Ministry of the Word Journey: West Bengal

A brother and his family moved to this state after he received a burden from the Lord for his own people, the Bengali speaking people. Since he moved he has been seeking for fellowship and prayer. In fact, he has called up again and again and asked when he could be visited. His fellowship became a leading in the Body to visit him, and also to meet other Christian leaders and groups for the introduction of the ministry books.

My stay with the brother's family gave me a better understanding of the real situation and need of the brother and also the Lord's move there. Through our time together, the Lord had confirmed that He has been training and perfecting my brother to live and walk by faith. Despite the hardship for a while, He has been faithfully supplying all his needs in time. His function in the Body as ones who could proofread the Bengali translation works was also manifested. Now, brother has picked up the burden for Bengali literature service which is also the urgent need for the Lord's move in West Bengal.

Barasat 

The brother had arranged a special time of fellowship and introduction of the ministry books with the Christian leaders serving in this area. When I was taken first to the meeting place I was a little concerned as to how to begin the fellowship because the Bengali speaking leaders look very intellectual and thoughtful. Deep within I was praying and asking the Lord how to begin the meeting. When the time came to start the meeting, I felt best to give a testimony of how the Lord saved me and called me to serve. With my personal testimony of experiencing Christ, their hearts were opened up for further fellowship. Then, I introduced the ministry books to them. With every books, I introduced I also shared the crucial truths contained in the book. In that way, I could also release my burden of ministering the truth on Christ and the church.

Kolkata

My being there on Saturday was so timely. The Lord opened the door for the introduction of the ministry of the word in Kolkata Christian Leaders' Fellowship where I was given the opportunity to introduce the ministry books with few words of explanation on the importance of Christian literature. I used the incident in Acts 8 on the need for proper interpretation of the word as an example of the importance of the ministry books.

Acts 8:31 And he said, How could I unless someone guides me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit with him.

The president of the organisation was so impressed with the ministry books that he placed an order for the entire set. He invited us to his office where He even prayed over and blessed the books that the ministry books will be a blessing to the people of Kolkata. Another set of books was also handed over to a pastor of the biggest Christian group as a sample for them to see and place an order.

Basirhat

Near the border of India and Bangladesh, a group of Bengali speaking believers have been prepared by the Lord for His testimony. On a Lord’s day, we enjoyed the Lord's day meeting where all the saints shared from their experiences and enjoyments of Christ. We fellowshipped with them the unit of salvation – household, as many of the saints’ family members are yet to be saved, in addition to exhorting them to inculcate a daily habit of coming to the Lord through the word and in prayer.

This is also the hometown of a brother who serves in West Bengal. After the Lord's day meeting we went to visit his family. To the family, I released my burden on the need for household salvation and also the urgency of prayer and coming to the word of God daily. Besides, I was also asked by the brother to minister the truth concerning baptism as some of the family members were not yet baptised. Though not intended, our visit became an opportunity to minister the word to the family. May the Lord recover the entire family and also raise up the Lampstand in Basirhat!