A Church of Bangladesh Bible School

Global Partners

Wednesday July 6 2022

In the first of a new series focussing on partner churches of the Church of Scotland, the Church of Bangladesh offers an insight into its work.

Fact File

Name: The Church of Bangladesh.

Number of congregations: 110

Number of ministers: 28 + 3 Bishops.

Number of members: 20,000

What is your connection with the Church of Scotland?

Historically the connection with the Church of Scotland is as a partner. We are partners in missions during normal and in disaster time. The Church of Scotland is acting globally and the Church of Bangladesh is acting locally. We have benefitted from the services of Mission Partners including Sr Gillian Rose who has retired from the Church of Scotland but still lives and works in Bollophur Hospital where she teaches midwifery. We also enjoyed twinning visits with Angus Presbytery for some years.

What does this partnership mean to you today?

To stand shoulder to shoulder and to fight against the odds together, work globally for the poor and disadvantaged community as much as possible, binding with prayers and honouring each other to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. The Church of Scotland has supported in different ways our Shalom Project which initiates development activities in support of dignified living for the poor in the community. They also support our Theological College.

What’s your biggest challenge as a Church?

The existence of the Church of Bangladesh in this country is more than 200 years old. At early stages all the issues related with social, political, financial and others were managed by the European community. Gradually India then Pakistan diocese took over. Finally, the Church of Bangladesh was born. Today Bangladesh has 168 million of a population. Being a minority Christian community (0.04%) in a Islam majority country, we are persecuted politically, socially, economically and availing  justice. As a result of it, we are deprived from many opportunities and as a consequence of deprivation we failed to face the economic crises of within our own community and Church. However, we work hard to reach out to all in our community, with particular focus on the poor and vulnerable.

What is your main focus over the next two to three years?

The main focus of the Church of Bangladesh for the next decade (2030) is to gain more knowledge and skills on liturgical and other areas and build financial capacity to manage the basic needs of the church and for its operation in Bangladesh. The Church of Bangladesh has its new Strategy Paper 2021-2030 and we have started rolling it out for different levels of the Church. At the end of 2025 we shall have a mid-term evaluation, based on the set goals and objectives and the progress made so far. It might be required to modify our Strategy Paper in 2026 and after 2030 there will be final evaluation for the new direction of the Church of Bangladesh.

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