| East Midnapur, West Bengal (India) | | Print | |
| Coordinator Blogs & Articles - Asia | |||
| Friday, 03 April 2009 01:58 | |||
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We traveled to Calcutta on the 24th in order to visit some villages in East Midnapur. HeartCry works with a brother and sister who are missionaries in this West Bengal district. The state is primarily made up of Bengali people. Although there are many subgroups within the Bengalis, as a whole they are considered the largest unreached people group in the world. This is quite remarkable since the Gospel has been preached among them now for more than 200 years. William Carey spent his entire missionary career living in and around Calcutta ministering to Bengalis. Yet, there are still so few among them who follow Christ. Sib and Krishna work in four villages in East Midnapur. Three of them are Hindu villages and one is a Muslim village. Both Sib and Krishna were born and raised as Hindus. However, in 1993 their parents came to faith in Christ and several months later God saved them, as well. Their mud and bamboo hut is located in a group of trees which are surrounded by rice fields. Their extended family shares this group of trees with them. They are all Hindu and despise Sib, Krishna, and their parents for following Christ. Since the door to their uncle's hut is approximately 15 feet from the door to Sib and Krishna's hut, then church members must pass the uncle's door in order to attend the weekly church service. Their uncle often screams and curses the people as they pass by in front of his home. The entire time we were visiting he spoke no words to us nor to Sib and Krishna's family. The hardness of his heart can be seen just by looking at his face and seeing his countenance. At night we heard he and his family worshiping at the small family shrine outside their hut. They were chanting the same words over and over again as they bowed down before their idol. Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount were vividly illustrated to me, "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." God, though, is continuing to work in the hearts of Bengalis in East Midnapur. More than 30 people from various backgrounds have come to faith in Christ through Sib and Krishna's ministry. While we were visiting, Sib baptized three women. Two had come from a Muslim background and the other one was from a Hindu background. Earlier this month two others had also been baptized. We had the opportunity of taking the Lord's Supper, as well. We did this immediately following the baptisms and as the significance of what we were doing was explained, more than 20 Hindus were standing with us listening and watching. Although they had just showed up to see the foreigners and observe this strange practice of dunking someone in water, they heard about the One whose body was broken and blood was spilled in order cleanse people of their sin. Please continue to pray for our brother and sister as they labor in West Bengal, India. Grace and Peace, Matt Glass
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