wfn.org | WCC - The economics of evangelism: an ecumenical

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

challenge in Bangladesh 

World Council of Churches
Press Feature, Feat-02-01
For Immediate Use
10 May 2002

The economics of evangelism: an ecumenical challenge in
Bangladesh 
Sara Speicher

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-02, of 12 March 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-07, of 8 March 2001

"We are a microscopic minority" is how Christians in Bangladesh
often identify themselves. Understandably. In a country of over
130 million people, only 400,000 - 0.3 percent of the population
- are Christians. Eighty-eight percent are Muslim, another ten
percent are Hindu, with Buddhists, Christians and others making
up the remaining two percent.   

But Christians in Bangladesh live not only as a tiny minority in
a Muslim country. They also constitute a divided one. The Roman
Catholic Church is the largest church, with between 200,000 and
250,000 members. Protestant churches together have about 150,000
members. And those 150,000 Protestants are divided into 51
different denominations, according to the National Council of
Churches in Bangladesh (NCCB).  

Before the 1971 war of Independence, Bangladesh had thirteen
Protestant denominations. But after the war, says NCCB president
Sudhir Adhikari, new evangelizing efforts by churches and mission
societies, primarily from the United States, Germany, Australia,
Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, combined with poverty and the
difficulties of being a struggling Christian minority to produce
a huge increase in the number of churches. Not an increase in the
number of Christians, however. Census figures show that since
1974, the percentage of Christians has not changed. "Though the
denominational churches increased by more than 300 percent,"
Adhikari notes, "the total Christian population has remained
static. These new churches were formed by luring members from
older churches like the Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha and
Church of Bangladesh..."  

For churches both within and outside Bangladesh, addressing such
denominational divisions means asking some hard questions.  

A matter of survival

Bangladesh is one of the poorest, most densely populated and
least developed countries in the world. Over-population, natural
disasters, corruption and environmental degradation are some of
the reasons why the vast majority of people in this Southeast
Asian country have been unable to develop economically and
socially.  

Church members say that the poor economic situation of
Bangladeshis, and the poverty of Christians in particular, is the
root cause for the growth of denominations. Aid from foreign
donor missions, they say, is both necessary for physical survival
and the main factor in encouraging the proliferation of separate
and sometimes competitive churches and non-governmental
organizations.  

"NGO staff and leaders of the newly-formed churches and
para-church organizations are the highest income-earners and form
the most privileged group in the Christian community," says
Adhikari. "Starting an NGO or a church is the most profitable
business now. People here do not change their religious faith by
studying the superior theology of trinity or salvation or
redemption, but by first saving the physical life in which
spiritual values can grow with a sense of social dignity and
honour."   

Given the desperate imperatives of physical survival, the
existence of many different churches is not necessarily
considered a bad thing by church leaders. However, past and
present experiences of "evangelizing" members away from existing
churches, and protecting individual church interests have led to
distrust, mis-information and lack of cooperation among the many
small churches struggling to survive physically and spiritually. 

Such distrust is evident to ecumenical bodies. Student Christian
Movement member Prince Sanjay Saha says that "Many church leaders
don't like their youth to get involved with an ecumenical group.
They're afraid they'll join another church or form their own."  

Albert Samadder, general secretary of the Church of Bangladesh
and World Council of Churches' (WCC) central committee member,
also raised the issue of evangelism and the difference between
bringing people to Christ and just trying to show a foreign donor
that your own particular church is growing. "If you have moral
strength and courage, why don't you convert people rather than
steal members from other churches?"  

Adhikari says that "a sense of cooperation and understanding is
growing slowly between old and newer churches," but that "the
increasing tendency of 'free-lance' evangelism of newer churches
and para-church groups is jeopardizing previous interchurch
relations and also causing distrust and misunderstanding among
the denominations... These new churches formed with the help of
foreign missions do not enhance the quality of spiritual life but
provide a comfortable life for a few church leaders... The dollar
is mighty powerful. It can make instant church leaders by opening
a new [church]."  

Trying to build understanding of "ecumenism"

In March 2001, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser
visited Bangladesh and challenged the churches to overcome such
distrust and rivalry and strengthen opportunities to work
cooperatively. NCCB executive committee members say that church
members need first to understand what "ecumenical cooperation"
means.  

"We have difficulty working together," Adhikari admits. "NCCB
tries to give the message that we are not interested in each
other's internal affairs, but few want to communicate. How can we
have a dialogue rather than monologue with the churches?"  

Of the many Protestant denominations, only six are full members
of the NCCB, which was established in 1949 as the East Pakistan
Christian Council, and renamed in 1972 after Independence. Full
members include Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha, Bogra Christian
Church, Church of Christ in Bangladesh, Church of God (Isharer
Mondoli), Presbyterian Church of Bangladesh, United Church of
Bangladesh, Bangladesh Evangelical Baptist Fellowship. Six others
are associate members: Christian Medical Association of
Bangladesh, Bangladesh Methodist Church Trust, Christian
Commission for Development in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bible
Society, Community Health Care Project, Dishary Foundation.   

Since Raiser's visit, the Church of Christ has joined NCCB as a
full member and two or three other churches are considering full
membership. WCC Asia Desk secretary Mathews George Chunakara has
been actively involved in facilitating national and regional
ecumenical cooperation. Discussions are also underway to resolve
the separation of the Church of Bangladesh from the NCCB.   

"Ecumenical cooperation and fellowship in Bangladesh has not
been hindered by dogmatic or theological issues," states
Chunakara. "Rather, the bickering and ego-clashes among some
church leaders in the country denied opportunities for the
younger generation to grow up in an ecumenical atmosphere in a
minority situation. The majority of church leaders and younger
generation Christians are in favour of strengthening the
ecumenical movement. There are positive signs of church unity and
ecumenical cooperation taking place in recent times, and the WCC
is facilitating initiatives to move in that direction."  

Because a church is required to have a minimum of 25,000 members
to be a full member of the WCC, only the Bangladesh Baptist
Church Sangha (BBCS), with 33,000 members, has qualified so far.
The Church of Bangladesh, with 15,000 members, is an associate
member.   

Many church leaders look to the WCC for guidance and assistance
in overcoming their divisions. "Church bodies in Bangladesh
consider the WCC a symbol of unity in Christ," Adhikari declares.
Linking to a global fellowship of churches also helps give them a
perspective on their situation: "We need to learn from other
countries and how they worked at overcoming church divisions."
Some also see that "We are too small not to work together."  

On 27 January, during a visit by WCC staff members, the first
ecumenical service in over a decade with Holy Communion was held.
It was hosted by the NCCB and included the Church of Bangladesh.
The service got such a positive response that many asked "Why
don't we do this more often?" A small step, perhaps, but a
critical one in celebrating life together in Christ.   

Sara Speicher is a communication officer in the WCC Public
Information Team. She visited Bangladesh in January 2002 for a
Global Communicators Network meeting and met with representatives
of churches and ecumenical organizations in the country.  

Photos to accompany this feature can be found on our web site:
http://www.photooikoumene.org/countries/bangladesh/index.html 

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office, 
tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53 

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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