Ministry Leader: Missionary's Death Will Not Stop GFA's Bangladeshi Ministry
by Allie Martin
January 30, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Laxman Das, a native Christian missionary in Bangladesh, was recently murdered by a gang of Muslim extremists. The 25-year-old was found on the side of a highway earlier this month near the capital city of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Laxman graduated from a Gospel for Asia Bible College five years ago and was working full time as a missionary. Eyewitnesses say he was riding a bus home when it was stopped and he was singled out, forced off the bus, and beaten to death.
K.P. Yohannan, president of Gospel for Asia, says the murder took place during Islamic religious holiday festivities. "This is the season of Eid, which is one of the high Muslim holidays and [a time of] celebration," he notes. "Some people tell me that [during this] season there's no law and order in the country. [They say] if you are angry with someone or you want to take revenge, this is the time to do it."
Laxman, who leaves behind a wife and a five-month-old child, had established a church in his village in North Bangladesh. Yohannan says the young missionary was aware of the dangers he faced daily.
"I learned about this brother," the ministry president says. "He knew that it [was] a risk for him to be in the ministry, especially where he was preaching and reaching the people [for Christ]. And his life and example as a man of prayer [who] really gave his life to study God's Word and [had a] passion for souls will remain as a significant challenge to our people. The work in Bangladesh will go on."
GFA currently trains 77 students in two Bible colleges in the country. The ministry also has 98 full-time native missionaries in Bangladesh who have planted 75 churches.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
