Bruce Allen of FMI says the true winners are Bangladeshis. “They have been living under a caretaker government for the last year and a half, and it has been chaotic,” Allen says.

“With this election, it seems that stability is returning to the country, and most likely, some needed reforms in the government. So, people are giving a big sigh of relief.”

A return to stability

Bangladeshis headed to the polls on February 12 for the first time since mass protests ousted long-time leader Sheikh Hasina in 2024. Uncertainty and instability followed, putting believers at risk. Christians also remained concerned in 2025 when it appeared radical Islamists would fill the leadership vacuum created by Hasina’s ouster.

Protestors in Bangladesh on August 2, 2024.
(Wikimedia Commons)

FMI partners continued Gospel work under the caretaker government “during this past year and a half, when there has been chaos socially, but they’ve had to be very careful,” Allen says.

Church planters hope Bangladesh’s return to stability under Rahman will remove some of the caution surrounding their work.

“They believe that the new prime minister is going to bring some reforms, healing to the nation, as well as stabilize the fragile economy, curbing inflation, things like that.”

Local BNP leaders recently extended an olive branch to the previously-banned Awami League political party, a move Allen calls both bold and encouraging.

“Many Bangladeshis found that to be stunning, as previously, any winning party or individual in an election immediately began treating their political opponents vindictively,” Allen says.

“Pastor Rajiv, one of our supported church planters in the country, said actions like that are very encouraging for Bangladesh, because [they mark] this shift away from vindictive tactics.”

Renewed hope

It’s been a tough season, with many Christians facing persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Now, however, “Christians in the country are feeling refreshed and invigorated by the election results, and they’re ready to hit the ground running,” Allen says.

A Bengali pastor poses for a portrait.
(Photo courtesy FMI)

FMI partners in one location hope a calmer atmosphere means their church can finally take shape. “That (construction) had been delayed because of persecution from radical Muslims in the area where the church was to be [built,]” Allen says.

“This week, it (construction) began again, so hopefully that will get completed soon. Our partners are excited.”

Pray for an upcoming training and Bible distribution in March.

“I’m in the middle of visiting several countries, and so are other staff members, so we cannot be in Bangladesh, but we’re going to participate via Zoom, so be praying for strong internet connections,” Allen says.

“Pray for the recipients of the Scriptures: if they’re believers, pray that they would have great understanding and obedience to God’s Word,” he continues.

“For those who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ, pray that what they read would captivate their hearts and they would fall in love with this Savior.”

Header image courtesy of Bornil Amin via Unsplash. 

More than 127 million voters will choose from nearly 2,000 candidates to fill 350 seats in parliament — 300 seats elected, with 50 additional seats reserved for women chosen later based on party performance in the election. 

“The observers from the European Union call this election in Bangladesh the biggest democratic process of 2026,” says Bruce Allen with FMI.  “Bangladesh is only about the size of Iowa — and yet it has the equivalent population of about half of the US.”

Young man in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of Tarikul Raana K/Unsplash)

The social climate in Bangladesh has been one of uncertainty. FMI partners tell Allen that under the current caretaker government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, “there’s an indifference to the rising militance in the country, so persecution has increased, anger, as well as rising price of commodities. It’s been a mess,” says Allen.

“So people are looking forward to [having] this election, finally. It had been put off time and time again. People are eager, but they’re also in this sense of ‘We don’t like where the country is right now.’”

Another factor to note is that Gen Z momentum has fractured. In December, the student-led National Citizen Party formed a multi-party alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami. This Islamist party has a checkered past, yet many are buying its campaign promises. (More on that here.)

Pressure on the church

Allen says minorities in Bangladesh, such as Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists, feel the insecurity even more profoundly. “Pray for us, for wisdom, for clarity as we speak. Since radical Muslims are being energized by the current chaos, the church planters and their congregations really face a lot of threats.”

Pastor Jit shares the message of Christ with a family in rural Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Pastor “Mintu” and his congregation were about to break ground for a church building when their formerly willing Muslim neighbors stopped them. For the past year and a half, the work has been halted.

“Land rights operate a little differently in Bangladesh than here in the US. Many Christians live not on land that they own, but on government-owned lands, and their Muslim neighbors can evict them at any time,” says Allen. “So there’s this very delicate relationship between Christians in a community and their Muslim neighbors, because the Muslim majority wields all the power.”

Yet FMI partners see the good news of Jesus at work in people’s hearts, no matter the situation. They report new families coming to Christ, small groups of new believers preparing for baptism, and individuals being discipled. 

“We have to remember that just because a government or a society may be closed to the gospel does not mean that individuals in that society are closed,” Allen says. “Pray for the church planters’ stamina, for their courage as well, for their ability to relate well to those who are in authority.”

As campaigning ends this week, pray for Bangladesh as a nation.

Pastor “Mintu” baptizes a young woman in Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“People are trying to make their last bold, loudest statements, so pray for the stability of the country and that the elections can proceed without violence, without corruption,” says Allen. 

“Pray that the gospel of Christ is not stopped in any of these circumstances, and that those who are hearing the gospel for the first time — or maybe they’re doing some investigation — pray that they openly accept the gospel.”

Header photo of the flag of Bangladesh courtesy of Bornil Amin via Unsplash. 

The court found the exiled leader guilty of ordering the lethal crackdown on student-led protests in 2024. Clashes with police led to the deaths of up to 1,400 people, with thousands more wounded. Many celebrate the verdict as justice for the dead. Others dismiss it as politically motivated.

Hasina is currently in India, where she lived decades ago after the assassination of her father, Bangladesh’s founding president. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has issued a statement acknowledging the Bangladeshi court’s verdict, but it has not said whether it will allow Hasina to be extradited.

“There’s outrage on both sides of it, and it’s just going to continue to accentuate the instabilities that are going on in Bangladesh and have been for a number of years,” says Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations.

(Photo of 2024 quota reform movement courtesy of Rayhan9d/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

“A lot of people that we speak to say for a 10- to 15-year run [under Hasina], there was a lot of real positive things in the development of the country. Yet at the same time, you’re talking about a country that has ranked among the highest — not only in Asia, but in the entire world —as far as levels of corruption. It’s hard to unweave those two things.”

The interim government, which has been in place since shortly after Hasina fled the country last year, has called for public order surrounding the verdict.

“Right now, there’s calls for lockdowns all over the place. A lot of the schools are not even operating today, tomorrow,” says Kelley. 

For Christians, there’s another layer to be aware of. Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority nation with more than 270 people groups considered to be unreached with the gospel. The largest is the Bengali Muslims, numbering above 135 million. It’s also densely populated, which Kelley says makes any metropolitan demonstration incredibly disruptive.

“You’re talking about a country the size of Michigan, [which] has 10 million people, Bangladesh having 175 million people,” says Kelley. “The corruption [and] the instability on a physical level in Bangladesh pales in comparison to the desperation that that country has for the gospel.”

A crowded street in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city. (Photo courtesy of Niloy Biswas/Unsplash)

Partners of Unknown Nations give solar-powered audio Bibles. They see people turning to Jesus.

“In these countries where there’s so much turmoil and tension, everybody suffers. Everybody suffers,” says Kelley. “Just to survive in Bangladesh is becoming difficult, and then on top of that, you’ve got this incredibly intense persecution for those who do make the decision to follow Christ. Yet, we are hearing on a daily basis [of] people doing exactly that.”

Now that you know, please pray! Ask God to raise many more Christians to work in the nation faithfully. Learn more here about the mission of Unknown Nations.

Header photo: On the occasion of her repatriation day, Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina addressed the leaders of the party and its affiliated organizations today, Friday, May 17, 2024, at Ganabhaban. (Press Information Department – pressinform.gov.bd (archive), Public Domain)

Even so, the interim government is seeking more power, and Bangladesh’s future is uncertain as the international community questions if it could become the next failed state.

A crowded street in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city. (Photo courtesy of Niloy Biswas/Unsplash)

“Chaos has continued,” emphasizes Bruce Allen with FMI. “Initially, people thought there would be elections held with new candidates put forth by the political parties within three months. But then the interim government was saying, ‘No, we might want to hang on to power for three to five years.’”

Violence and social unrest have continued as political factions clash. With so much anger boiling over, minorities become an easy punching bag. “You know, it’s kind of like kicking the lowest rung on the social ladder,” Allen says.

Bangladesh’s interim government has made at least 100 arrests in connection to attacks on religious and indigenous groups, according to a UN fact-finding team.

Pastors in Bangladesh are telling FMI about attacks targeting Christians who make up less than 1% of the population.

Allen reports, “Pastor Rajiv – one of our partners and, in fact, one of the members of our leadership team in Bangladesh – was attacked and his property set on fire.

“A few weeks prior to that, his two dogs were poisoned and killed. He had these dogs on the premises to protect his family and his property.”

Please pray for Christians in Bangladesh, even amidst the chaos, to win over their neighbors and persecutors with Gospel truth.

Header photo courtesy of FMI.

More than a thousand people were killed and hundreds injured during a crackdown on student-led protests against Hasina’s government in July and August. Religious minorities quickly became a target. More about that here.

“When the government collapsed, the police pulled back from their areas, and the streets were like the Wild West,” FMI’s Patrick Anthony says.

Things have since calmed in the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, but violence continues in remote communities. Anthony says, “Hindus and Christians are feeling very vulnerable right now. People see these minorities as cooperatives to the former government.”

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

Although the population of Muslim-majority Bangladesh is only eight percent Hindu and less than one percent Christian, these small percentages don’t offer protection. Attackers recently targeted a Hindu family living near one of FMI’s national leaders.

“A group of 10 attacked their house and raped the wife and mother, which ended up putting her in the hospital,” Anthony says. “There’s a great pressure to ‘hunker down’ and do what you can to protect your family. At the same time, there is tremendous (Gospel) opportunity.”

FMI supports national leaders and church planters in Bangladesh. Learn how you can come alongside their work here. Ask the Lord to supernaturally protect believers and other targeted minorities.

“They’re scared. They’re feeling very vulnerable. Pastor Rajeeb [has] been robbed a couple of times, and he said it would not take much for people to do it again,” Anthony says.

“We’re praying that the Lord’s protection when there is no police would be a testimony to the reality of the God that Christians are following: Jesus Christ.”

Pray for the banking system to resume normal operations and for the police to increase patrols in vulnerable areas. Pray the interim government holds elections on schedule and can establish a permanent government.

“The caretaker government is supposed to hold elections within 90 days to put a permanent government in place. [Our partner] has heard talk that this caretaker government may want to hold power for a number of years,” Anthony says.

“He said if they try to do that, he anticipates the situation in Bangladesh getting worse.”

Header image depicts student protestors in Bangladesh. Students launched the “Bangla Blockade” following a one-point demand for scrapping all illogical and discriminatory quotas in public service through enactment of a law and keeping a minimum quota for marginalized citizens in line with the constitution. (Wikimedia Commons)

Religious minorities have suffered greatly under the recent unrest that drove Bangladesh’s former prime minister to India and brought in a new interim government. BBC News recently proved some Muslim-Hindu persecution claims on social media to be false.

However, many recent occasions of political or religious violence are all too true.

“Political parties who were opposite from the previous government are taking different kinds of opportunities. Anybody from the previous government’s party, they are being tortured,” Paul says.

“Even [everyday citizens,] if their address is from the same district [as] the last Prime Minister, they are also being harassed or tortured.”

The instability is affecting Gospel work. A3 recently decided to postpone travel and meetings between Bangladeshi leaders and international cohorts until the situation stabilizes.

“[The] police system is still not fully working, so attacks can happen at any time,” Paul says.

Ask the Lord to continue protecting believers. Pray that the political situation will stabilize further and that minority fears will decrease.

“Some people who are fundamental Islamists stated that [Bangladesh] is their country, and minority people should not be in this country,” Paul says. “Other Muslim people [are] saying, ‘No, no, the minority people should be safe, and [it] is our duty to protect them.’”

*Pseudonym

Header image depicts student protesters in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of Rayhan9d/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wycliffe Associates’ Tony Tophoney says former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left a power vacuum when she fled to India last week. Minorities are paying the price of lax governmental control.

“The police stepped back and kind of ‘circled the wagons’ [and] the people left out on the fringes of the society are the minority [groups] like Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians,” Tophoney says.

“The opposition party has been waiting for a moment like this. They were burning down Christian churches and Hindu temples, beating the believers in their homes.”

The unrest is directly affecting Wycliffe Associates’ partners. “All Bible translation work in Bangladesh has ceased due to the conflict because most of the Christians are hiding in colonies now,” Tophoney says.

Hindus protest the mistreatment of religious minorities in Bangladesh on August 12, 2024.
(Wikimedia Commons)

“With the violence ramping up and the uncertainty of the political situation, those colonies are being threatened and attacked by the opposition party.”

Many believers have fled to makeshift refugee camps on the border with India, hoping to escape across the border to safety. However, “the Indian authorities are guarding their border and stopping them from going any further,” Tophoney says.

“They’re stuck in that situation and don’t have any food because the agitators have made it impossible for those groups to access food.”

Ask the Lord to intervene and help as only He can. “We’d love to have your prayers,” Tophoney says.

“We need them desperately for South Asia and Bangladesh in general, that the Lord will protect the believers and protect the small light that burns for Christ. It is a fragile light, but it has been burning brightly.”

Header image depicts student protestors on July 11, 2024. Students launched the “Bangla Blockade” following a one-point demand for scrapping all illogical and discriminatory quotas in public service through the enactment of a law and keeping a minimum quota for marginalized citizens in line with the constitution. (Wikimedia Commons) 

However, instead of the conflict toning down, reports are coming out about protestors targeting religious minorities and those perceived to be supporters of the former prime minister.

Bruce Allen with FMI says they are getting updates from Christian ministry partners in Bangladesh. “Opposition parties are vandalizing their opponents’ offices, burning down internet facilities, all sorts of things like that.

Protestors after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of S.M.M.Musabbir Uddin, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151201673)

“Our partners say that they expect violence to increase. In fact, while I was chatting with one of them, he said, ‘I hear gunfire right now. Gotta go.’ So it’s a very volatile situation, even though it looks like things should calm down because their major demand of the prime minister’s resignation has occurred.”

Many churches and Hindu temples have been destroyed, and several people killed. One Christian pastor was approached by a group of people demanding he pay them to avoid harm, according to an FMI partner.

FMI’s ministry efforts in Bangladesh have continued, but engagement has gone down with people hesitant to leave their homes.

Allen says, “The protests began in late June. There were the curfews — which were, in some places, ‘shoot on sight’ curfews. That’s scary enough, so people would be hesitant to go out at all. ‘Do I go to a church service even though it’s daylight?’ People are hunkering down.”

Yet, despite the chaos, “Pastor Rajib, who’s one of our leadership team members, says that services still have gone on with all of our partners [and] church planters across the nation. In fact, I was pleased to see…photos of pastors leading their congregations in prayer vigils interceding for the country.”

In the wake of former Prime Minister Hasina’s departure, an interim government will be set up. Time will tell what kind of reforms this moment will spur in the country, but Allen says we can pray that this may also open the doors for spiritual revival across Bangladesh.

Rajpara Police Office engulfed in flames after the Resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of Nahid Hossain, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151220471)

“This is the third largest Muslim-majority nation in the world,” says Allen. “If Christians can begin to have a voice in this country, what a great opportunity for the country.”

“Pray for calm to be restored, for people to become unified in the vision for government and social reform.”

Also, Allen asks, “Pray for the evangelists and the church planters to have boldness to declare the Gospel of the Prince of Peace.

“Whenever there’s upheaval [and] people are feeling uncertain about life, it’s also a great time to say here’s what is certain: Jesus can be the anchor for you, not just in this life, but for eternity.”

Header photo of Bangladesh protestors cheering after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of Nahid Sultan, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151233908)

Bruce Allen with FMI says, “I have a friend who’s a police officer in Bangladesh. His duty that day was to patrol and protect a polling station, and he said that throughout the day, it was virtually empty. He sent me some photos of just police officers who are standing by ballot boxes and things like that waiting for people to come and there’s nobody.

“There’s an election commission app that by 4 pm showed that only 28% of eligible voters had even bothered to vote. Yet, the Chief Election Commissioner had announced the unbelievable statistic of a 40% turnout.”

Village life in Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of FMI)

A letter by EU parliament member Ivan Stefanec called out illegal voting procedures in Bangladesh. He said preceding officials and their subordinates were forced to stuff ballot boxes at their locations and even had underage children and infants stamping ballots as voters.

In the wake of an election with broken confidence in the political system, many Bangladeshis are dissatisfied and hopeless.

Yet, our ultimate hope as Christians is not in political power and influence. Believers in Bangladesh have a deeper joy found only in the promises of Jesus – and seek opportunities to share their faith with others in their Muslim-majority nation.

Allen says, “If we try and use the context of our society – or the Bangladeshis using the context of their society – as conversation points, as kick starters for conversations, we have the great opportunity to point to the hope that is in Jesus Christ.”

Pray for Gospel opportunities, that the people of Bangladesh would know justice and peace in Christ.

Header photo of empty polling station during Bangladesh election 2024. (Photo courtesy of FMI)