When we realized the large proportion of our church who were born in Bangladesh or who had Bengali friends in Melbourne, it prompted us to hold an initial Bengali Gathering in September of this year.
Our second Bengali Gathering at the West Melbourne Baptist Church on 30 November was another experience of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and people of no religion coming together to meet and eat, share stories and pray together. We sang along to a popular Bengali song that celebrates the way Bangladeshis have often sung together, enjoyed theatre together and raced boats together without caring about each other’s religious affiliation.
As people arrived they were invited to stick their names on a map of Bangladesh on a town or city that was special to them. Later around tables and over a cuppa people shared why that location had personal significance. Former cross-cultural workers to East Pakistan/Bangladesh were in attendance as was a recently accepted candidate bound for service in that country.
With famous poets like Rabindranath Tagore writing lines about the Bengal, it was fitting at our gathering to have an Australian learning Bengali reciting a Bengali poem and a Melbourne-based Bengali poet reading two compositions from his published book of poems.
Lew and Mary-Anne Hess were interviewed about how their relationship flowered in Bangladesh and what it was like to live there thirty years ago. They spoke of their recent visit to Dhaka in November, and the changes that they’d seen. Mary-Anne said they were in the country when Cyclone Bulbul struck causing the death of several people and the evacuation of thousands. She remarked on the resilience of Bangladeshis who are used to facing such devastation. Lew spoke of the 900,000+ Rohingyas who have been exiled from Myanmar and are living in camps in the south of Bangladesh. He said that while there are issues to do with the distribution of aid, Bangladesh has demonstrated a remarkable generosity of spirit in its welcome to these homeless people.
Now, after a recent successful second event, it seems that hosting Bangla get-togethers several times a year will be a fixture for us at the West Melbourne Baptist Church in the foreseeable future.
Geoff Pound
Pastor, The Eighth Day (also known as the West Melbourne Baptist Church).
Source: BUV News
Ros provided the audience with background notes to her presentation and it is planned to include her talk in the next edition of “Our Yesterdays” which will be made available to VBHS members in 2020. She noted that many of her ancestors had been missionaries, and that she felt that mission was in her DNA. She initially did a science degree and taught just one year in a school before focusing on adult education. Her first missionary journey was to East Pakistan in 1965 but within a few months was evacuated to Singapore due to the war. She spoke about the ongoing political situation in Pakistan, the establishment of Bangladesh as a separate country, and the challenges of life on the mission field as a single woman. She talked about her experiences as a language teacher and consultant, and ongoing theological education. She noted how God had opened new opportunities throughout her life, and how mission itself had changed over the years. She reflected on her time with the (then) ABMS in Melbourne and especially thanked Ken Manley and Whitley College for the help she had received. She challenged the audience in two areas. She challenged the VBHS to establish an index of significant Baptist Women who had played prominent roles in the life of the church, denomination and in society in general, and to explore what Baptists had learned from Bengalis, not just vice versa. She also noted the next International Conference on Baptist Studies (ICOBS) to be held at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina on 21-24 July 2021 when the theme would be Baptists and Gender.
Ros provided the audience with background notes to her presentation and it is planned to include her talk in the next edition of “Our Yesterdays” which will be made available to VBHS members in 2020. She noted that many of her ancestors had been missionaries, and that she felt that mission was in her DNA. She initially did a science degree and taught just one year in a school before focusing on adult education. Her first missionary journey was to East Pakistan in 1965 but within a few months was evacuated to Singapore due to the war. She spoke about the ongoing political situation in Pakistan, the establishment of Bangladesh as a separate country, and the challenges of life on the mission field as a single woman. She talked about her experiences as a language teacher and consultant, and ongoing theological education. She noted how God had opened new opportunities throughout her life, and how mission itself had changed over the years. She reflected on her time with the (then) ABMS in Melbourne and especially thanked Ken Manley and Whitley College for the help she had received. She challenged the audience in two areas. She challenged the VBHS to establish an index of significant Baptist Women who had played prominent roles in the life of the church, denomination and in society in general, and to explore what Baptists had learned from Bengalis, not just vice versa. She also noted the next International Conference on Baptist Studies (ICOBS) to be held at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina on 21-24 July 2021 when the theme would be Baptists and Gender.
