Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971 after bitter civil war. Since that time there have been 18 military coups and a military dictatorship which ended in 1001. Though a democracy the opposition party is Islamic. The state religion is Islam and there is an eroding religious freedom there. There is widespread corruption and unrest.
85% of Bangladesh is Muslim and 13% or Hindus. Christians make up less than 1% of the population. Population is 192 million and the average income is $360.00 per person. The country is one of the poorest in the world and suffers from over-population and natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. More than half the population is under 16 and lives below the poverty line. In addition, more than half the population cannot read.
There are over 230 million Bengali people in the world. They are the most unreached people group in the entire world and most live in India and Bangladesh.
There are 35 languages in Bangladesh and the national language is Bangla. The entire Scriptures are available in 13 languages, the NT is available in 8 languages and portions of the Bible are being translated into 6 languages. 8 languages have no access to the Scriptures. There are approximately 428 missionaries in Bangladesh-from USA, Korean, Canada, Norway, Finland and New Zealand.
Challenges and Prayer Concerns:
- Good, honest, impartial leadership
- Discrimination and persecution against ethnic and religious minorities has increased.
- Churches are growing at twice the population rate. Pray for revival.
- Pray for workers to go to the Bengali people. It was to these people that missionary William Carey went.
- Pray for the 110 million Muslims to become open to the gospel.
- Pray for the numerous young people
- Pray for more missionaries, more Christian literature and a more widespread distribution of the Scriptures.
