News
by 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