January 26, 2000
Bangladesh Baptists criticize SBC
___MELBOURNE, Australia (ABP)--Two delegates from Bangladesh surprised a Jan. 8 meeting of the Baptist World Alliance General Council by asking the group to take up slack because, they said, new strategies by Southern Baptist Convention missionaries neglect existing churches.
___Dilip Datta did not mention the International Mission Board of the SBC by name whenhe complained about a missions society "dumping its institutions on us."
BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS
___Bangladesh Baptists were not trained to manage hospitals and other institutions, Datta said. "That is why we are turning to you," he said. "We need your help to train us to run the institutions for which we are now responsible."
___Samson Chowdhury, a member of the General Council from Bangladesh, was more explicit in his response to Datta. He said Southern Baptist missionaries played a major role in helping Baptists in the country grow from 17 churches to nearly 500 in 18 years.
___"Now the missionaries have a new vision, but we do not know what that vision is," Chowdhury continued.
___Chowdhury claimed missionaries are withdrawing from working with the Baptist Christians of his country and focusing instead on unreached people groups. "The missionaries believe that to reach Muslims they have to grow beards, look like Muslims and act like Muslims," he said. "They do not want to identify with the churches."
___BWA President Nilson Fanini referred to an executive committee Datta's request that the group begin a "capacity building" program. General Secretary Denton Lotz asked a group of missions executives, which includes IMB President Jerry Rankin, to discuss the issue.
___After the meeting, a high-ranking IMB official said he was surprised the issue came up in the General Council meeting but that other groups of Baptists have expressed similar feelings.
___Avery Willis, senior vice president for overseas operations, said he and Rankin plan to visit national Baptist leaders during the coming year.
___"We want them to know that we are not abandoning them," Willis said. "We want to maintain relationships."
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