerment of women as an anti-Islamic foreign Christian conspiracy. For some time afterwards the whole Christian community lived in fear.

Music in the churches

As in other countries which have gained independence after colonialism, the church in Bangladesh is concerned to contextualise not only their theology but also their worship expression. While the liturgy remains rooted in that brought by earlier missionaries, new songs, such as the two included here, are being composed in local styles, shaking off the influence of western European culture. Today Bangla hymns and songs accompanied by table drums are often used in worship.

Reading: Luke 6, vv 17 - 26
Discussion pointers

• Do you have any experience of trying to work - or to pray - with people of other faiths?
• How can we build better relationships with Muslims in Britain, while being aware of inter-faith tensions and conflict elsewhere?
• Notice the way in which Luke portrays Jesus healing Jews and Gentiles here (vv 17 - 19); do we seek to retain the church's exclusive place in society?
• What do you make of the sharp contrast and the challenges in Luke's version of the "Beatitudes" (vv 20 - 26)?

Prayer

The songs

Source: Drawn to the Wonder, CWM 1995

Alleluia

This song was taught to the 1993 CWM Council Meeting by Dipika Simsung from the Church of Bangladesh. Although originally sung unaccompanied, chord symbols have been added to assist congregational participation. It can be sung in a leader/response style, the leader singing the opening of each verse and the congregation responding with "Sing your praises to Him and worship Him." Likewise the Alleluias can be sung first by a leader and joined by the congregation on the repeat.

Anything you did for one of these (Jaa kichhu tume)

Based on the words of Jesus, this song reflects the integration of faith and action. The music for the verses, each different in the original version, have been fused here for simplification. The repetition of the words in the chorus emphasises the presence of Christ in each person, framed on either side by the practical response of faith. It was sent by Bishop Michael Baroi from the Church of Bangladesh for inclusion in the CWM Bicentenary songbook Drawn to the Wonder.

Thanks to Maggie Hamilton of Counterpoint for her work on the CforL pages about the churches. Special thanks to John Crocker for help with this.