The Uttermost Parts of the World

It was an early Monday morning in December when I heard the news about the would-be suicide attacker who detonated a pipe bomb strapped to his body in the heart of Manhattan’s busiest subway corridor. The bomber was a “lone-wolf” Muslim terrorist from Bangladesh with allegiance to ISIS. I reached out to our Bengali pastor and friend in Queens, Pastor Joseph, to let him know we were praying for the Bengali community there. Pastor Joseph replied with the following text:

“Dear Brother Bob. We are so sad and feeling shame because recent terrorist attack. Islamic Terrorism and ISIS is big issue. It’s all about evils and satanic acts. It’s our time to stand with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Only the power of the Gospel can transform their life. Pray for us because our team is closely involved with the community. Thank you so much for your concern and prayer.”

I met Pastor Joseph before this tragic incident and listened to his passionate heart for the 500,000 Bangladeshis living in the U.S. Most are Muslim and Hindu. Pastor Joseph said his goal is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ among them and transform their life through developing Bengali church planters. In 2018, he wants to send approximately 30 church planters around the USA to minister amongst the Bangladeshi. He is planning to distribute 20,000 tracks; Gospel booklets; and 10,000 Bengali Bibles in New York City. Also, he wants to arrange five evangelistic events in New York to reach the urban Bengali community. Pastor Joseph just had one question for me, “Can you help us?” “Absolutely,” was my unhesitating reply. “We can train you at our Evangel Dean School to host your own Evangel School and equip your people.”

We were able to provide airfare and scholarship funds for Pastor Joseph and two of his leaders to be trained, certified, and commissioned to host their own Evangel School to train Bengali church planters. Pastor Joseph was so impressed with the church planting training curriculum that he has committed to translating our Ripe for the Harvest church planting guidebook into Bengali and take it to Bangladesh to train pastors there.

Our Great God is opening incredible doors for us as we identify, equip, and release urban leaders to plant churches and facilitate church planting movements. The “uttermost parts of the world” are right in our inner cities. Thanks to your financial partnership and prayers we are having a Gospel Kingdom impact among radical Muslims by equipping called leaders like Pastor Joseph.

Read more from Bob Engel.