Encouragement to Bengali believers despite persecution
By Katie Siedenburg | September 22, 2025
Bangladesh (MNN) — After delays due to the challenging nature of sending short-term missionaries in a country like Bangladesh, Unknown Nations now has a team there working to encourage local believers.
Short-term missions are important to Unknown Nations’ partners, but often the areas that the organization is active in are not conducive to short-term mission trips.
Bangladesh is home to the Bengali Sheikh, one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. 135 million of the country’s 160 million people are still in the zero percentile of Christians.
The Muslim people group is welcoming of Westerners, so when Westerners are in the country, they stand out.
“It causes unnecessary attention to really our partners on the ground, and that’s one of the last things we want to do,” Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says.
Going into a place like that with a concentrated population makes it hard to get away.
This means that ministry done within the country is done almost exclusively by Bengali Christians. They are the ones distributing solar-powered audio Bibles and providing relief, as well as training and mobilizing leaders.
“From a cultural standpoint, it’s a superior approach to mobilize the Bengali Christian community to reach that country. I mean, you’re again, you’re in the high 90 percentiles of people inside of Bangladesh that have never heard of Jesus one time,” Kelley says.
The barriers a Westerner has in the country can be detrimental to the progress of the gospel.
Islam is so ingrained in the culture of the country that, in some ways, to be Bengali is to be Muslim. While Christians can be beaten, imprisoned, and killed regularly for their faith, often their persecution comes from within their own families.
“Think of your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your aunt, your uncle, your grandparents, totally rejecting you because of your decision to follow Jesus. That’s the persecution that takes place in Bangladesh on a daily basis,” Kelley says.
Short-term teams sent into places like Bangladesh act more like vision teams and prayer teams and can be an encouragement.
“We call it the power of presence,” Kelley says. “You’re there, you’re encouraging them, you’re meeting their family, you’re praying over them, and the vision is being seeded inside of you.”
Please pray for these strong Christians in Bangladesh and for their willingness to share the gospel with a society that rejects them for it.
“We say that there are no lukewarm Christians in Bangladesh. When you’re a follower of Jesus, you’re either all in or you’re not at all, because to be lukewarm, you just won’t survive,” Kelley says.
Please pray for the Rohingya people from Myanmar, that God will be with them through their refugee crisis in Bangladesh, pray for these people who have seen disaster, and have come to a new country without Jesus.
Please pray that God will work through the Bengali people and their visitors to reach the unreached with the love and salvation of Jesus Christ.
Header Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/encouragement-to-bengali-believers-despite-persecution/