In February 2018, Alfred Biswas, his wife, Cicilia, and their two sons moved to Edmond from Bangladesh, where the predominant religion is Sunni Muslim. Upon their arrival, they searched for a Bengali-speaking church to attend. Finding none, they began attending Edmond, First. They went into the community in search of families from Bangladesh and found 17. More than 600 Bengali-speakers live in the Edmond and Oklahoma City area, and they need a church.
So, Alfred and Edmond, First partnered to plant Edmond, First Bangla, which is the first Bengali-speaking church to be planted in Oklahoma. Alfred hopes to plant another one in Tulsa soon.
Alfred is no novice to church planting. While in Bangladesh, he planted 13 Christian churches and trained others to plant as well. This is a ministry he continues to do.
“Two or three times a year, I travel to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri-Lanka to train pastors and evangelists on church planting,” Alfred said. “I conduct training using Dynamic Church Planting International’s materials.”
Alfred finds planting churches in the U.S. challenging, as people are very busy, which makes it difficult to engage people in conversation. He also said many people aren’t interested in religion. But he knows his efforts are not in vain, though the going is sometimes tough.
“When I started working on planting a Bangla church here in Edmond,” Alfred said, “one of my Bengali neighbors called me and asked me to stop planting the church. My wife and I prayed for him and reached out in friendship. Now he is very good friend to me, and sometimes he attends our church.”
The Biswas family and First Bangla need prayers as they work to reach the Bengali-speaking community for Christ. Pray God will bless Alfred’s church planting efforts in Tulsa. Pray God will provide a ministry-related job for Cicilia and that He will provide for the needs of the ministry and also for the personal needs of the Biswas family.
Because of the generous giving of Oklahoma Baptists through the Cooperative Program, an amazing array of ministries are supported. This unified giving encourages fellowship with other believers all over the world. Collectively, Oklahoma Baptists are advancing the Gospel together.
Alfred Biswas is featured in the 2023 Missionary Prayer Guide for Oklahoma Baptists. For more information about the Cooperative Program, visit oklahomabaptists.org/cp.
