Life at the edges
Lessons in joy from the Bangladeshi Church
The Christian message has always found a home in the margins. Louise and Peter Lynch, mission workers in Bangladesh, share a truth they have been wrestling with – and a corrective to our comfortable Christianity – that it is on the edges of Bangladesh society where the joy of the gospel flourishes.
Fragility
Fragile communities abound across the fault lines of Bangladesh. They survive at the edges — at the edges of the pandemic, of natural disaster zones, and of a state that is increasingly discriminatory towards Christians.
These fragile communities survive and, where the local Christian Church has taken root in the margins of these communities, there are signs of thriving, against all the odds. “So much of the work of the Church has been successful amongst the poor and probably least successful in the wealthier cities,” explains Louise Lynch, BMS World Mission worker in Bangladesh. “When we refer to the Church, [and this is something we wrestle with], what we are talking about is just a whole group of poor, really marginalised people. No-one economically is going to make their own way out of this situation.”
Part of BMS’ ministries in Bangladesh is to come alongside those who work on the margins, supporting localised church-based initiatives aimed at community transformation. Over the last few years, this work has taken Louise, and her husband Peter, into the northern region of Rangpur, a district right on the fault line of extended unseasonal monsoons.
“We are part of network that means the church leaders in this district can reach out to the rest of the churches in Bangladesh for aid and for prayer,” adds Louise. “But it’s not the only poor area, and it’s not the only flood affected area, and so there’s not enough to go around.”
Flourishing
It’s Louise and Peter’s visits to and engagement with one particular village, Balapara, that have stayed with them though, demonstrating the flourishing that is possible when we can work in partnership with local churches grown in local contexts – and when they work in partnership with each other. Louise and Peter are pragmatic, however, about the fact that as long as they work in Bangladesh, in villages like this, need will always outstrip resource.
Life in the village is marked by uncertainty but, as Louise explains, light reaches in through the cracks. “The church is bringing good news because it’s telling people about Jesus, and therefore they’ve got someone to pray to and someone to hope in, which replaces hopelessness and uncertainty. But it’s worth emphasising that they’re not expecting God to lift them out of their poverty.”
God, it seems, is at work in other ways. “Some of it is just supernaturally amazing in that God appears in dreams to people and they ask us, ‘Who is this Jesus?’” Peter says. “I’ve met him in my dream, and I want to know who I am now going to follow.’”
Louise and Peter experienced a church “full of vibrancy and life” on their last visit. “What’s wonderful when we go is that you see the church springing to life. Christians there love to sing. The church is full of people and we have such a joyful day and a good time worshipping and training, and the people feel blessed and are so grateful.”
Economic recovery for so many Bangladeshi Christians can seem very far off in the aftermath of floods and Covid-19. But incredibly, there is still so much good being done by the church. A local pastoral superintendent organised for school children to receive replacement books and bags after school equipment was lost to flooding. Louise says acts like this can seem small, but seeing a village prioritising education in this way has been really inspiring.
“There was a whole group of 14 to 16-year-old girls who’d been going off to coaching with their new bags and all their books in their bag,” adds Louise. “They all have aspirations to become nurses and are desperately asking everyone to pray that they’ll get better at their studies because they struggle. Bengali is not their first language, so they’re working in their home tongue and then they’re working in Bengali.”
“We had helped to distribute money as part of the relief response to help pay school fees, with schools closed instead they used that money for extra coaching. We weren’t expecting that but that news just made us so happy. They could have used that money for so many other things and they chose to use it to remain engaged in education throughout the lockdown.”
With the need so apparent all around them, Louise and Peter wrestle regularly with the idea that the joy surrounding their visits masks a more sombre reality. “We struggled. We asked the local pastors, ‘Is this happiness genuine?’ And their reply was, ‘Yes, they’ve just sang songs with you and you’ve played games with them. For them it is a moment of respite and that lasts for quite a long time.’”
At the centre of all this, it really is the vision of church leaders and local Christians that shines light into what seems like darkness. When asked what motivates these Christian leaders, Louise and Peter say it is the hope of flourishing communities that keeps them going. “Their hope is really that for the young people in their journey into faith, that these moments of joy stick, that this will provide a sense of belonging to the church family.” Joy at the margins produces more joy. And when it does, villages like this grow and thrive.
You can read much more about Peter and Louise’s work bringing hope to villages devastated by floods in the next issue of Engage magazine. And if you’re not already, it couldn’t be easier to subscribe! Just sign up here to receive Engage three times a year, free of charge!
Words by Matty Fearon.
