What’s happening in Bangladesh

Kia ora Arotahi whānau,

We wanted to give you an update on Arotahi’s rela­tion­ship with, and pres­ence in, Bangladesh.

You’ve been part of the journey with us for some time now, which means you know 2 things:

• We love Bangladesh, and we have for the last 138 years
• We believe God is carving renewal into every corner of the world, and we want to partner whole­heart­edly with God to be a part of it

You know Arotahi loves Bangladesh because you have wit­nessed the faith­ful­ness and will­ing­ness of people like Ross and Cindy as they have served, loved, and part­nered with the local church and wider com­mu­nity for 37 years. And you know that God is weaving renewal into Bangladesh when you hear the melody of sincere worship at the per­se­cuted local village church, or when you step foot into any one of the student homes we are part of supporting.

A few weeks ago, we shared that Ross and Cindy, together with Mission Council, agreed that it would be the right time for them to be for­mally released from their call with the Baptist Churches of New Zealand. Then, last Monday we shared that Brian and Gay Cochran will be basing them­selves in Bangladesh early next year to help steward a new season of part­ner­ship with Bangladesh.

Some of you may have ques­tions around the changes and details, which we’ll chat more about below, but we want you to know that we are com­mit­ted to our long-term friend­ship and part­ner­ship with Bangladesh. We are fol­low­ing the prompt­ing of Jesus into the new unknown, trust­ing that he’ll use Aotearoa Bap­tists to do what we can’t; bring renewal.

A Bangladeshi leader we work along­side said to us, “NZBMS has been here for 6 gen­er­a­tions, we are looking for the 7th”. We are being invited by the local church of Bangladesh to be part of God’s renewal in a nation with hand—carved beauty as well as immense need.

We aren’t afraid of change or new, instead we are excited and expec­tant for this next season — and because this is your story as much as it is ours, you should be too! Are you, or someone you know, part of our seventh generation?

Ka nui te aroha ki a koutou,

Your Arotahi whānau

Decision-making and discernment

Read on (those that are inter­ested) for some key points around the deci­sion-making and dis­cern­ment process that has taken, and is still taking, place:

• In 2022, Ross & Cindy’s work capac­ity was becom­ing overly stretched as many new and excit­ing doors were opening through their work in edu­ca­tion. This led to Ross passing the lead­er­ship of our NGO Tranzsend Bangladesh to a tem­po­rary Country Leader and now a per­ma­nent Oper­a­tions Director.
• Later in 2022, a sub-group of Mission Council and two Māori leaders went to Bangladesh to review the work of Arotahi. After lis­ten­ing to the leaders of the Bangladesh church, vis­it­ing places and people we work with, and spend­ing time with Ross & Cindy; Mission Council decided to pray and work towards a new season of con­tin­ued work in Bangladesh.
• Recently Ross & Cindy, along with Mission Council, agreed that it would be the right time for them to be for­mally released from their call to mission work under NZBMS. Arotahi has com­mit­ted to con­tinue the involve­ment and finan­cial support of projects under the Bangladesh Baptist Churches (BBCF), Baptist Aid Bangladesh, and the The­o­log­i­cal College (CCTB).
• · At the same time, Arotahi asked Brian & Gay to be based in Bangladesh to lead and support the work of Arotahi — with a new strand of enabling people to have 3–9 month cross-cul­tural expe­ri­ences. Our hope would be that God would use these expe­ri­ences to prompt people into longer term cross-cul­tural part­ner­ships. Brian has agreed to take up the Country Leader role of Tranzsend Bangladesh and will be working closely with the lead­er­ship of the Bangladesh Baptist Churches and Baptist Aid.
• Through­out 2023 we worked with four NZ Baptist churches and invited them to con­sider a deep and gen­er­a­tional com­mit­ment with the churches of Bangladesh. This involved taking a handful of leaders from each of the four churches to Bangladesh in January 2024 and asking them to commit to part­ner­ship with one or two spe­cific projects. This shared involve­ment will be the foun­da­tion for rela­tion­ship growth between the local church in Aotearoa and the local church in Bangladesh.
• Ross & Cindy have now arrived back in NZ for a planned 3‑month home assign­ment. We want to prop­erly thank, honour and release them at National Hui in Novem­ber and invite you to join us on Mission Day (Wednes­day 6 Novem­ber at Ran­giora Baptist Church) to do that with us. We will also do this on the Thurs­day gath­er­ing evening (7 Novem­ber). We want to recog­nise and value the life-long com­mit­ment of love they have made to God’s people and God’s church in Bangladesh. We plan to cel­e­brate and honour them well.
• After National Hui, Ross and Cindy will be part of our four-yearly global team gath­er­ing before return­ing to Bangladesh to be part of passing lead­er­ship. We will keep those of you who support Ross & Cindy, finan­cially and prayer­fully, updated on the details of this as together we make further deci­sions. We ask that your finan­cial support con­tinue during this time. Ross & Cindy will con­tinue to be involved in God’s renewal work in Bangladesh, par­tic­u­larly in the edu­ca­tion projects they have devel­oped, but this will not be under Arotahi.
• We received an amazing gift of gen­eros­ity this year, which has enabled us to grow the number of stu­dents we can sponsor in five BBCF student homes, as well as under­write the pri­or­ity project of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Lead­er­ship – the nec­es­sary rebuild­ing of three of the hostels. Ran­giora, Manukau City, and Beth­le­hem Baptist churches are looking to support these hostels in their rebuild and commit to a con­tin­ued part­ner­ship here. Build­ing designs are now set and work will begin soon on the second storey of the Feni hostel as step 1 of this project.
• The team at Tranzsend Bangladesh and Arotahi (NZ) will be devel­op­ing our FD6. This is an agreed plan of the next five years, specif­i­cally out­lin­ing loca­tions of work, visa expec­ta­tions, finances, gov­ern­ment per­mis­sions, etc. This is a huge and sig­nif­i­cant under­tak­ing and one we would love prayer and wisdom for.
• The above gives you an idea of the general direc­tion. Many con­ver­sa­tions and deci­sions are still live and unfold­ing, which we intend to keep you updated on as soon as we can. We’re grate­ful for your prayer as we sense together where God is leading and the next steps God is reveal­ing amongst us.

Please also think of the nation of Bangladesh as you pray. The polit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion is far from stable and there has been wide­spread flood­ing causing dev­as­tat­ing damage to churches, homes and liveli­hoods. Let’s con­tinue to be led by Jesus as we give our prayer and hearts to those in need around the world.

Image credit: Outside a train window, Dhaka, by Mike Crudge