Wednesday 19 Jun
A milestone celebration!
100 years ago the Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship was formed following a conference in 1919 discussing the possibility of establishing a union. The delegates voted in favour and now 100 years later there are over 500 faith communities.
This is a significant milestone for Australian Baptists as well, as Bangladesh (then East Bengal) was the first location our intercultural workers served. In 1882, Ellen Arnold and Marie Gilbert were sent out as the inaugural Australian Baptist intercultural workers. The decades that followed saw many more Australian Baptists serve in the country, establishing a hospital, dispensaries, pastoral training programs and community development work which are now entirely run by Bangladeshi nationals.
We celebrate that our vision, to see growing, vibrant faith communities among the least-reached has come to fruition among this community. However, there are many other communities yet to be transformed by understanding the Gospel in their own cultural context and language. Praise God for His activity in this community… and pray for Him to do it again and again.
Read more about the significance of these centenary celebrations in the Autumn/Winter edition of Vision (pages 3 - 6): www.globalinteraction.org.au/Vision
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